OPENING SALUTE TO THE ASSEMBLY
Welcome dear brothers and sisters,
Thankful in the Lord, I salute you all in the name of CLC Brazil. It is without doubt a grace of the Lord to us in Brazil that this XIIIth Assembly, the last of the 20th century of the Christian era, happens in Itaici.
As my first obligation I want to express our acknowledgement to all the world community for the trust they placed in CLC Brazil leaving to us the responsibility of being the host(see)**** of this XIIIth World Assembly of ours.
I would like to thank, in particular, the Brazilian communities, for the enthusiasm and generosity with which they have assumed the responsibilities and undertook the tasks assigned to them. Thanks to everyone’s performance, those that are present here as permanent support team and those that helped in so many ways from their communities, we can start our work with serenity and tranquility.
It is also my pleasure to thank Father Francisco Ivern, provincial superior of the Society of Jesus in this region of Brazil, that in an extremely generous and friendly way contributed with concrete means which enabled us meet obligations which otherwise we would not have been able to do.
Since it fell to me to salute you, in the name of the national community, I’m going to comply by sharing, in the grace of humility, what we have seen and felt since we began our work in preparation for this Assembly.
When I try, with God’s grace, to understand the mystery that envelops us as a community in this Assembly some facts come to mind.
Firstly, the ecclesial process that has been developing lately, since Vatican II, in the search for a new way of being Church, where we as laity are called to a larger participation. In the words of the Holy Pope, "be protagonists in the Church action".
In this same sense, the last General Congregation of the Society of Jesus mentions that the Chuch of the XXIst century will be a "Church of the Laity".
I further call your attention to the fact that this Assembly – happening at the doors of the third millenium – takes place in Latin America where 70% of the world’s catholics are concentrated. Besides, this year of 1998 is dedicated to the Holy Spirit, in the ecclesial preparation for the third millenium.
In the sight of all this, I ask myself for the deeper meaning that we could find in the assertion that is the deeper inspiration of our meeting: CLC, a letter of Christ written by the Holy Spirit and sent to today’s world.
Naturally, with God’s grace, along these next days we’re going to find, little by little, the answers, in the humble listening of our Lord’s voice. But, even before the start of the Assembly, I can see, in the facts mentioned before and in the theme we propose to pray, a clear sign of our apostolic being.
A new time, the XXIst century, that asks us for a new way of being Church: a messenger Church – Letter of Christ.
During the preparation for the Assembly, we all prayed this theme in our small communities. I believe it’s clear for us that the message contained in the letter is the message of Good News that has in Jesus Christ its concrete expression for the men and women of good will.
We are called to be a letter of Good News, in a world where it seems there’s no place for that. We live in realities that strongly oppose the concretization of this Kingdom, a Kingdom announced and already revealed in Jesus Christ. I feel it’s urgent to rescue the joy of being messengers of the Gospel. Naturally, we must be prophets, but we should do so as men and women that live in the joy of their faith, fundamented in the Ressurection, in the fullness of life.
The first communities were recognized by the love between their members. Today we are called to recover this experience: express this love, that moves us in life, in our work, in such a way that we are recognized as christians.
For these Assembly days, I ask the Lord to give us the grace of experimenting the peace and joy that are born form this experience of fraternal love. In this love between us, we will discover what the Lord wants to communicate to us so that we manifest ourselves as na apostolic body: letter of Christ sent to today’s world.
Let us have present the quality of our being. The quality of our work will come as a result of this being Christian. Let us pay attention to feel and recognize the spiritual motion that will conduct us to our apostolic mission.
Dear brothers and sisters, in my own name and in the name of all CLC of Brazil, we welcome you with immense love. We ask the Lord, through the intercession of our Mother the Virgin Mary, to make us worthy letters of Christ, bringing to all men and women and to all places this message of love and hope that manifests itself in our Christian being and doing.
Thank you. The Lord guard and bless us all.
Adriano Vaz
President of CLC Brasil