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toujours haï, persécuté.
l am Stefano Gennarini, italian,
for about 40 years in Poland as responsible of the Neocatechumenal Way,
one of the realities of renewal of the Church after the Second Vatican Council.
Gathered here are cardinals, bishops, Rabbies, civil authorities
and many brothers and sisters coming from every parts of the world.
l extend to all of you a warm welcome
and want to express my gratitude for your presence in this place
which John Paul ll called the ''calvary of the XX century'',
where millions of men and women, Jews, Polish, Russians, gypsies, etc.,
created in the image and likeness of God, were humiliated,
deprived of their dignity, tortured, and killed.
But above all, where they tried to blot out from the face of the earth
the chosen people, the holy root of lsrael, witness of God's intervention
and revelation in human history.
Gathered here by the desire for reconciliation and love,
Catholics and Jews, we will raise to God our prayer for the innocent victms,
and God's answer to the mystery of iniquity,
the sign of the resurrection and of the victory over death and sin.
RABBl David ROSEN
(ln Hebrew)
Gentlemen and Rabbie, brothers and friends from lsrael
and from all over the world,
l would like to say two very brief things:
the first one is that l am not worthy of being here
before this door of death in this place:
l did not know this place and when l entered here,
in one of the barracks, the first thing which l felt
was the need to kneel down, sincerely.
The second was to open the Scripture, the Torah.
l have been carrying this book with me for 50 years, it's my bride
which l read and scrutinize every day and l opened it by chance,
a little bit as St. Francis used to do.
l opened the Gospel, l put the finger...
This word came out: Rabbi, the scribes tell Jesus:
''Rabbi, what is the first commandment of the Torah?
And Jesus Christ replied: ''Shemà lsrael, Adonai elohenu Adonai ehad'' ...
Listen lsrale, you shall love your God with your whole heart,
the Lord is one...unique...and you shall love the Lord with your whole heart...
with all your mind and with all your strengths...
and your neighbor as yourself... The Jewish scribe replies:
''Rabbi, you are right in saying that this is the first...
it's the one and greatest of all commandments...
And Jesus, turning to him, tells the Jew: you are not far from the kingdom of God''.
And this a word which l want to say
to all the Rabbies who are here,
it has been a word which l felt from the Lord
for you who are here...
You are not far from the kingdom of heaven... from the kingdom of God,
you who consider the Shemà to be the first,
the unique, the greatest of all commandments.
l am saying this because one of the thing which l feel
more strongly in this celebration...it's to sing the Shemà.
We shall sing the Shemà together with the *** Mary,
the Vergin Mary is a Jewish woman.
lmagine if God thought to make Himself man
in order to save humanity, He chose to become a Jew,
not to become Spanish, or Russian or African. To become a Jew.
We Christians, for the fact that we love so much our Lord,
this brings us to have a great love for the Jewish people,
for whoever Jew. Firs thing.
Second thing. ln this place many mothers
saw their children being killed and the and the Jewish women
commemorated the death of their children singing the Shemà, Shemà lsrael,
this prayer so much loved by the Jewish people.
The *** Mary, a Jewish woman,
saw her Son being killed in front of her,
in a horrific torture.
ln that moment she felt such a pain
as if it were a sword, that sword
which we are now going to proclaim from the prophet Ezekiel,
terrible, confronted with the sins of his people,
of the people of lsrael, of the sins of Jerusalem,
prophetizes a sword, a sword, a sword ''sharpened'' ready to kill,
a terrible prophecy which will come about with Nebukanezar
and blood will flow upon Jerusalem, that sword
which came opn these fileds, terrible.
There is a problem, a very important point.
Nobody ever speaks of the devil
and this is a fundamental point: what happened here
maybe can happen again because the devil is not dead.
After Auschwitz we saw horrible things happening,
genocides in Cambodia, 5 million of men killed, murders...
and what the beast is yet to prepare, the great dragon,
against lsrael, against the Christians?
Here we all have to learn something very important,
our faithfulness to God, because we can fall into traps,
in the deceivements of this Angel of Death
who is greatly intelingent.
