After the solemn Mass Sunday to close the synod of bishops for the new evangelization, I walked around St. Peter’s Basilica and took the following photos, as well as the video I posted yesterday of the aftermath of the papal liturgy. Perhaps 10 minutes - or so it seemed - separated the parting words of the Holy Father and the appearance of teams of men, armed with mops and whatever else they needed and ready to dismantle chairs, kneelers, etc.

There was a technical glitch yesterday and the photos I mentioned in the above paragraph did not get posted. Here they are now:

POPE BENEDICT: “FAITH IS PERSONAL WHEN IT IS COMMUNAL”

At today’s general audience in a cold and rainy St. Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict said, “Today’s popular trend of relegating faith to the private sphere contradicts its own nature.” He said, “our faith is truly personal only when it is communal: it can be ‘my’ faith only if it lives and moves within the ‘we’ of the Church, only if it is ‘our’ faith, the faith of the Church.”

The Holy Father explained, “We need the Church which confirms us in the faith and makes us experience God’s gifts: His Word, the Sacraments, the support of His grace and the witness of love.” In a world in which “individualism seems to guide the relationships between people, making them ever more fragile, … faith calls us to be Church, heralds of God’s love and communion for all mankind.”

“I cannot build my faith in a private dialogue with Jesus,” warned Benedict XVI, “because my faith is given to me by God through a community of believers, which is the Church, and makes me part of a community of believers in a communion that is not only sociological, but also rooted in the eternal love of God.” In other words, he said, “faith is not the product of my thought, but the fruit of a relationship, of a dialogue” in which “communication with Jesus makes me leave behind my ego so that I can open myself to the love of the Father.”

The Pope said, “the new life I live in Christ through the gift of his Spirit is received and nourished within the Church’s communion. In this sense, the Church is our Mother. As Saint Cyprian says, ‘No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother.’ Dwelling in the Church’s living Tradition, may we mature in the faith we have received and, by putting it into practice, become beacons of Christ’s light and peace in our world.

In his English-language greetings at the end of the audience, Pope Benedict said, “Conscious of the devastation caused by the hurricane that recently struck the East Coast of the United States of America, I offer my prayers for the victims and express my solidarity with all those engaged in the work of rebuilding.”

Perhaps he was thinking of Hurricane Sandy when he thanked the faithful for their patience in the bad weather, adding, “it could have been worse.”

In Arabic, Benedict XVI said, “The Pope prays for people of the Arabic language. May God bless you all! الْبَابَا يَصْلِي مِنْ أَجَلْ جَمِيعَ النَّاطِقَيْنِ بِاللُّغَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ... لِيُبَارِكُكَ الرَّبّ جَمِيعَكُمْ

FINAL LIST OF PROPOSITIONS BY SYNOD FATHERS (CONT’d)

1 ) The Nature of the New Evangelization

Proposition 4 : THE HOLY TRINITY SOURCE OF THE NEW EVANGELIZATION

The Church and her evangelizing mission have their origin and source in the Most Holy Trinity according to the plan of the Father, the work of the Son, which culminated in his death and glorious Resurrection, and the mission of the Holy Spirit. The Church continues this mission of God’s love in our world.

Evangelization has to be understood in a broad and profound theological-doctrinal framework as an activity of word and sacrament which, especially through the Eucharist, admits us to participation in the life of the Trinity, and this then arouses through the grace of the Holy Spirit the power to evangelize and to give witness to the Word of God with enthusiasm and courage.

The New Evangelization recognizes the primacy of God’s grace and how in baptism one comes to live in Christ. This emphasis on divine filiation should bring the baptized to a life of faith that clearly manifests their Christian identity in all aspects of their personal activity.

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