Verbum Domini part 3 section 4

VERBUM MUNDO
The Word of God and interreligious dialogue (117 onwards)

• The quickened place of globalization makes it possible for people of different cultures and religions to be in closer contact. This represents a providential opportunity for demonstrating how authentic religiosity can foster relationships of universal fraternity.

• The Church also looks with respect to Muslims, who adore the one God.

• Encourage meetings aimed at helping Christians and Muslims to come to better knowledge of one another, in order to promote the values which society needs for a peaceful and positive coexistence.

• The ancient religions and spiritual traditions of the vatious continents contain values which can greatly advance understanding between individuals and peoples. Frequently we note a consonance with values expressed also in their religious books... In Hinduism the sense of the sacred, sacrifice and fasting

• Dialogue would not prove fruitful unless it included authentic respect for each person and the ability of all freely to practise their religion (religious freedom)




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Verbum Domini part 3 section 3

VERBUM MUNDO
The Word of God and culture (109 onwards)

• God does not reveal himself in the abstract, but by using languages, imagery and expressions that are bound to different cultures

• I wish to reassure all those who are part of the world of culture that they have nothing to fear from openness to God's word, which never destroys true culture but rather is a constant stimulus to seek ever more appropriate, meaningful and humane forms of expression.

• The whole Church expresses her appreciation, esteem and admiration of those artists "enamoured of beauty" who have drawn inspiration from sacred texts. ... Many of them have helped to make somehow perceptiblein time and space, realities that are unseen and eternal.

• Among the new ways of mass communication, nowadays we need to recognize the increased role of the Internet, which represents a new forum for making the Gospel heard. Yet we also need to be aware that the virtual world will never be able to replace the real world, and that evangelization will be able to make use of the virtual world offered by the new media in order to create meaningful relationships only if it is able to offer personal contact which remains indispensable.

• In the world of the Internet which enables millions of images to appear on millions of screens throughout the world, the face of Christ needs to be seen and his voice heard, for "if there is no room for Christ there is no room for man"

• Inculturation is not to be confused with processes of superficial adaptation, much less with a confused syncretism


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Verbum Domini part 3 section 2

VERBUM MUNDO
The Word of God and commitment in the world (99 onwards)

• We tend to halt in a superficial way before the importance of the passing moment, as if it had nothing to do with the future. The Gospel, on the other hand reminds us that every moment of our life is important and must be lived intensely

• To all those who take part in political and social life. Evangelization and the spread of God's word ought to inspire their activity in the world, as they work for the true common good in respecting and promoting the dignity of every person (politics, human dignity )

• It is primarily the task of the lay faithful, formed in the school of the Gospel, to be directly involved in political and social activity.

• Christ "is our peace", the one who breaks down the walls of division.

• Religion can never justify intolerance or war. We cannot kill in God's name ! Each religion must encourage the right use of reason and promote ethical values that consolidate civil coexistance.

• We should never forget that "love -caritas- will always prove necessary even in the most just society... Whoever wants to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate man as such."

• From St Paul... Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

• Youth is a time when genuine and irrepresible questions arise about the meaning of life and the direction our own lives should take. Only God can give the true answer to these questions.

• If we let Christ into our lives, we loose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are t e doors of life opened wide... When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return.

• If human words seem to fall silent before the mystery of evil and suffering, and if our society appears to value life only when it corresponds to certain standards of efficiency and well being, the word of God makes us see that even these moments are mysteriously "embraced" by God's love.

• Those who suffer should be helped to read the Scriptures and to realize that their condition itself enables them to share in a special way in Christ's redemptive suffering for the salvation of the world.

• We also need to recognize and appreciate the fact that the poor are themselves agents of evangelization.



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Verbum Domini part 3 section 1

VERBUM MUNDO
The Word from the Father and to the Father (90 onwards)

• We cannot keep to ourselves the word of eternal life given to us in our encounter with Jesus Christ: they are meant for every one... Everyone today, whether he or she knows it or not, needs this message. It is our responsibility to pass on what, by God's grace, we ourselves have received (apostolate)

• The First Christians saw their missionary preaching as a necessity rooted in the very nature of faith

• Many of our brothers and sisters are baptized but insufficiently evangezed.

• The need for a new evangelization must be valiantly reaffirmed in the certainty that God's word is effective.

• In no way can the Church restrict her pastoral work to the "ordinary maintenance" of those who already know the Gospel of Christ. Missionary outreach is a clear sign of the maturity of an ecclesial community (apostolate ad fideam)

• The word of God is the saving truth everybody wants to hear

• On the one hand the word must communicate everything the Lord himself has told us. On the other hand, it is indispensable, through witness, to make this word credible, lest it appear merely as a beautiful philosophy or utopia, rather than a reality that can be lived and itself give life (apostolate)

• Young people need to be introduced to the word of God "through encounter and authentic witness by adults, through the positive influence of friends and the gat company of the ecclesial community"



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