Pastoral letter
“Hopefully, last year, we all lived the Jubilee of Mercy in the concreteness of our life and our ministry. What’s left in us? What’s changed in our life, in the way we perceive our ministry, in the way we serve the people entrusted to us?”. This has been written by the archbishop of Moscow, Paolo Pezzi, in a “pastoral letter for Holy Week and Easter” published today, in which he calls the devotees to ask themselves “what is our mission, our task in the world?”. For Christians, “mercy can be seen in the victory of Christ Resurrected over evil and death” and “it stems from Christ Himself and is reflected in us”. So, “faith, which is entirely based on Christ”, needs “nothing else”, it is “faith triumphing over evil”. In addition, the bishop calls “the devotees of the parishes near Moscow and St Petersburg” to attend the celebrations of the Way of the Cross held in the two cities: “your joint attendance will be an important proof of the unity of our local Church”. Going to Chrismal Mass, which opens the Holy Week, celebrated in Moscow, St Petersburg and Kaliningrad, will also be a symbol of “the unity of the local Church around its bishop in the unity of all the Church”. This special Week calls everyone to be “the hands, the feet, the voice of Jesus, not only for those who already go to our churches, but also for those brothers and sisters who, called by Jesus Christ, have not found Him yet”.
