Pope Francis with Joint Commission members
ishtartv.com - radiovaticana.va
24/11/2017
Pope Francis on Friday received in audience the members of the Joint Commission
for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of
the East.
In
greetings to the Commission, the Pope thanked God "for today’s signing of
the Joint Declaration."
"We
can now look to the future with even greater confidence and I ask the Lord that
your continuing work may help bring about that blessed and long-awaited day
when we will have the joy of celebrating, at the same altar, our full communion
in Christ’s Church," he said.
The
full text of the Pope's address is below:
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
I
extend a warm welcome to all of you. I thank you for your visit and
Metropolitan Meelis Zaia for his kind words on your behalf. Through you I
convey my fraternal greeting in the Lord to His Holiness Mar Gewargis III,
recalling with joy our cordial meeting a year ago, which marked a further step
on our journey towards deeper growth in mutual solidarity and communion.
Our
meeting today offers us the opportunity to look with gratitude upon the
progress made by the Joint Commission, established following the historic
signing of the Common Christological Declaration here in Rome in 1994. After
professing the same faith in the mystery of the Incarnation, the Commission
planned two phases of dialogue: one on sacramental theology and one on the
constitution of the Church. I join you in thanking the Lord for today’s signing
of the Joint Declaration which brings to a happy conclusion the phase regarding
sacramental life. We can now look to the future with even greater confidence
and I ask the Lord that your continuing work may help bring about that blessed
and long-awaited day when we will have the joy of celebrating, at the same
altar, our full communion in Christ’s Church.
I
would like to emphasize one aspect of the new Joint Declaration, where the sign
of the cross is referred to as “an explicit symbol of unity among all
sacramental celebrations”. Some authors of the Assyrian Church of the East have
included the sign of the cross among the sacred mysteries, convinced that every
sacramental celebration depends precisely on the Pasch of the Lord’s death and
resurrection. This is a beautiful insight, because the Crucified and Risen One
is our salvation and our life. Hope and peace come from his glorious cross, and
from the cross flows the unity of the sacred mysteries we celebrate, as well as
our own unity, for we were baptized into the same death and resurrection of the
Lord (cf. Rom 6:4).
When
we look at the cross, or make the sign of the cross, we are also invited to
remember sacrifices endured in union with Jesus and to remain close to those
who today bear a heavy cross upon their shoulders. The Assyrian Church of the
East, along with other Churches and many of our brothers and sisters in the
region, is afflicted by persecution, and is a witness to brutal acts of
violence perpetrated in the name of fundamentalist extremism. Situations of
such tragic suffering take root more easily in contexts of great poverty,
injustice and social exclusion, largely caused by instability, often fuelled by
external interests, and by conflicts that have also led in recent times to
situations of dire need, giving rise to real cultural and spiritual deserts,
within which it becomes easy to manipulate people and incite them to hatred.
Such suffering has recently been exacerbated by the tragedy of the violent
earthquake on the border between Iraq, the homeland of your Church, and Iran,
where your communities have also long been established, as well as in Syria,
Lebanon and India.
As a
result, particularly during periods of greater suffering and deprivation, large
numbers of the faithful have had to leave their lands and emigrate to other
countries, thus increasing the diaspora community, with the many trials it
faces. Arriving in some societies, émigrés encounter challenges stemming from
an often difficult integration, and a marked secularization, which can hinder
their efforts to preserve the spiritual riches of their traditions, and even
prevent their witness of faith.
In
all of this, the constant repetition of the sign of the cross is a reminder
that the Lord of mercy never abandons his brothers and sisters, but embraces
their wounds within his own. By making the sign of the cross we recall Christ’s
wounds, which the Resurrection did not eliminate but rather filled with light.
So too the wounds of Christians, including those still open, become radiant
when they are filled with the living presence of Jesus and his love, and thus
become signs of Easter light in a world enveloped by so much darkness.
With
these sentiments, both heartfelt and hope-filled, I invite you to keep
journeying, trusting in the help of many of our brothers and sisters who gave
their lives in following the Crucified Christ. They, who are already fully
united in heaven, are the heralds and patrons of our visible communion on
earth. Through their intercession, I also pray to the Lord that the Christians
of your lands may continue to labour in peace and in full respect for all, in
the patient work of reconstruction after so much devastation.
In
the Syriac tradition, Christ on the cross is represented as the Good Physician
and Medicine of life. I pray that He will completely heal our wounds of the
past as well as the many wounds that continue to be caused by the havoc of
violence and war. Dear brothers and sisters, let us continue together on the
pilgrimage of reconciliation and peace, on which the Lord Himself has set us!
With gratitude for your commitment, I invoke the Lord’s blessing upon all of
you, along with the loving protection of His Mother and ours. And I ask you,
please, also to remember to pray for me.
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