Gaudete Sunday: Pope Benedict’s Message

From the Papa Ratzinger Forum:

“Gaudete in Domino semper” – Rejoice in the Lord always! (Fil 4,4).

These words of St. Paul open the Holy Mass of the third Sunday of Advent, which is therefore called Gaudete Sunday. The Apostle exhorts Christians to rejoice because the coming of the Lord – that is, his glorious return – is certain and won’t be long in coming.

The Church makes this its own invitation while it prepares to celebrate the Nativity of the Lord, looking ever more to Bethlehem these days.

In fact, we await with certain hope the second coming of Christ because we have known the first. The mystery of Bethlehem reveals God-with-us, the God who is near us, not simply in a spatial and temporal sense. He is near us because he has ‘wedded’, one might say, our humanity. He took the human condition upon himself, choosing to be like us in every way, except in sin, so that we may become like him.

Christian joy comes from this certainty: God is near, he is with me, he is with us, in joy and in pain, in health and in sickness, as a friend and as a faithful spouse. This joy remains even through trial, in suffering itself, and it remains not superficially, but in the depth of the person who trusts in God and confides in him.

Some might ask: Is this joy still possible today? The answer is given, with their lives, by men and women of every age and social condition, who are happy to consecrate their existence to others.

Was not Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, in our day, an unforgettable witness of true evangelical joy? She lived daily in contact with poverty, human degradation, death. Her soul knew the ordeal of the dark night of faith, and yet, she gave everyone the smile of God.

We read in one of her writings: “We await Paradise with impatience, where God is, but it is in our power to be in Paradise starting here and starting now. To be happy with God means to love like him, to help others like him, to give like him, to serve like him” (La gioia di darsi agli altri [The joy of giving oneself to others], Ed. Paoline, 1987, p. 143).

Yes, joy enters the heart of whoever places himself in the service of the little ones and the poor. God takes up his dwelling in he who loves this way, and the soul is in a state of joy.

If instead one makes happiness an idol, then one loses his way and it is truly difficult to find the joy whereof Jesus speaks. Unfortunately, this is the proposition of cultures which place individual happiness in place of God, a mentality which finds its emblematic effect in the search for pleasure at any cost, in the use of drugs for escape, as a refuge in artificial paradises which then prove to be totally illusory.

Dear brothers and sisters, even at Christmas, we can lose our way, replacing the true feast with something that does not open the heart to the joy of Christ.

May the Virgin Mary help all Christians and men in search of God to arrive at Bethlehem and encounter the Baby born for us, for the salvation and happiness of all mankind.

Pope’s Homily for Yesterday

Face life with faith in the Lord…from the Papa Ratzinger Forum:

In today’s Gospel, St. Luke re-proposes for our reflection the Biblical vision of history, referring to the words of Jesus, who invites his disciples not to be afraid, but to face difficulties, incomprehension and even persecutions with confidence, persevering in their faith in him.

“When you hear of wars and insurrections,” the Lord says, “do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end” (Lk 21,9).

Mindful of this admonition, the Church, from the beginning, lives in the prayerful expectation of the return of its Lord, scrutinizing the signs of the times and warning the faithful against recurring Messianisms, which from time to time announce that the end of the world is imminent.

In fact, history must run its ourse, which includes human tragedies and natural calamities. Within it is situated the plan of salvation which Jesus fulfilled in his incarnation, death and resurrection.

It is this mystery that the Church continues to announce and to actualize in its preaching, in the celebration of the Sacraments, and in the testimony of charity.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us accept Christ’s invitation to face the events of every day, trusting in his providential love. Let us not fear for the future, even when it appears dark to us, because the God of Jesus Christ, entered history in order to open it to transcendent fulfillment, of which he is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end (cfr Ap 1,8).

He guarantees us that in every small but genuine act of love, is found all the sense of the universe, and that he who does not hesitate to lose his own life for Christ, will find it back in fullness (cfr Mt 16,25).

Pope Benedict on St. Martin of Tours

From today’s Angelus at Saint Peter’s in the Vatican, via Asia News Italy:

Beneath a cold and rain swept winter’s sky, the pontiff recalled that today the Church celebrates St Martin of Tours, the first person in the history of the Church to become a saint not because of a cruel martyrdom for the faith, but because he dedicated his life to evangelisation and charity.

