Pope’s General Prayer Intention for October

(Sept.30, 2009): Pope Benedict XVI’s general prayer intention for the month of October is - that Sunday may be lived as the day in which, Christians gather to celebrate the Risen Lord by participating in the Eucharist. When speaking about the Eucharist, Pope Benedict often tells the story of the Abitene martyrs of a Tunisian village, who gathered to pray, despite the death edict of the Emperor Diocletian. When asked why they had disobeyed, they replied “Without Sunday, we cannot live.”
For these Christians, the Pope said “Sunday Eucharist was not a commandment but an inner necessity. Without Jesus, who sustains our lives, life itself is empty. Sunday was not chosen by the Christian Community but by the Apostles, and indeed by Christ himself, who on that day – the first day of the week, rose and appeared to the disciples.
Therefore, in October’s general intention, the Pope encourages people to give ever greater importance to the “Lord’s Day” and to highlight the central place of the Eucharist as a fundamental pillar of Sunday. At every Sunday Eucharistic celebration, says the Pope, the sanctification of the Christian people takes place, as it will take place until the Sunday that never sets, the day of the final encounter of God with his people.