Audience with a group of German Neocatechumenal Way Members 04-26-1996

S. John Paul II

Vatican City – Clementine Hall april 26 1996

John Paul II has received in audience on the morning of Friday, April 26, a group of Neocatechumenal Way members from Germany. During the meeting that was held in the Clementine Hall, the Holy Father has pronounced the following words:

Dear Brothers and Sisters;

I give you my cordial welcome on the occasion of your visit to the tomb of the apostles during this Easter time. One of the most impressive events in the Gospel is the narration of the encounter of the risen one with the disciples of Emmaus. The Emmaus event tells us: along the way there are men who seek and are grateful to every community on the way, men who seek and are willing to listen and learn.

We are eternal pilgrims, always on the way; we cannot leave the path. On the way to Jerusalem the word of Christ that founds the Church comes to Emmaus: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.

Ours is a God who is close and it is not remote. So we, as true Christians, we are men who walk with God close and the goal of our earthly pilgrimage is God.

When Jesus saw his death approaching on a cross, he told his friends that he was going to the Father (Jn 14:28). Only from this goal our journey receives the true internal orientation and its deep meaning. “Doing the will of God” has been for Jesus the only principle of action and this gave him firmness and unwavering stability.

Act according to the will of God it means, for the laity in the Church, a multiple efforts in a society in transformation that shows indifferent to the Church. Make sure you follow Jesus and see him present in those brothers and sisters that you find on the way of your life, or go find them in the places of suffering, of abandonment and the margins of society. Bring them the warmth of your human solidarity and make them feel the supernatural consolation of the faith in Christ.

Through the intercession of the Divine Mother, your prayer to our God and Lord confers on you the ability to make a concrete contribution to the spiritual renewal of this our world, sometimes so dull for lack of ideals.

For this mission, I ask God for protection and assistance and I gladly impart the Apostolic Blessing.