The Pope outlined the life of St Martin: “Born to a pagan family in Pannonia, modern day Hungary, around 316 his father destined him for a military career.  In his adolescence he encountered Christianity, and overcoming many obstacles he joined the catechumens to prepare himself for Baptism.  He received the sacrament in his early twenties, but was forced to remain in the army where he gave witness to his new way of life: respectful and understanding of all those he met; he treated his servant as a brother and avoided vulgar entertainment. On leaving the military he made his way to Poitiers, France, to the Bishop and Saint Ilarian. Ordained by deacon by him, he chose a monastic life and founded along with some disciples one of Europe’s oldest monasteries in Ligugé. Ten years later the Christians of Tours, deprived of a pastor declared him their Bishop.  From then on, Martin dedicated himself with ardent zeal to evangelising the rural countryside and formation of the clergy”.

But above all Benedict XVI recalled the famous gesture of charity of the saint: his sharing of his cloak with a poor beggar “shriven and trembling with the cold”. “That night – continues the pope – Christ appeared to him in a dream, smiling and wearing that same cloak”.

St Martin’s gesture clarified the pope, follows Christ’s logic, who multiplied bread for the starving crowds and gifted himself in the Eucharist.  This is why he became a model for the global community: “St Martin helps us to understand that only through a common commitment to sharing, can we answer to the great challenger of our time: that is to build a world of justice and peace, where every human being can live in dignity.  This can only happen if a global model of authentic solidarity prevails, capable of insuring that all of the worlds’ people have food, water, healthcare, but also work and recourse to energy as well as culture and scientific and technological knowledge”.

All are Called to be Saints

From Pope Benedict XVI:

Sainthood is not a “privilege” reserved to “the elected few”; “becoming a saint is the duty of every Christian, what’s more, of every human being!”.  On the day the Church celebrates the feast of All Saints, before reciting the Angelus Prayer with pilgrims in St Peter’s square, Benedict XVI explained sainthood, often considered to be a moral ideal attainable to very few, or even as a something defunct and useless for mankind of our day.  “At a very basic level – the pontiff explained – [holiness] lies in living as sons and daughters of God, in the “likeness” of He who created us”.  And he added: “All human beings are children of God, and everyone must become what they are, through the exacting journey towards freedom. God invites us all to belong to his holy people.  The “Way” is Christ, the Son, the Holy of God: no-one reaches the Father if not through Him (cfr Gv 14,6)”.

The pope also recalled that “at the very beginnings of Christianity, the members of the church were called ‘the saintly’, indicating the reality and the destiny of all faithful: “a Christian, in fact is already holy, because Baptism unites him to Christ and to the Pascal Mystery, but at the same time he has yet to become holy, by conforming himself more intimately to Christ”.

This feast, which helps “our heart” to overcome “the confines of space and time” to the “heavenly dimensions”, is closely linked to the Commemoration of all of the Churches’ faithful departed, the day – celebrated on November 2nd – when the church throughout the world dedicates its prayer for the souls of the dead. “Our prayers in praise of God and of the blessed spirits, who today’s liturgy presents to us as ‘great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue’ (Rv 7,9), unite themselves to our prayers in suffrage of all of those who have gone before us from this world to eternal life.  Tomorrow we will dedicate our prayers to them in a special way and we will celebrate the Eucharistic Sacrifice for them.  In truth, every day the Church invites us to pray for them, to offer us our daily fatigue and sufferance so that, completely purified, they are admitted to enjoy the eternal light and peace of the Lord”.

 Benedict XVI recalled the attention of the many faithful gathered in prayer beneath the rain, to the fact that “at the centre of the assembly of the Saints, shines the Blessed Virgin Mary, ‘humble and high, more than a creature’ (Dante, Paradiso, XXXIII, 2)”. “Placing our hand in hers – the pontiff concluded – we feel animated to continue with renewed zeal on our journey towards sainthood.  We entrust our daily commitment to Her and to Her today we also entrust our prayers for the faithful departed, in the intimate hope that one day we will find ourselves gathered together, in the glorious communion of the saints”.

Pope’s Mini Homily for Today

From Papa Ratzinger Forum: 

The Gospel on this Sunday presents Jesus healing ten lepers, of whom only one, a Samaritan and therefore a foreigner, comes back to thank him (cfr Lk 17,11-19). The Lord tells him, “Rise and go, your faith has saved you!” (Lk 17,19).

This Gospel page invites us to a double reflection. Above all, it makes us think of two degrees of healing: one, more superficial, is of the body; the second, more profound, touches the most intimate part of the person, what the Bible calls the ‘heart’, and from there, radiates to the whole being.

‘Salvation’ is the complete radical healing. The common language, which makes a distinction between health (salute) and salvation (salvezza), helps us to understand that salvation is far more than healing: it is, in fact, a new life, full and definitive.

Moreover, Jesus, as in other circumstances, says the word, “Your faith has saved you.” It is faith which saves man, re-establishing him in his profound relation with God, with himself and with others; and faith is expressed in acknowledgment.

