Bishop Cesare Bonivento Pime

BISHOP CESARE BONIVENTO PIME

PASTORAL LETTER FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE HOLY YEAR 2000 “MARANA THA. COME LORD JESUS” (Rev. 22:20)

Dear Brethren,

1. After three years of preparation to the Great Jubilee of year 2000, we are now at the threshold of this great event.

2. I want first of all to remind everybody of the real meaning of such an event. In this moment too many people are afraid, as if the end of the world were imminent. The great Jubilee of year 2000 will not coincide with the end of the world, because non one knows when it will happened. The Lord Jesus says: “As for that day and that hour, no one knows when it will come, not even the angels of God nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mt 24: 36). Therefore do not believe those who want just frighten you in order to take advantage of you.

3. The Great Jubilee of Year 2000 means above all joy. The Church invites all of us to rejoice and to give thanks to our Father in Heaven because 2000 years ago His Son became man in Bethlehem, being born of the Virgin Mary. It is the greatest event in the History of mankind: God took pity on us who were lost because of our sins, and He send His own Son on earth to become man and to save us, by dying on the Cross.

4. This joy will be manifest in the whole Church. The Catholic Church, the only Church, that Jesus funded, wants that all his sons and daughters will benefit out of this extraordinary event.

5. The Jubilee will start first of all in Rome, at the presence of the Holy Father. The Jubilee will begin with the opening of the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica and the trespassing of this door by the Holy Father. The Holy Door is the symbol of Jesus Christ, because it is only through Jesus Christ that you have access to Heaven.

6. The Jubilee will start on Vigil of Christmas 1999, and will finish on the feast of Epiphany of year 2001. Within that period, a lot of celebrations will be held in Rome, at the presence of the Holy Father. A great number of pilgrims will be go to Rome. One thinks that more than 30 millions people will go to Rome in that period. God willing, our Diocese too will be able to go to Rome, with a group of people representing the whole Diocese. THE GREAT JUBILEE IN VANIMO

7. In the past, only those going to Rome were in position to take part in the celebration for the Jubilee and to acquire the plenary indulgence. Now instead it is possible to celebrate the Jubilee and to acquire the plenary indulgence also for those who can not leave their Diocese or their own parish.

8. This is why we too have the chance to celebrate the Jubilee in our Diocese, as the people in Rome. We will begin the Jubilee in the Diocese on the morning of Christmas Day 1999.All the Catholic of east and West Coast will be invited to join the Bishop and the Cathedral Parish for a procession, which will start from Dasi to arrive in front of the Cathedral.

9. At that moment the Bishop will open the main door of the Cathedral and he will be the first to enter the Cathedral, inviting everybody to follow him.

10. The Door, as I say before, is the symbol of Jesus Christ, who is the real door to enter to Paradise. No one, without faith in him will be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

11. On that day all the Faithful are invited to repeat the same gesture of the Bishop, and to repeat the same gesture as many time as possible during the Holy Year.

12. By doing that it is possible to get the Plenary indulgence.

MEANING OF PLENARY INDULGENCE

13. The plenary indulgence is the forgiveness of all our sins, including the penance we have to do for them.

14. You know that when we confess our sins and the Priest absolve them we regain the sanctifying Grace, which is the eternal life in our soul. However we have to make some penance in order to compensate the great damage that our sins caused to ourselves and to the whole Church. If we die, without making sufficient penance, we have to go to the Purgatory in order to be purified, before entering the Paradise.

15. If we receive the plenary indulgence, it means that our souls have been fully restored, and delivered from any penance to be done here on earth or in Purgatory. It means that if we die, we go straight to Heaven, without passing through the Purgatory.

16. It is possible to obtain the plenary indulgence:  Once a day.  For oneself and for the deceased.

17. In order to obtain the plenary indulgence it is necessary:

 Individual and complete Confession, within the past three weeks.  Participation in the Eucharist, and in the same day one must perform the prescribed works in order to obtain the indulgence, as follows:  One “Our Father”, “Hail Mary”, “Glory be to the Father” for the intentions of the Holy Father, and some acts of Charity and penance.

18. The above described conditions can be commuted for the sick and for the prisoners if they can not leave their beds or their places. For further informations how to commute the above mentioned conditions, please contact your parish priest.

