 |
|
|
|
Monsignor Luciano Pacomio is the Bishop of Mondovì,
diocese in the Province of Cuneo, since 1996, a member of the Episcopal
Commission for the doctrine of faith, the proclamation and catechesis.
He was ordained Bishop on 6th January 1997 and is one of the
most qualified names on the themes concerning the actuality of the
Church. The Church in Italy has just concluded the Eucharistic Congress
on the theme: We can't live without Sunday. We have addressed a
few questions to him on this specific theme: it may be of use to those
who fulfil a pastoral mandate of animation in the parish. In fact, this
is a service, which the sisters carry on in the parish and in other
centres.
According to your experiences, which strategies need to
be used to re-vitalise the Sunday, the day of the Lord?
I would, first of all, distinguish among the subjects
that could re-vitalise the Sunday. Starting from the Parish and the
collaborating Priests in the single parish, it would be opportune to
consider, above all, the timetable of the celebration. It should be a
choice discerned, yes, according to the exigencies of the community and
the concrete situations of persons, but also according to the centrality
of an as easy as possible reference to the different components of the
community. A second aspect, always concerning the pastors, is that of
taking care, with an always more particular attention, of the
celebrating aspect, the clear communication of the Word of God, both as
reading and as homily, which is its authoritative comment. It is
indispensable to spend time and attention to see that there is a true
communication, namely "a return way" of such an important message for
the life of the community.
Keeping our eyes always turned towards the celebration,
it is equally important not to forget of performing seriously and
lovingly the second part of the celebration, namely that of the
Eucharist, always paying attention to the signs. On the other hand, as
different subjects, with reference to the faithful, the animators, a
particular attention is to be paid to the singing. This must be simple,
but liturgical, capable of involving the faithful, adapting itself
particularly to them but, simultaneously, educating them to live the
singing really as an experience of very high prayer.
I think that, paying attention also to the humblest
Sunday Masses, in the sense of an exiguous number of participating
faithful, celebrating them with dignity and commitment to prayer by the
one who presides, by the minister at his side and the whole community,
can be the premise for the passage from a "non-psychological need" to
the exigency of faith in the Eucharist. To me, this is the first act to
re-vitalise the Sunday, as the Day of the Lord.
I would add that it is important to keep in view also, if
possible, the context of the Eucharistic celebration. It would be
opportune, in this sense, to have eventual proposals of convocation and
welcome preceding the Eucharist: to make the Sunday a typical day with
another moment, which may involve aspects of fraternity and affectivity
with one's own community. This could be done in such a way as to enter a
non-competitive dialogue, with sportive initiatives, limpid events and
typically traditional appointments. However, never desisting, through
confrontation, from the tentative of creating afresh the space for the
Lord on Sundays".
How is the Day of the Lord celebrated in your community,
Mondovì, whose Bishop you are?
Though small and of modest number, my Diocese counts one
hundred and twenty-five thousand persons. The territory is variegated:
there are plain lands, the Langhe hillock, mountain valleys and we go
beyond the boundary of Liguria with 18 parishes. In our Sunday
celebrations, I would distinguish three types of culture. The parishes
in the plain have a noteworthy attendance. They have also festive
traditions, linked with important moments capable of involving also the
youth in these experiences. The less populated hilly areas, except some
big centres, because of the advanced age, find it more difficult to make
such a festive experience. However, I must say that the presence of the
Priest is felt very much acutely. We must also specify that the Sunday
exigency has, surely, a tradition also of faith, which is, above all, of
a psychological nature. This is because to celebrate the Eucharist in
the canonical hours, signifies a socio-cultural reference within which
to meet, though just to exchange some words".
Is it so very difficult to know how to communicate the
Good News?
"On one side it is difficult because of the cultural
context in which we live, because of the actual cultural turnings, on
the other side, to me, it would be an extraordinary newness: more than
a contra-culture, a promoter of certain cultural aspects which once were
taken for granted, but which, at interiorisation level and at the level
of a living memory in the single persons, they are not present. I want
to say that the communication of the Good News, to me, is possible only
if three conditions are respected. The first one is that the announcer,
both priest and minister of the Word, be a joyful first listener of what
he announces. The second is that the proclamation be made in an
expressive clarity, based on a simple language, but capable of seriously
touching the mind and heart. Finally, that the proclamation be always
connected with a proposal of quality life. To me, these are the constant
qualities of the proclamation of the Word of God, to be kept always in
view for a channel of immediate communication.
According to you, which fruit can be drawn from the 24th
Eucharistic Congress, which has just been celebrated in Bari?
"The first fruit is that of having been underlined the
importance of the Sunday at vital level. This, at least in the priests
and the pastoral workers, will foster the desire of not desisting any
more from trying continuous tentatives and little objectives, year after
year, so that the Day of the Lord may truly be the day of Resurrection
and life. The second fruit is that of pointing at the centrality of the
Eucharist, but as a vital centrality, not so much as the peak of a
cultural moment, which has also its own importance.
To explain myself, I refer to Acts 2,42, where we read
about the fundamental dynamics of the Christian community: namely the
assiduity to the apostolic teachings, to fraternal communion, to the
breaking of bread and prayers. That is, the Eucharist is such, if a
four-lane motorway develops from it: the capacity of becoming better and
better listeners of the Word of God, with due discernment on the
concrete, historical, cultural, social and political realities.
The second lane is centred on the experience of
communion, where there is not only the joy of being together, but also
the activity and the joy of sharing and meeting real, often dramatic
needs. Then, the breaking of bread, which becomes a gesture of sharing,
an expression not only of man's good-will, but also of the way Jesus
lives among us and of the gift He constantly offers us.
Finally, being able to understand that prayer is a
habitual relation with God in different forms: the offering of one's
work, time and suffering, the capacity of silence and expressed dialogue
which makes life deeply serene in spite of troubles. The double purposes
of the marked time and the entering of life into an on going journey, to
me, would be the two extraordinary, humble couple of fruit to be
constantly pursued".
Even if we say that, according to the latest survey, only
25% of the Italians attend regularly the Sunday Mass ….
"This is, somehow, a big problem. I would be tempted to
say that there are people who attend and those who rejoice at the
attendance of the other. It is a datus of fact that not a few are
convinced that the benefits of an attended Sunday Mass fall back also on
them. I am thinking of family maps and maps of little groups of persons
in which, for instance, some members of the family appreciate this
Sunday attendance, even if they personally do not go. This is not an
indifferent matter. We need to consider this concept, which we could
define as "Eucharistic participation in concentric circles". If it is
true that 25%, a very good percentage to act as ferment, participates in
the Mass, admitting that the next group of two circles be made up by
other 25%, we can say of having reached a truly appreciable result. In
whatever case, the Italians live, directly or indirectly, the sense of
the Eucharistic centrality in their Christian faith. Surely we must
remember that there are not only people who lack affection, but also
those whom I would define to be in conflict. I am of the opinion that
the Italian territory is like the parable of Matthew about the seed
thrown on six different soils. Practically, we are not so very distant
from the pre-understanding of the Word of Jesus on the answers
concerning self-offering.
 |
