AAS 70 [1978] - El Vaticano

768
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale
II
Àd quosdam sacros Praesules Insularum Philippinarum, occasione oblata
eorum visitationis «Ad limina».*
Dear Brothers in Christ,
In welcoming yon with deep affection, we wish to recali a passage
found in the Breviary. This passage has struck us forcefully. It concerns
Christ, and was spoken by Paul VI on his visit to the Philippines :
"I must bear witness to his name : Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
living God ... he is the king of the new world ; he is the secret of history ;
he is the key to our destiny". 1
On our part we hope to sustain you, support you, and encourage
you in the great mission of the episcopato : to proclaim Jesus Christ
and to evangelize his people.
Among the rights of the faithful, one of the greatest is the right to
receive God's word in ail its entirety and purity, with ail its exigencies
and power. A great challenge of our day is the full evangelization
of ali those who have been baptized. In this, the Bishops of the Church
have a prime responsibility. Our message must be a clear proclamation
of salvation in Jesus Uhrist. With Peter we must say to Christ, in
the présence of our people: "You have the words of eternai life". 2
Por us, evangelization involves an explicit teaching about the name
of Jesus, his identity, his teaching, his Kingdom and his promises. And
his chief promise is eternai life. Jesus truly has words that lead us
to eternai life.
Just recently at a general audience, we spoke to the faithful about
eternai life. We are convinced that it is necessary for us to empha-
sizè this element, in order to complete our message and to model our
teaching on that of Jesus.
From the days of the Gospel, and in imitation of the Lord, who
"went about doing good", 3
the Church is irrevocably committed to con-
Iributingto the relief of physica! misery and need. But her pastoral
charity would be incomplete if she did not point out even "higher needs".
* Die 28 m. septembris a. 1978. :
2
1
3
13th Sunday of the Year : Homily of November 29, 1970.
Jn 6 :69.
Acts 10 :38.