10/23/2005, 00.00
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Angelus: the Eucharist, the seed from which missionary vocations are born

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – "The Eucharist is the seed of a specific calling to leave everything to go to proclaim Christ to those who do not know him yet": in the Angelus today, World Mission Day, Benedict XVI exhorted the faithful to live out the vocation of being "bread broken for the life of the world", until the gift of self. The pope also recalled that "missionary and evangelistic action is the apostolic spreading of love which is concentrated, as it were, in the most Holy Sacrament." As an example of this dynamic, he cited the examples of the new saints declared today, who "invite us to turn to the maternal protection of Mary in all circumstances" to "advance ever more in the journey towards evangelic perfection". At the end of the Angelus, the pope gave greetings in different languages.

Here are the words of the pope leading up to the Marian prayer:

Dear brothers and sisters!

With today's Eucharistic celebration in St Peter's Square, the Assembly of the Synod of Bishops has come to an end. At the same time, the Year of the Eucharist has concluded, which the beloved Pope John Paul II had opened in October 2004. To the dear and venerated Synodal Fathers, with whom I was able to share these three weeks of intense work in a climate of fraternal communion, I renew my affectionate gratitude. Their reflections, testimonies, experiences and proposals on the theme, "The Eucharist: The Eucharist, source and summit of the life and mission of the Church", were gathered to form the basis of a post-Synodal Exhortation which, bearing in mind the diverse realities of the world, will help us to design the face of the "Catholic" community, extended to live as one, in a plurality of cultures, the central mystery of the faith: the redeeming Incarnation, of which the Eucharist is the living presence.

Today, besides, as demonstrated by the drapes exposed on the facade of the Vatican basilica, I had the joy to proclaim five new Saints who, at the end of the Eucharistic year, I would like to indicate as exemplary fruit of a communion of life with Christ. They are: Józef Bilczewski, Bishop of Leopoli of the Latins; Gaetano Catanoso, priest, founder of the Veronica Sisters of the Holy Countenance; Zygmunt Gorazdowski, Polish priest, founder of the congregation of Sisters of St Joseph; Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, Chilean priest of the Society of Jesus; and the Capuchin friar Felice da Nicosia. Each of these disciples of Jesus was interiorly formed by his divine presence, which they welcomed, celebrated and adored in the Eucharist. Each of them, besides, nourished, in different ways, a tender and filial devotion for Mary, the mother of Christ. These new Saints, who we contemplate in heavenly glory, invite us to turn in all circumstances to the maternal protection of Our Lady, to advance ever further in the journey of evangelic perfection, sustained by constant union with the Lord truly present in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

In this way, we can live the vocation to which each Christian is called, that is, to be "bread broken for the life of the world" as today, World Mission Day, opportunely reminds us. How significant the link between the mission of the Church and the Eucharist is. In effect, missionary and evangelising action are the apostolic spreading of the love which is, as it were, concentrated in the most Holy Sacrament. Whoever welcomes Christ in the realty of his Body and Blood cannot keep this gift for himself, he is pushed to share it in courageously bearing witness to the Gospel, in serving his brothers in need, in pardoning wrongs done. For some, then, the Eucharist is the seed of a specific call to leave everything to go and announce Christ to those who do not know him as yet. To the most Holy Mary, Eucharistic woman, we entrust the spiritual fruits of the Synod and the Year of the Eucharist. May she be the one to watch over the journey of the church and to teach us to grow in communion with the Lord Jesus to be witnesses of his love, where the secret of joy lies.

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