What does Holy Spirit say to his Church of Belgrade?
The second week of Lent – March 17, 2019
Brief Archbishop’s letter
What does Holy Spirit say to his Church of Belgrade?
Beloved brothers-parish priests and dear priests and monks! Dear nuns, brothers and sisters in consecrated life! Dear believers and catechumens of the Archdiocese of Belgrade! May grace and peace be with all of you!
Last week, we entered into the time of Lent with great love – the time of fast, prayer and good deeds; but in this second week of Lent, we are listening attentively to God’s particular words in these historical moments.
Pope’s visit to Skopje, the entire North Macedonia, on Tuesday, May 7 2019
Brothers and sisters, that means that the entire Church on Earth as well as in heaven is looking at that part of the country, where God’s flock of the Catholic Church is small but their history is long, dating back from “the times of apostles”. “Come over to Macedonia and help us!”, a Macedonian pleaded Apostle Paul which he immediately did. Today, that voice of prayer is heard by entire Christianity and, I hope,by all responsible people in this world. But, above all, we need to hear it, the first neighbors of Church in Macedonia! We would like to greet whole-heartedly Holy Father, Pope Francis, in Skopje, who is burning with evangelical love toward the little ones and the limited. We want to go to meet him, all believers of our Archdiocese, especially all families. We shall repeat this time: “Holy Father, come and help us. Help us to be faithful as Church; to grow and advance as Church and to become God’s true family by following a good path of synod and looking up to relations with the Holy Trinity.”
Rev. Lojze Letonja will be a responsible organizer of the pilgrimage for Belgrade deanery and Rev. Marko Trošt for Niš deanery. Believers can apply immediately in their parishes and your parish priests will make arrangements with the organizers. We are happy to announce that a Belgrade dean, Friar Ilija Alandžak is helping as a master of ceremonies during this historical event. May the Holy Eucharist in the center of Skopje along with other encounters bind us together.
The First Synod of the Archdiocese of Belgrade
As the community of Archdiocese, we enter into critical stage of our Synod: alignment of all individuals and communities of the entire community of archdiocese regarding what Holy Spirit tells us here and now. We live in special times and completely different conditions. We will become “one heart and one soul” despite all differences only if we allow Holy Spirit to coordinate us. Thus, we will be able to testify for God and be instruments of God’s love today.
God forbid, brothers and sisters, that some of us may disregard this burning call of God’s Love and preclude deeds of God’s mercy in us! Therefore, let’s pray,every day at holy mass,for strength from the heaven to enlighten, renew and unit us. Let’s pray the rosaryjoyouslyevery day for these intentions and let’s contemplate the Way of the Cross. Each of our communities will look forward to arrival of responsible delegates for the Synod so as to respond better to God’s spirit in joint searches.
A week for life
Brothers and sisters, we have been listening to numerous calls for destroying life for decades. Today’s hypocritical society teaches that freedom lies in being able to kill the lives that have only begun. These misconceptions about a view on life are unbelievably horrible, and at the same time, we are all dissatisfied as we are not enjoying ourselves. We can claim that we have found ourselves at a dead end as the people of today.
That’s why I determine the celebration of “A week for life”, starting from March 19 2019, the feast of Saint Joseph, until the feast of Annunciation on March 25. During that time, all of us will ponder on perspective of these issues; we want to start a new attitude towards sanctity of family and marriage by preparing the young for the sacrament of marriage. It wasn’t devastated by original sin or the flood. Jesus raised the reality of married life to a level of sacrament and He became a human being by being born in human family. Only authentic families guarantee the future.
We will address God by a special prayer of Saint John Paul II and pray to Holy Family during those days so that a genuine family life may flourish among us. The first meeting of all couples who are preparing for marriage will be held on Saturday, April 13 2019 in Belgrade. I invite you all, brothers and sisters, to support this meeting with profound love. We will crown our advocacy for life with the pilgrimage to Skopje where Saint Teresa from Calcutta was born and celebrated her home country by her response to a gift of life.
My beloved ones! These urgent calls offer us a great opportunity to strengthen mercy of Lent and make ourselves capable of proper celebrationof Easter. With this wish I bless you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
+ Stanislav Hočevar,
Archbishop of Belgrade and metropolitan
