The Thirteen Ordinary General Assembly for the New Evangelization, which begun on 8th October, ended on 28th October with Holy Mass by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. The Holy Father offered a reflection on the Gospel reading of the day (John 9:39-41), which spoke about the healing of Bartimaeus, the last miracle Jesus performed before his passion.
The theme of the homily by the Holy Father was: “The New Evangelization Applies to the whole of the Church’s Life”. He stressed that the healing of Bartimaeus “represents man who needs God’s light, the light of faith, if he is to know reality truly and to walk the path of life. It is essential to acknowledge one’s blindness, one’s need for this light, otherwise one could remain blind forever. Bartimaeus represents man who has lost the light and knows it, but has not lost hope: he knows how to seize the opportunity to encounter Jesus and he entrusts himself to him for healing. In this encounter with Christ, lived with faith, the Blind Man regains the light he had lost, and with it the fullness of his dignity: he gets back onto his feet and resumes the journey, which from that moment he has a guide, Jesus, and a path, the same that Jesus is travelling."The Pope in his reflection presented the Gospel reading as an inspiration to the spirit of the Synod on the New Evangelization. He says that the healing of Bartimaeus, a blind man, invites us to proclaim Christ anew in places where the light of faith has been weakened; to stir the flame of faith in the human heart; to engage in proclaiming Christ in places where he is not known; to allow the fire of the Spirit of Christ to animate life as Christians; to be nourished by the Sacraments and to speak the language that is intelligible to all and can lead them to true conversion of heart.
The Synod has ended, what is next? I think it is now time to vigorously reflect on ways of translating the contents of the Synod proceedings into practical pastoral resolutions. In order to assist in this, the AMECEA Pastoral Department has, on its blog on AMECEA Web-site (: www.amacea.org, then go to pastoral department link), posted a full text of the Message of the Synod, the Synod Propositions and also the thirteen interventions by the Archbishops and Bishops who were delegates at the Synod from AMECEA Countries. The Synod on New Evangelization has raised a lot of challenging issues and ways of reawakening the flame of the work of evangelization. The universal Church is inviting us, at all levels of pastoral ministry, to lead one another to the similar encounter that Bartimaeus had when he encountered Jesus.
Source: AMECEA Pastoral Department