Well brothers, courage! An idea that came to me,
l don't know if it came from the Lord:
this sword that Ezekiel prophetizes, terrifying,
pierced through the soul of this Jewish woman
so that this suffering which fell on the Vergin Mary
unites Mary to the universal redemption
of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
This made me think that all these victims
who have been here, have been joined with Christ
to the universal Redemption.
For this Our Lord
made ''holy'' the suffering
we should kneel in front of every human suffering,
especially the suffering of the innocents.
Kiko, you are a man of God.
thanks for this deep emotion.
l ask: can music express the pain?
The suffering, and especially
the suffering of the innocents,
is it not a great non è una grande dissonance in the world,
a disharmony of history,
a manifest contraddiction
between hope and reality?
More than once people tried to express
the tragedy of single persons
and of entire societies with words and images,
and these attempts in a surprising way
made present to man the mystery of evil...
ln the psalms, that is in music, they addressed
the question of those who suffered...
and of us as well: that man
may do harm to another man no longer! Amen.
God, full of mercy,
who dwell in the Highest Heavens,
protector of the widows and father of the orphans
don't remain silent
for the blood of lsrael which was shed like water.
Grant a secure rest
on the wings of your Shekinah
in the holy and pure spheres,
which shine and glow like the splendor of the firmament,
to the souls of our brothers and sisters
of the six million of Jews
men and women, children
who were killed, who were sacrificed,
who were burned, who died of starvation,
who were buried alive,
or died some other kind of death,
at the hands of the damned Nazis
and of their accomplices (may their name be blotted out)
in Auschwitz, Birkenau, Treblinka,
Maydanek, Mathausen,
and in the other extermination camps of Europe...
We are very happy of the presence among us
of Mr. Kiko Argüello,
witness of a faith alive and charismatic,
who for many years has been walked this way of faith in community
toward the fullness of life in Christ,
a journey of great commitment in the Church.
Great is our joy for the presence among us
of a prophet,
yes, l don't hesistate in using this word
one of the great prophets of our times,
who announces the kerygma of Our Lord Jesus Christ, risen and glorious,
and who declares that, to overcome the strength of contemporary atheism,
of secularism and religious indifference,
would be necessary that Christians do a catechumenate,
as the Early Church did,
a post-baptismal catechumenate!
Prophet is the one who, guided by the Holy Spirit points at God,
shows to many the way to Him in Christ
and in a certain way precedes in the journey of faith,
inspires us, admonishes us with the word and the example of his life,
makes us sensitive to the need of building the community
and unites us in the Holy Spirit
Your presence here - dear members of the neocatechumenal Communities -
is an expression of this community, that united in the spirit
and guided under the guidance of its initiator,
lives the Gospel message
and feels responsible for the Church and her Mission
With the permission of the rector and all those present,
l would like to make a short prayer.
We bless you o Lord, Our Father,
God of eternal glory,
help us in this day,
helps me and this university,
grant us your Holy Spirit,
have mercy on us.
We ask you this in the name of Your Son
through the intercession of the Vergin Mary.
Amen
Well, the first thing which l want to say
is thanks for having been scourged.
l feel like one who has been
put at the column and been scourged.
Every praise is a strike.
l am a sinner
and to dress like this and be here is a suffering.
As a Christian l expect nothing else but persecutions,
As a Christian l should follow the footsteps of Christ
who was hated,
always hated, persecuted.
Well, today l was saying to myself, l have to be humble,
have to accept all this.
And l am doing this for you
a work.
The kerygma announces an event,
a news which is
happening now.
What's happening now?
Christ is now in heaven
and is interceding
for all of us,
is showing his
glorious wounds,
full of light,
because he suffered for us.
And why did he suffer?
so that we may receive
a new life.
And why? Why did God do this?
Because the Letter to the Hebrews says
that Christ crucified
is the footprint of the divine substance.
No one knows God,
nobody has ever seen Him.
Christ revealed Him to us.
Who is God?
lt's this love,
this,
this is Love!
Not whichever love,
a love which goes beyond death,
a love which loves the enemy,
love for the enemy.
This is the divine substance.
Then, if now we are enemies,
because we are all sinners
and are enemies of God,
God now loves us,
Now He loves us!
But how does He love us?
Christ says it:
Father, you in me and l in you,
and we in them
so that they may be perfectly one
and the world may believe''.
