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Vatican City, 6th June 2007 (CNA)- Continuing
his catechesis on the connection between Jesus and the Church, the Holy
Father spoke today on St. Cyprian, "the first African bishop to achieve the
crown of martyrdom." The Pope exhorted the 40,000 gathered and all the
faithful to unity using the works of St. Cyprian.
Cyprian, said the Pope, "was born in Carthage to a rich pagan family" and
"converted to Christianity at the age of 35. ... He became a priest and
later a bishop. During his brief time as a bishop, he had to face the first
two persecutions authorized by imperial edict, that of Decius (250) and that
of Valerian (257-258)," following which many faithful "renounced their
faith, or at least failed to comport themselves correctly when under trial.
These were the so-called 'lapsi,' that is, the 'lapsed'."
Cyprian was "severe but not inflexible towards the 'lapsi,' giving them the
chance of forgiveness after an exemplary penance." The saint also "showed
great humanity and was pervaded by the most authentic evangelical spirit in
exhorting Christians to offer fraternal help to pagans during the plague."
But he was "irremovable in combating the corruption and sins that devastated
the moral life, especially that of avarice."
St. Cyprian was concerned more with pastoral issues than with profound
theological insights. “He wrote above all for the edification of the
community and to encourage the faithful to good behavior.”
In the saint's works, the Holy Father explained, "the Church is by far the
topic most dear to him. He distinguishes between the visible hierarchical
Church and the invisible mystical Church, at the same time forcefully
affirming that the Church is one, founded upon Peter. He never tires of
repeating that 'whoever abandons the chair of Peter, upon which the Church
is founded, deludes himself if he believes he remains in the Church'."
Hence, "the indispensable characteristic of the Church is unity, as
symbolized by the seamless robe of Christ; a unity that finds its foundation
in Peter and its perfect realization in the Eucharist," said the Holy
Father.
He then referred to Cyprian's teaching on prayer "which highlights how in
the Our Father Christians are shown the correct way to pray." That prayer
refers to "us" and "our" rather than to "me" and "mine," said the Pope, "so
that he who prays does not pray only for himself. Ours is a public and
community prayer. ... The Christian does not say 'my Father,' but 'our
Father,' even when praying in the privacy of a closed room, because he knows
that everywhere and in all circumstances, he is a member of the one Body."
"Cyprian, then, lies at the origins of that fruitful theological-spiritual
tradition that sees the heart as the privileged place of prayer. ... It is
there that God meets and talks to man, ... and man listens to God."
"Let us make our own that 'understanding heart' about which the Bible and
the Fathers speak," the Pope concluded. "We have such great need of it."
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