19. The plenary indulgence can also be obtained in the following ways:

 Making a sacred pilgrimage to the Cathedral or to the Shrine of Our Lady “Mother of the Redeemer” at Dasi, or your main Parish Church, or other places designated by the Bishop, and there assisting devoutly at a liturgical celebration or other pious exercises, such as those mentioned above for the City of Rome;  Or visiting the Cathedral or a shrine designated by the ordinary and there spending some time in pious meditation ending with the “Our Father”, the profession of the faith in any approved form, and prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  In any place, with a visit for a suitable time their brothers and sisters in need or in difficulty (the sick, the imprisoned, the elderly living alone, the handicapped, as if making a pilgrimage to Christ present in them, and fulfilling the usual spiritual and sacramental conditions and saying the usual prayers. Please, ask your Parish priest for further informations about that.

20. The plenary indulgence can also be obtained, at the same conditions of N.2, by Making actions, which express the spirit of the Jubilee, e.g.:

 Abstaining for at least one whole day from smoking, from betelnut;  Fasting;  Practicing abstinence;  Donating a proportionate sum of money to the poor;  Supporting by a significant contribution of works of a religious or social nature.  Devoting a suitable portion of personal free time to activities benefiting the community.  Donating some portion of land for the needs of the Church. LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS DURING THE HOLY YEAR

21. The celebrations of the Holy Year 2000 will start in the morning of the 25 th of December 1999 until the 5 of January 2001, Feast of the Epiphany. The Diocese of Vanimo will follow the calendar of the liturgical celebrations in Rome, adapting all the celebrations to our diocesan context. (Enclosed, please, find attached paper with the liturgical celebrations in Rome). Each parish in our Diocese can organize its program accordingly.

22. Besides that, our Diocese will start and give great emphasis to three special initiatives:

 The first is the Eucharistic Congress, which will be the highlight of Holy Year in Rome, and must also be the highlight of the Holy Year in Vanimo. There is no better way to celebrate the Holy Year than adoring with great solemnity Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament by the wool diocesan family. The Eucharistic Congress will occupy a whole week, with a lot of celebrations, conference, activities, and adoration in it.  The second will be the Diocesan pilgrimage to Rome by a group of people from the Diocese, led by the Bishop and by some priests. Those intending to come to Rome, there have to give their names with the fees for the pilgrimage to Fr. Saverio.  The third will be the consecration of the Church of Dasi and its dedication to the Mother of the Redeemer (Redemptoris Mater). The Church will be the first Marian shrine in the Diocese, and everybody is to remember that we built it up in gratitude to our Lady for having given to us the Redeemer of all mankind 2000 years ago.

THE IMMEDIATE PREPARATION TO THE HOLY YEAR 2000

23. Let me make now a special appeal for the immediate preparation of the Holy Year. I am asking you to celebrate with great solemnity:

a) The four weeks of Advent. This year the Advent has a special meaning, therefore it must be celebrated in a solemn way. I recommend you:  The faithful participation in all the Sunday Liturgies;  Frequent confession and Holy Communion;  Acts of penance, to express our sorrows for our sins.  To the Priests and catechists I ask to preach with strength the need of conversion, and the need to remove from our life everything that is not in accordance with Jesus. b) The novena of Mary Immaculate, which will start on the 29 of November. This novena is very dear to the Church and to the Christian people. I appeal to all the parish Priests, the Sisters, the Catechists to do their best so that everybody (especially the children) takes part in honoring our Lady. If it is possible give a sermon everyday, emphasizing the purity of our Lady, and inviting everybody to follow such a virtue: if we do not imitate her purity it is impossible to reach her in Heaven.

c) The novena of Christmas, which start on the 16 of December. These are the last days before the beginning of the Holy Year. I invite everybody in town and in the villages to meet together in the main churches to hear the word of God (Bible and preaching) in order to prepare for the birth of the Son of God on earth.

24. If we follow such an immediate program of prayers, certainly the Holy Year will start in the best way, and it will bear a lot of fruits in our Diocese.

SPECIAL REQUEST PER THE BEGINNING OF YEAR 2000

25. As for the beginning of Year 2000, I am asking all the parishes and Communities to have in the night a special Hour of Adoration in order to end the second millenium and to start the third one according to the Heart of Jesus.

26. Finally, I beg everybody not to celebrate with alcohol Christmas and the begging of the New Year. Getting drunk is always mortal sin. And getting drunk on Christmas night and day and at the beginning of the New Millennium is a terrible offence to the Love of God to us.

27. I am asking all the faithful of our Diocese not to let the Holy Year 2000 to pass by uselessly. All of us have to convert. All of us have to pass through the Holy Door, which is the symbol of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. All of us have to let Jesus reign over us.

28. The Lord Jesus “says: ‘Yes, I am coming soon’. Amen! Come, Lord Jesus. May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all” (Rev. 22: 20-21)

Bishop Cesare Bonivento Bishop of Vanimo 17 October 1999