That is, the Father is one in the Son,
perfectly one.
God loves in this way
that if He loves us,
He loves us and he loves His Son,
would like to make Himself one with us.
When?
now, now!
ls He one in you now?
God is one, perfectly one,
this is the divine essence:
being one in us,
perfectly one like
the Father and the Son are one,
so one in us and the world will believe.
''Love one another as l have loved you'' (cf. Jn 13,34).
God loved us when we were his enemies
''and all will know
that you are my disciples''.
''And if you will be perfectly one
the world will believe''.
This is what makes
the Neocatechumenal Way:
to form Christian communities
that may arrive to this
unity of love,
the Holy Trinity made flesh,
present in the Church.
The Church: this is the moral miracle.
But for this there is need
of a long itinerary,
for this the Blessed *** Mary
told us to make communties
like the Holy family of Nazareth.
God is born as a small child
and needed 30 years
The way lasts 30 years,
Once made adults in the faith
the communities leave for the mission.
Now the communities of Rome
are leaving
from the parishes that have 30 communities
and we send them in the outskirts,
in the most difficult areas
that are full of immigrants,
of romenians, di chinese, a little bit of everything.
The whole community goes.
But how is it possible?
We asked for families
to go to China and
3.000 families offered themselves
after 30 years in the Way:
they can donate themselves,
have the joy of donating themselves.
We are free, death has been overcome,
Christ is risen.
Krystos vaskres! Vaistina vaskres.
Christ is risen, He is truly risen!
For this woe to us if we
don't announce the Gospel!
Evrytime that l say
God loves you
Christ in heaven presents
his wounds and is desiring
to enter inside,
being one in that man,
because this is the essence of God:
loving us, loving us!
under the highest auspices
of the Holy See
as also
of the serenissima Republic of Polond
we
antonio debinski
doctor in canon Law,
professor of the sciences of law,
professor of the Catholic University of Lublin,
rector magnificus
miroslao kalinowski
doctor in theology
professor of Theological Studies,
professor
at the Catholic University of Lublin
in the faculty of Sacred Theology,
respectables dean Mr.
stanislao zarzycki
doctor in theology
adjunt professor at the Catholic University Lublin,
constituted promotor of this ritual
to the most respectable and pious Mr.
Francisco Argüello
who has validly contributed to the renewal of the Church,
following attentively the indications of the Second Vatican Council,
who together to Ms. Carmen Hernandez
began the itinerary of these neocatechumenal communities
that exercize the task of evangelization leading men to the sources of their faith
upon the opinion of the Faculty of Theology
approved by the academic senate
have granted name, dignity, rights and priviledges of
doctor in sacred theology
honoris causa
and because of this we have drafted
this diploma with the major seal of the Catholic University
John Paul ll of Lublin
dedicated to the sacred Heart of Jesus
Lublin, June 26 2013
l greet all of you with affection
First of all l want to introduce myself, l am Anna Maria Federici
from the team responsible for the Neocatechumenal Way in
Hungary with Fr. Bruno Lulli and Andrew Kelly.
With great joy l greet the brothers of the Way.
First those from Budapest and then those who came from other places:
from Székesfehérvár, froma Vác, from Miskolc, from Eger, from Nagykanizsa, from Pécs.
l greet our older brothers of the Hungarian Jewish community,
the same way John Paul ll greeted the Jews come Giovanni Paolo ll nella sinagoga di Roma in the synagogue of Rome.
Now we are particularly grateful, that Cardinal Péter Erdõ is here among us.
-- Card. Dr. Péter Erdõ --
l express my gratitude and my respect to Mr. Kiko Argüello, to the musicians,
to the collaborators, to the leadership of MAZSlHlSZ ,
and to the Master Rabbi Zoltán Radnóti,
who organized this evening.
A special event and this concert:
which fulfills the Declaration ''Nostra Aetate'' of the Second Vatican Council.
which is a valid teaching on the relationship between the Catholic Church
with the non-Christian religions and especially Judaism.
We can pray for our dear dead brothers,
even if we don't know the exact day of their death.
Judas the Maccabeans, Jehuda Makkabi, prayed, or even better ordered a sacrifice, for the fallen heroes,
indipendently from the medal found around their neck.
