"Faith is a path of enlightenment: it starts from the humility of recognising one’s need of salvation and ends with one’s personal encounter with Christ, who calls one to follow Him on the road to love". This was said yesterday morning by the Pope, as he introduced the Angelus prayer from Saint Peter’s Square. Benedict XVI added: "The processes of Christian initiation, that train people to the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist, take inspiration from this model within the Church". In the places of the ancient evangelisation, where children’s Baptism is widespread, recalled the Holy Father, "experiences of catechesis and spirituality are offered to young and adults, enabling them to cover a path of rediscovery of the faith in a mature, mindful way, so that then they can undertake a consistent commitment to testimony". Hence the importance of the work carried out by pastors and catechists in this area. "The rediscovery of the value of one’s Baptism commented the Pope is the foundation of the missionary commitment of every Christian, because we see from the Gospel that those who let themselves be fascinated by Christ cannot help attesting to the joy of following in His footsteps". It is just because of Baptism, he concluded, "that we have an innate missionary bent".
