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Vatican City,
16th September 2005 (CNA)
- Meeting with Biblical scholars at his
Castelgandolfo summer residence earlier today,
Pope Benedict said that the Church must live off
and be constantly renewed by the Word of God in
the holy scriptures. He also encouraged scripture
study in which reading and prayer are inextricably
linked--a practice which he believes, will lead to
a new spiritual springtime.
The Pope received participants of a
congress which is currently meeting in Rome on the
theme, "Holy Scripture in the Life of the Church."
The international meeting, which stretches
from September 14th through the 18th, is being
jointly sponsored by the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity and the Catholic
Biblical Federation (FBC). It also celebrates the
40th anniversary of the promulgation of Vatican
Council II's Dogmatic Constitution on Divine
Revelation "Dei Verbum."
During this morning's meeting, the Pope
expressed his thanks to the FBC for "its
activities, the biblical pastoral activity it
promotes, its faithful adherence to the
indications of the Magisterium, and its openness
to ecumenical collaboration in the biblical
field." He also expressed "profound joy" that the
congress is hosting fraternal delegates from
Churches and ecclesial communities of the East and
the West, as well as representatives from many
other prominent world religions.
The Holy Father also recalled his own role,
as a young theologian, in the shaping and
preparation of the "Dei Verbum" document,
stressing that "the Church does not live off
herself but off the Gospel, and its from the
Gospel that, always and anew, she draws guidance
for her journey."
"This is a fact that all Christians must
take up and apply to themselves", he said; "only
those who first dispose themselves to listen to
the Word can then begin to announce
it."
"Church and Word of God," he continued,
"are inseparably linked. The Church lives off the
Word of God, and the Word of God rings out in the
Church, in her teaching and in all her
life."
The Pope said he was thankful for a renewed
appreciation of this fact, saying that "in recent
times, thanks also to the effect of the Dogmatic
Constitution 'Dei Verbum,' the fundamental
importance of the Word of God has been more
profoundly re-evaluated. This has led to renewal
in the life of the Church, especially in
preaching, catechesis, theology, spirituality, and
in the very ecumenical journey itself. The Church
must forever renew and rejuvenate herself, and the
Word of God, which never ages or expires, is the
privileged means to this end."
In his concluding remarks Pope Benedict
encouraged a renewed practice of "the ancient
tradition of 'Lectio divina.'"
This "assiduous study of Holy Scripture,"
he said, "accompanied by prayer, initiates that
intimate exchange in which, reading, we listen to
God Who speaks and, praying, we reply to him with
faithful openness of heart. If effectively
promoted, this practice will, I am convinced,
bring a new spiritual springtime. As a fixed point
in biblical pastoral activity, 'Lectio divina'
should, then, be further encouraged, also by the
use of new methods, carefully studied and in
keeping with the times."
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