''The eternal rest grant unto them, o Lord, and may the perpetual light shine upon them,
among your saints, o Lord, in eternity, because you are good.''
Grant also to us to be able to walk in justice and in love,
never to grow tired in seeking good and building up your kingdom.
Let us look together the answer of faith
and of the love to the new and great questions of humanity.
Let us learn from the past, in order to accept from your hand the gift of hope and of future.
How beautiful it is when brothers are together.
But how come are we brothers? ln order to be brothers we need to have a father.
This common Father is the only one God, for whom we will sing tonight Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Ehad.
This God does not want any type of hatred among his children.
Throughout the centuries we were one.
Thanks to the effort of Paul Vl, John XXlll and John Paul ll.
the Catholic Churchla declared that it is a duty the one to be reconciled with her older brother
ln these fifty years there has been a very great effort
of encounter between the Jewish institutions and and Christians
But it has never been something so great and moving
as we have lived in Auschwitz three days ago
More than ten thousand people seated on the ground shed with the blood of martyrs.
lt's as if the souls of those who have been martyrized in Auschwitz
sang with us and not only the martyrs butchered in Auschwitz,
but together with all those who during history have suffered martyrdom for the persecutions of the pagans.
For this the best greeting is that God may bless us.
Those who persecuted the Jews and Christians together,
because they speak of an aggressive paganism
which wants to destroy our Judeo-Christian morality,
have to submit to the God of love, of justice and of peace.
We can live again, to celebrate the work of art of the spanish composer, Kiko Argüello.
His symphony is entitled ''The suffering of the innocents'' is a work of universal value.
lt also speak of the miserables of the outskirts of Madrid and of the spanish fields,
of the condemned to death in the nazi lager,
of the tremendous suffering of the imprisoned, and those detained innocently.
But this work ecceptionally sublime
rich in emotions and certainly moving speaks also of something else.
About faith, or better about the lack of faith.
Because the loss, the denial,
the uprooting of the faith denies the divine presence of hope,
weakens the trust of man for good, the creative strength of acting, of doing.
''The suffering of the innocents'' is a sincere and painful diary of man.
True Confessione about life, about the shadow and the light deep down on justification.
From trust for a better tomorrow,
when the place of evil is completely filled by the divine blessing.
May the Lord bless you!
Pray for me, for Carmen and Father Mario!
We carry in our heart!
We greet each, raising the hands and the flags
The brothers present from Denmark
We greet the brothers from Germany
The youth of Germany...
The brothers from Hollland,
They are here, here in front,
The brothers from Belgium,
from France, more than 200 youth from France
from Croatia, from Slovenia,
Bosnia, the bosniacs,
From Slovacchia, from Russia,
1 ,000 brothers from Poland,
from Portugal,
3000 youth from Spain,
Also from Ukrain,
2 Redemptoris Máter Seminaries in Ukrain...
from Malta, from Austria,
The austrians, there they are...
From Hungary, Hungarians,
From Albania,
from the United Kingdom,
Let us greet also the brothers from lreland,
And now we greet the brothers from ltaly,
Stand up, ltaly...
A=We also have some from the Middle East
from lsrael, Palestina, Jordania and Cyprus,
1 10 there they are, here, together...
from Lebanon, the brothers from Lebanon,
From lraq, from Egypt,
from Ruanda,
from Tanzania and Kenia,
From Angola,
from Southafrica,
From Uganda,
From the Seychelles isles...
Let us greet those who came from Korea,
Also from Japon, Japanese...
Filippine,
The communities from China,
la Cina occidentale
And the Chinese from Taiwan,
Also the brothers from Pakistan,
And the brothers from lndia,
and from Sri Lanka,
From Australia, Oceania,
300 brothers have come, there they are,
from Canada,
Those who are here from the United States,
5,000 brothers from the United States,
From Porto Rico,
From Mexico, the brothers from Mexico,
from Costa Rica, here in front
The brothers from Panama,
The brothers from the Dominican Republic,
The brothers from Guatemala,
from El Salvador,
from Honduras,
from Nicaragua,
from Colombia,
Also the brothers from Ecuador,
the brothers from Venezuela,
about 1,000 brothers from Venezuela, young people....
an applause from the brothers from Bolivia,
500 youth from Bolivia, there they are outside,
Perú, 1 ,000 brothers from Perú,
Chile,
From Paraguai,
Uruguai,
Argentina, with Pope Francis,
the Dutch Antille,
The brothers from Curação, Bonaire and Aruba,
and last,
The brothers from Brazil...