Whoever, like the healed Samaritan, knows how to be grateful, shows that he does not consider everything ‘owed’ to him, but as a gift which – even if it comes from other men or nature – ultimately comes from God.

Faith therefore means opening up to the grace of the Lord, too acknowledge that everything is a gift, everything is grace. How much treasure is hidden in that small word ‘grace’.

Jesus heals 10 men afflicted with leprosy, a sickness considered at that time a ‘contagious impurity’ which required ritual purification (cfr Lv 14,1-37). In fact, the leprosy that truly disfigures man and society is sin – pride and selfishness which generate indifference, hate and violence in the human spirit.

No one but God, who is Love, can heal this leprosy of the spirit, which disfigures the face of humanity. Opening his heart to God, man is converted and is interiorly healed of evil.

“Be converted and believe in the Gospel’ (cfr Mk 1,15): Jesus began his public life with this invitation, which continues to resound in the Church, and even the Most Blessed Virgin in her apparitions, specially in recent times, has always renewed that appeal.

Today, we think especially of Fatima where, 90 years ago, from May 13 to October 13 of 1917, the Virgin appeared to three shepherd children: Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco.

Thanks to radio-TV linkage, I wish to be spiritually present at that Marian sanctuary, where Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State, presided in my name at the concluding ceremonies of this very significant anniversary.

I warmly greet him, the other cardinals and bishops present, the priests who work in the new Sanctuary, and the pilgrims who have come from every part of the world for this occasion.

Let us ask Our Lady that all Christians may have the gift of true conversion so that the perennial evangelical message may be announced and borne witness to, indicating to mankind the way to authentic peace.

Pope Reflects on Gospel

At the Sunday Angelus:

“Money – explained the pope – is not ‘dishonest’ in itself, but above every other thing it is capable of leading man down the blind path of selfishness.  Thus a ‘conversion’ of economic goods is necessary: instead of using them explicitly for self interests, we must begin to think of the needs of the poor, imitating Christ, who – as St Paul writes – ‘for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich.’ (2 Cor 8,9). It may seem a paradox: Christ did not make us rich with his wealth, but with his poverty, in other words with his love, to the point of gifting himself totally to us”.

From a theological reflection the pope the turned to a reading of the current global situation, where “two forms of economic logic present themselves: the logic of profits and the logic of an equal distribution of wealth”.  Benedict XVI said that these two forms of reason “do not contradict one another”, but adds “it is so, only in so far as their relationship is kept under control”. “Profit – he explained – is naturally legitimate, and in a just measure, necessary for economic development”. Quoting from John Paul II’s social encyclical Centesimus annus, he recalled that “the modern business economy carries within it positive aspects, the root of which is the freedom of the individual, which is expressed in the economic field as in many other areas of life” (n. 32). But despite this, he added, capitalism cannot be considered the only valid model of economic organisation (cfr ivi, 35)”.

Benedict XVI concluded his reflection by drawing on the Magnificat, where it is proclaimed “the hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty’ (Luke 1, 53). “Blessed Mary –said the pontiff -… help Christians to use the wisdom of the Gospel that is using worldly goods with generous solidarity, and inspire governments and economists to insightful strategies which benefit an authentic progress for all peoples”.

Narrow is the Way

 An excellent homily (although its not one) from the Pope on today’s Gospel–from his Angelus message. What is the passport that’ll get you into heaven?

From Papa Ratzinger Forum:

Today’s liturgy proposes to us a statement of Christ which is illuminating but at the same time disconcerting. During his last journey towards Jerusalem, someone asked him: “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”

Jesus answers: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” (Lk 13, 23-24).

What does this ‘narrow gate’ mean? Why will many not succeed in entering it? Is it perhaps reserved only to a few elect? In effect, we can well see that this has always been the reasoning by Jesus’s interlocutors: there has always been the temptation to interpret religious practice as a source of privileges or security.

In fact, Christ’s message is exactly the opposite: everyone can enter life, but for everyone the gate is ‘narrow’. No one is privileged. The way to eternal life is open to all, but it is ‘narrow’ because it is demanding, it requires commitment, abnegation, a mortification of our own ego.

Once again, as in the past few Sundays, the Gospel invites us to consider the future which awaits us and for which we should prepare during our pilgrimage on earth.

Salvation, which Jesus effected through his death and resurrection, is universal. He is the only Redeemer and he invites all of us to the banquet of immortal life. But on one and the same condition: that we must try to follow and imitate him, taking upon ourselves, as he did, our own Cross, and dedicating our life to the service of our brothers.

