{"id":291572,"date":"2008-02-28T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-28T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/the-transforming-power-of-the-word-of-god\/"},"modified":"2024-05-13T20:39:43","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T18:39:43","slug":"the-transforming-power-of-the-word-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/the-transforming-power-of-the-word-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"The transforming power of the Word of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

  The gospel message can become a \u201ctransforming and humanizing force in crisis situations\u201d.<\/strong> This was the witness of Bishops at the world-wide meeting at the Centro Mariapoli, Rocca di Papa, from Sunday February 24 until Friday February 29. Around 90 bishops and cardinals from 42 different countries took part in the thirty second international meeting of Bishops<\/a>, Friends of the Focolare Movement, which had as its theme, \u201cThe Word is alive: people, environments and structures are transformed<\/em>\u201d. Last Wednesday, a widely representative group of Bishops spoke at a press conference<\/strong> at the headquarters of the Italian Press Association. In the words of Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, Archbishop of Florence, \u201cwe have seen in the many testimonies how the Word renews family life, young people, parishes, with a deep renewal in communion<\/em>.\u201d \u201cWe have been strengthened in our conviction<\/strong> that the witness of the Word of God, listened to, lived and incarnated in life, and the sharing of experiences based on the Word, is a very important method of evangelisation today<\/em>.\u201d \u201cPeople do not want merely to hear about Jesus, they want to see him<\/strong>\u201d, as John Paul II wrote in Novo Millennio Ineunte, \u201cand the movements, in a way, enable people to see him, to come into contact with the presence of the Lord, and the power of his Word that creates new life<\/em>\u201d. The contribution of Mons Alberto Taveira Correa, Archbishop of Palmas (Brazil) emphasised the importance of dialogue and the sects<\/strong>, stressing that this, \u201crequires a dual commitment: to form individual Christians in the life of the Gospel, and to build relationships with the people who belong to these groups, trying to start a dialogue<\/em>\u201d. The emeritus bishop of Bamenda (Cameroon), Mons Paul Verzekov, witnessed to the commitment of the Church in difficult reconciliation processes<\/strong>, where \u201cin four countries (Togo, Benin, Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo), at the request of the people, and with the approval of the Holy See, the national commissions for mediation and reconciliation are presided over by Catholic bishops, with no threat to the government\u2019s role<\/em>\u201d. He mentioned the peacemaking actions of movements and communities, like the community of Saint Egidio in Mozambique<\/strong>, and the actions of the Focolare Movement throughout the continent, thanks to \u201ctheir commitment to live the Gospel in daily life<\/em>\u201d. As an example he spoke about the huge evangelising action of the tribal chiefs in Fontem and other villages, the involvement of the people, and the fruits of reconciliation and peaceful life together that are evident in these parts of his country. Speaking about the serious political and religious situation in Lebanon<\/strong>, the Maronite bishop of Baalbek, Simon Atallah, said that \u201cwhile previously young people believed that armed struggle was the only hope for our country, now both Christians and Muslims are finding strength above all in religion. They have seen that there is hope neither in arms nor in politics<\/em>.\u201d. \u201cIt is important<\/em>\u201d, he said, \u201cto read events, with the people, in the light of the Word, and find in religion love for others, rather than hatred<\/em>\u201d. Then he spoke of the rediscovery of the Gospel and the Koran<\/strong>, of meetings of young people from both religions, and mentioned the \u201cExpectations of youth\u201d movement that brings Christians and Muslims together in gatherings of over 1000. \u201cThey read the words of the Gospel and the Koran about solidarity, fraternity, and love for others.<\/em>\u201d The Archbishop of Delhi, Mons Vincent Michael Concessao, spoke about the increasing persecution of Christians in India<\/strong>, particularly in Orissa, stating, \u201cwe must blame not the Hindus, but the violent factions that are present in all religions. Unfortunately the political parties are using religion and these groups for their own purposes<\/em>\u201d. \u201cThis is an obstacle to conversions, because people believe they result from force or from bribery<\/em>\u201d, he went on. \u201dWe have discussed this problem in the Bishop\u2019s conference and are studying how to respond<\/em>\u201d. \u201cIn this context, the participation in this meeting of Bishops has strengthened me in my belief that love is the answer to everything, it is the most powerful force, because it is a sharing in the life itself of God, which is love<\/em>\u201d. And \u201cthese atrocities committed against Christians are a new opportunity to witness Christian love, love for our enemies<\/em>.\u201d Cardinal Vlk, Arhbishop of Prague and moderator of the meeting, also spoke about hope.<\/strong> \u201cFor me, these meetings are a reinforcement of hope, they open up a world-wide vision where we can already glimpse the things spoken about in the book of Revelation, \u201cBehold, I make all things new. The shoots\u00a0 are already appearing, can you not see them?\u201d<\/em> The Cardinal testified to this hope, by speaking of the years after 1952, when after secondary school all roads were closed to him because he did not belong to the Communist party. He was given light by the Word, \u201cSubmit to the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in good time<\/em>\u201d. After that, many doors opened for him. \u201cThe word of God is always fulfilled. This is my great hope, it is a certainty that has been with me all my life<\/em>\u201d, he concluded. (ZENIT February 28, 2008)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was the central theme of the recent international meeting of Bishops, Friends of the Focolare Movement, at Centro Mariapoli in Castelgandolfo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}