Pope: Year of the Eucharist to "start afresh from Christ"
Blood Donors' Day also remembered
Vatican City (AsiaNews) -- At today's afternoon prayer the Pope spoke once again of the Year of the Eucharist, which will begin in October, concurrently with the International Eucharistic Congress of Guadalajara (Mexico) and will end in October 2005 with the Synod of Bishops, which will also be centred on the Eucharist. To the thousands of faithful that had gathered despite the summer heat, the Pope explained that centering the Church's life on the Eucharist will serve to renew pastoral and missionary activity, as he had already announced in his letter "Novo Millennio Ineunte". At the end of the Angelus prayer, the pontiff remembered the Bloor Donor's Day, that will be celebrated tomorrow. "Donating one's blood voluntarily and freely," he said, "is a gesture of high moral and civic value. It is a gift of life."Here are the Pope's words spoken before the Marian prayer (translation by AsiaNews):Today in Italy and in other countries is the celebration of Corpus Domini, the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. It is the celebration of the Eucharist, the sacrament in which Jesus left us the living memory of his Easter, an central event in the history of humanity.How good it is that, in this celebration, the faithful draw themselves around the Most Holy Sacrament to adore it, accompany it in procession through the streets, express with many signs of devotion faith in the living Christ and the joy for His presence.It was in fact celebrating the Corpus Domini with the Diocese of Rome, last Thursday, that I announced a special "Year of the Eucharist", to begin next October in concurrence with the International Eucharistic Congress of Guadalajara (Mexico), and to end in October 2005 with the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, the theme of which will be: "The Eucharist: source and summit of the Church's life and mission".The "Year of the Eucharist" fits into the frame of the pastoral project that I outlined in the Apostolic Letter Novo millennio ineunte, where I called on the faithful to "start afresh from Christ" (nn. 29 ss.). Contemplating more assiduously the face of the Word Incarnated , truly present in the Sacrament, they can practice the art of prayer (cfr n. 32) and commit themselves to that high standard of Christian living (cfr n. 31) which is an indispensable condition for effectively developing the new evangelization.The Eucharist is at the centre of the Church's life. In it, Christ offers himself for us to the Father, letting us participate in his own sacrifice, and gives himself to us as the bread of life for our journey through the world.I entrust, as of now, this new initiative to the Virgin Mary, "woman of the Eucharist" (cfr Enc. Ecclesia de Eucaristia, 53-58). May she, who in the Year of the Rosary helped us to contemplate Christ with her eyes and with her heart (cfr Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 10-17), in the Year of the Eucharist let every community of faith grow in faith and in love toward the mystery of the Body and the Blood of the Lord.
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