30,000...
outside, outside,
To the brothers of Brazil who are outside....
Also with us there is
cardinale Pell,
from Australia, from Sidney...
May he come to tell us a word.
You remember Sydney.
On behalf of the australian Neocatechumenal
Neocatecumenali communities of Sidney,
l would like to say
How much we are happy to be here
with so many brothers and sisters
who believe in the love of the only true God.
Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.
We thank you for your presence
and for your testimony
because you give us a lot of strength
And it encourages us a lot.
May God bless you all!
Let us say hello to Cardinal O'Malley, from Boston,
come here
Cardinal O'Malley, from Boston,
Welcome Father, a word,
Good afternoon to all.
For me it's an immense joy
to be able to stay with you today.
During this World Youth Day here in Rio,
it was an enorumous blessing for the Church
and now to see so manu youth
here in this assembly
with Kiko to ask for the grace to know
your own vocation which is so important,
The journey of your life
according to the will of God.
For this we are very grateful to be here
very happy to be here,
Count on our prayers
and as the Holy Father said yesterday,
Christ counts on you,
La Chiesa conta su di voi,
For this we are here in this city
with open hands
Also us have to be
with open hands.
May the Lord bless you all.
lt means that
God showed in Christ,
his essence, and his essence is
careful, listen up--
his essence is to love you
Loving you! Loving us!
But to love us in a new way,
lt's not a sentimental love,
But a love up until the point to give his life,
giving his life up to
the end for us,
giving his life for us even if
we are murderers,
we are killing him
and he is offering for us
his death for us.
ln order to love us,
God does not need us to be good,
to change our life...
No!
He loves us when we are
sinners in the deep.
You are missing to understand this
so that you may come out from your moralism,
from your pelagianism,
Because Christianity is
grace, grace...
we have to, dwe have to, we have to...we hear this at all time
We are telling you what Carmen used to say in the shanty town to the poor:
''is useless - she told me one day
- Kiko that you say to a man
who is sufferng cold who may give you his coat,
He won't give it to you! even if you repeat to him to give you his coat...
Make the sun come out and the heat
and he wll give you his coat''.
This is very profound,
it's true,
we have to announce to men
the grace of God,
This infinite love of God
to sinners...
We have announced the Gospel
ln ltaly in 80 prisons,
We have made communities with the inmates,
We have written a book
with the letters of the murderers,
have made communities in the prisons in Colombia,
full of assassins,
some with more than 70 murders,
with true conversions,
have truly believed that God loves man
with an infinite love,
immense, eternal -
Attention, listen to this,
l am impressed that you have
put up with Kiko.
You know what St. Francis Xavier say?
St Francis Xavier, who was,
like St. lgnatius of Loyola,
one of the first Jesuits
who founded the Company of Jesus
They say that Xavier made
an impressive evangelization,
going throughout lndia,
He arrived as far as Japan
From Japan to China,
and enetered China he died there..
Therefor l say to Kiko:
You know what did St. Francis Xavier say?
That Hell is full of preachers,
of great preachers,
And l hoped that
with so many bishops who came
and with many Cardinals,
Did it not come one whose name was Wojtila,
that Wojtila, whom l wanted
may come here the one who was his secretary
But who did not come,
whose name is Cardinale Dziwisz,
that Wojtila, who changed the name
Because he was present at the Council,
and Albino Luciani, who was the patriarch of Venice,
was the first who named himself John Paul l,
And also the one who proposed the Council, John XXlll
and who died before
and the one who fulfilled was Paul Vl,
All this history
is not full of preachers
but of immense realities
in all the nations,
And l, yesterday, was remembering of Aparecida
The important thing is that it is always a ''woman''
who is at the center from where everything comes,
Maria, is the grace of God
and the one who will be born from you will be called
the Eternal Jesus Christ our Lord,
that is, without the woman
there is no descendance,
And it is very important all
the persecution that the woman is suffering today,
and that Wojtila, also he was present at the Council,
and he was the one who was called John Paul ll
and the Council was John XXlll who began it,
But it was Paolo Vl who closed it,
And now l think that they will be canonized
John Pail ll and John XXlll,
...well, l did not want to make a boring speech,
But after all that Kiko said
l don't know what else to say...
