The Amazon’s history is marked by the strong presence of the missionaries that carry the Gospel

There is one point which I consider to be relevant to the current and future path not only of the Church in Brazil, but also of the whole social structure: the Amazon. The Church is in the Amazon, not as those who have suitcases in hand to go there after they’ve explored everything they could.From the beginning the Church is present in the Amazon with missionaries, religious congregations, priests, laity and bishops, and there she is still present and decisive for the future in that area.

I wanted to invite you all to reflect on what Aggarwal said on the purpose of the Amazon, including the strong appeal to respect and safeguard all of creation which God entrusted to man, not to explore rudely, but for that to become a garden. The pastoral challenge representing the Amazon, I cannot cease thanking the Church in Brazil for what it is doing: the Episcopal Commission for the Amazon, created in 1997, has already given many fruits and many dioceses have responded promptly and generously to the request for solidarity, sending missionaries, lay people and priests. But I want to add that the work of the Church should be further encouraged and relaunched. We need qualified trainers, especially trainers and teachers of theology, to consolidate the results achieved in the field of training of a native clergy, including priests who have adapted to local conditions and consolidate it as the Amazon’s face of the Church. This I ask, please, to be brave, to parrhesia! In the “porteño” language [of Buenos Aires], be fearless.” (Pope Francisco, address to the Bishops of Brazil, in world youth day, 2013).

On the same occasion, when I presented the Pope for the first time, I heard him make similar expressions: “be bold, be brave. If you lack boldness, you will begin wrongly.”

XVII National Eucharistic Congress

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Belém [Bethelem, Brazil in English]wants to be bold when performing, in Amazonian lands, for the second time, a National Eucharistic Congress, scheduled for 15 to 21 days of August 2016, summoning all Brazil to celebrate with us the greatness of the mystery of the Eucharist. The XVII National Eucharistic Congress will take place on the fourth centenary of the beginning of the Evangelization of the Amazon and the founding of the city of Santa Maria de Belém do Grão Pará “. The Eucharistic Congress is convening the entire Brazil, gathered and those in pilgrimage, to live and witness the vocation which is ours and of the whole Church. Our theme is “Eucharist and Sharing in the Amazon Mission together”. We want to live the Congress together, so that once again, here in Belem, the door to the Amazon, what happens in the Church since the beginning: “they recognize Him in the breaking of bread” (Lk 24, 35), the motto we have chosen.

Our Amazon history is marked by generosity of waves of missionaries, brothers and sisters who came from so many parts of Brazil and the world to bring the good news of the Gospel, in the centuries that preceded us. We are immensely grateful for everything we have received! And the fruits were not made to not wait, because there is a people, not only helped by many others and with a missionary latent root and so many times already thriving in our veins of faith. We know what the Amazon can offer to the world and to the Church, so that our shared poverty contributes to the building up of the Kingdom of God.

The immensity of the Amazonian lands inspired us to realization of a pilgrimage by the spaces of the faith, led by the Lord Jesus. He passed through the roads of Galilee and from Judea and some surrounding areas, in foreign regions, but he, from then on, passed on to other lands and hearts. We also traveled distances, following the script of the faith, more than a stroll through various lands, in preparation to the Congress and in the light of the theme of the Eucharistic Congress.

Jesus The Eucharist

With Jesus we know the mystery of his presence and of the Eucharist, starting with Jerusalem. We know that from there radiated knowledge and practice of Eucharistic life of the Church, we want to be faithful until He comes.

The first who reported the story of the last supper and the first Church was St. Paul: “in fact, I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you.” (1 Color 11.23). And the Church, Pilgrim in the history, the mystery deepened and witness everywhere, from sunrise to sunset. The Lord sacramentally anticipated His delivery at the last supper. After the resurrection, He spoke to several of his disciples, friends and friends. As we are pilgrims in the story, we ask for help to the disciples to Emmaus, to learn to recognize him in the breaking of bread (cf. lk 24, 35).

Our sincere desire is that all participants of the XVII National Eucharistic Congress acknowledge their presence and become missionaries, with the wealth of which we live together. To recognize him in the breaking of bread, we remember our name, Bethlehem, House of bread. In the same way that resonated with the invitation to the national Eucharistic Congress, held, or as echoed in Brasilia for Brazil the announcement in 2010, the closure of the XVI National Eucharistic Congress, we wish that the whole of Brazil repeat with us: “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see what happened, according to what the Lord communicated” (Lk 2, 15). After the resurrection, the Lord pointed to the Galilee, where we recognize our horizon opened in the Amazon and in all Brazil, to carry out our responsibility to “missionary disciples”.

In our Nazareth, inspired by devotion to the Amazon Queen, our Lady of Nazareth . . ., we found the directions for living the fruits of the XVII pastoral National Eucharistic Congress, offering them as a gift to all  Brazil. Finally, consistent with the devotion of our land in the Amazon, we go to the House of Mary, woman of the Eucharist, which leads us to live by the XVII National Eucharistic Congress.