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June 10, 2024With this celebration in Nakheel my second pastoral visit to the parish in Ras Al Khaimah dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua ends. First of all, I had the joy of participating in the feast of your Patron Saint. It was truly a great celebration. Saint Anthony is a great saint who will continue to inspire you so that you can be a parish full of his virtues: humility, brotherhood, love for the word of God and the Eucharist, commitment to bearing witness to the joy of the Gospel.
In these days I was able to meet many faithful. The representatives of different linguistic communities, different ministries and different associations and movements. These are the signs of the vibrancy in the Church.
We all need to feel the Church as a mother who never abandons us. Share your spiritual richness with others. Help each other to feel part of the parish and of the entire Church. And reach out to those who are far from the Church, those who are no more coming to the Church and distanced themselves from the Church. Offer them the friendship of Christ and invite them to join again the life of the Church.
Furthermore, communicate to our young people the reasons for a lived faith. We cannot take faith for granted. We must always deepen the meaning of our being Christians in the face of the challenges of our time. Help the young people in their journey to know Jesus. Help them discover their vocation, to the priesthood, to religious life and to be mature and courageous Christians.
Finally, support the parish pastoral council as they are the collaborators of the parish priest and the other priests to be an increasingly synodal and missionary Church. It is a sign of walking together towards the kingdom of God.
In this way we will experience what Jesus promised in the Gospel we heard, The Gospel of the Beatitudes. All human creatures are called to happiness and to be blessed, but we often seek happiness in the wrong things, in things that deceive us and then disappoint us. We risk exchanging true happiness for brief joys that soon vanishes and leave us sad.
Dear faithful, let us renew our decision to follow Jesus. We experience deeply the gift of being a Church of migrants, made up of people who come from different nations with different languages, cultures and rites.
There is only one faith, only one baptism., the one Spirit of God who is given to us to experience the beatitudes that the Lord promises to those who follow him.
May Mary, Our Lady of Arabia protect you. May Saint Anthony interceed for you. May Saint Arethas and fellow martyrs support you on your journey.
Be happy brothers and sisters because the Lord has risen and he lives among us and gives us the gift of the Spirit in abundance.