l liked so much what the Pope said
about the Vergin Aparecida
And he said many marvellous things
which l would like to remind you of,
but because it seems already very late l don't want to,
The Holy father was on the verge of crying
ln front of the image
ln a moving moment of his Pontificate,
Well, May the Lord accomapny you
Because the woman is very important
without her, there is no life,
She has life within her womb,
And for this she loves more tha man
who sees from outside,
And she had him inside of her,
For this the Vergin is so important,
and they brought another ***,
But l have been also very united
to this *** of Aparecida,
Because l never thought to come here to Aparecida,
But it is already the fourth time
that we come here in Brazil,
and among them there is one whose name is Sotil,
Xavier Sotil, who founded the first seminary
and we were ina marvellous place
where, going down a bit, to the lake
there were serpents,
And there the first seminary of Brazil was established,
and there we went back many times
and this time l did not think l was going to come to Aparecida,
Have patience
and the Lord will stay with you.
Well, also l am
very happy to be here
and of all that we have seen
with the Holy Father during these days
and when Kiko made the introductions
l saw the flags of the different nations,
and l saw the word of the prophet Ezekiel fulfilled,
who said that
that there will not be wars again,
that the lion and the lamb will stay together,
that is what it's fulfilled exactly
in the Catholic Churchnel and in us, here
because this spirit
of whom Kiko spoke
if it is in your heart,
crreeated the communion among people
as Pope Francis said.
We are all the same in front of the Lord.
And in front of the call made here,
yesterday, the Pope, greeting the volunteers
spoke of the vocations, already before coming here
at the Angelus he was saying:
the Lord is waiting for you in Rio de Janeiro
so that you may ask yourselves
''Lord, what do you want from me?
what do you want my life to be?
what is your plan?'',
and he was saying that if somebody
does not have yet clear his vocation,
has to wait, has to ask the Lord to enlighten him.
Then he spoke of the call to marriage,
which goes against the trend
because the few marriages
that exist get destroyed,
it's an enormous call the one to create
a Christian family,
as we see in the ''Missio ad gentes''
families in mission who are centers
that draw the pagans,
because man wants to love,
then many approach the Church
and those whom God calls to the presbyterate
to the consecrated life, the Pope said:
''Do not be afraid, courage!,
trust in the Lord!
Don't look at yourselves. >>
He spoke of his vocation
which he felt when he was 7 years old
l felt the vocation when l was 5 and a half,
The Lord wanted it this way,
Don't look at yourselves!
The Lord is faithful,
even if you are lustful,
if you are proud.
The Lord will make of you a fisher of men.
Then brothers,
l invite those who feel this call
to abandon themselves to the Lord
that He may lead them,
it's a marvellous vocation
to be able to forgive sins
to act in the name of Jesus Christ,
to heal the sick,
to give life to the dead
in the midst of all nations.
lt's a marvel, a joy.
l finished!
lf there is some young man
who feels that God is calling him
May he stand up!
and may he come here.
Stand up
lf some youth feels
that God is Calling him
and wants to offer himself to jesus Christ
come here...
without running
let them come through
very well...
also the brothers from ltaly
who stood up,
from Murcia,
from Spain,
from Mexico
They tell me that they are about 3000 youth.
in Lombardia, 300 young men stood up
13 to be priests in China
an applause for Lombardia.
Kneel down,
One moment guys!
Now he will make a prayer
our president, the Archbishop
asking God
that this call may be fulfilled
being priests in the Lord
for the New Evangelization.
Let us pray.
Blessed are you,
Our father, Almighty and Eternal God,
lf there is some sister, some girl
who feels to offer her life
to Jesus Christ because
God is calling you,
May she stand up!
ls there some girl who stood up?
Very well, come here, come here.
Also the young people from Mexico,
from Murcia, from Spain