Therefore, this condition for entering into celestial life is singular but universal. On the final day, Jesus reminds us in the Gospel, we are not going to be judged on the basis of presumed privileges but according to our works.

So the ‘workers of evil’ will find themselves excluded, while those who did good and sought justice, at the cost of sacrifices, will be welcomed. Nor will it suffice to declare ourselves ‘friends’ of Christ, alleging false merits: “We ate and drank in your presence, and you have taught in our squares” (Lk 13,26).

True friendship with Christ is expressed in how we live: it is expressed with goodness of heart, with humility, kindness and mercy, love for justice and truth, sincere and honest commitment to peace and reconciliation.

This, we might say, is the ‘identity card’ that qualifies us as authentic ‘friends’ of Christ. This is the ‘passport’ that will allow us to enter into eternal life.

Dear brothers and sisters, if we wish ourselves to pass through the narrow gate, we should learn to be small, that is, humble of heart like Jesus. Like Mary, his mother and ours. It was she, first among all, who followed the way of the Cross behind her Son, and was assumed to the glory of heaven, as we remembered several days ago.

The Christian people invoke Mary as Ianua Caeli, gate of heaven. Let us ask her to guide us in our daily choices along the way which will lead us to the ‘gate of Heaven.’

Pope Calls for an End to All Wars (compare the two versions)

Perhaps a hint of the encyclical he is working on?

First from Asia News Italy:

“Never again war!”: from the mountains of Cadore, a place of great natural beauty that was transformed into a theatre of slaughter during the First World War, Benedict XVI launched an appeal that the path of peace and dialogue be chosen above conflict. The mountains around Lorenzago where the Pope is spending his vacation this year, still bear the scares of trenches and dig outs, built by the soldiers of the war. Recalling that “Great War” and the appeal launched by Benedict XVI, who in 1917 asked the world to stop the “senseless slaughter”, the Pope dedicated the words pronounced before the Angelus prayer in Piazza Calvi, of Lorenzago di Cadore, to the value of peace.

There to hear his words, among the festive crowds of faithful and tourists, was also the Patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Scola, the bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, who had travelled to Cadore with a group of deacons and their families, the president of the Italian bishops conference, Msgr. Angelo Bagnasco, the bishop of Belluno-Feltre, Msgr. Giuseppe Andrich, the bishop of Treviso, Msgr. Andrea Bruno Mazzocato, Edoardo Luciani, brother of John Paul I – whom the Pope described as “my great friend” – and representatives of the lay associations from the diocese of Belluno-Feltre, whom he greeted after the Marian prayer.

“In these days of rest, – said the Pope – I feel even more intensely the painful impact of the news I receive about bloody conflicts and violent events happening in so many parts of the world. This leads me to reflect once again on the dramatic situation of human freedom in the world. The beauty of nature reminds us that we were instructed by God to cultivate and keep this garden that is the earth (Gen 2, 8-17). If men lived in peace with God and with each other, the earth really would look like a ‘heaven’”.

“Unfortunately sin has ruined this divine project – continued Benedict XVI – generating division and allowing death to enter this world. Thus men by succumbing to the temptations of Evil, make war with each other. The consequence is that in this stupendous garden which is the world, there is now room for hell. War, with its after effects of destruction and death, has always been rightly considered a calamity which contrasts God’s project, who created everything to give life and who wants to make mankind one family”.

The Pope therefore re-evoked the appeal launched by Benedict XV 90 years ago on August 1st 1917, when he asked the nations at war to put an end to that inhuman conflict which he had the courage to define as a “senseless slaughter”. “This expression of his – continued the Pope – is carved into history. It was justified by the concrete situation of the summer of 1917, especially by what was taking place on this North Italian front. But those words ‘senseless slaughter’, contain a greater more prophetic value and can be applied to the many other conflicts which have cruelly broken countless lives. This very land were we find ourselves, which emanates peace and harmony, was a theatre of the First World War, as many testimonies and some moving Alpine songs still recall today. These events must not be forgotten! We must treasure the negative experiences which our fathers unfortunately had to suffer, so they will never happen again. Pope Benedict XV’s Nota did not limit itself to condemning the war; it also indicated, along juridical lines, the ways to build a just and lasting peace: the moral force of law, balanced and controlled disarmament, arbitration in controversy, the freedom of the seas, the reciprocal remission of war costs, the restitution of seized lands and fair negotiations to resolve outstanding issues”.

“The Holy See proposal was directed towards the future of Europe and of the world, according to a project inspired by Christianity, but open to all because founded on the rights of the people. It is the same imposition which the Servants of God Paul Vi and John Paul II followed in their memorable addresses to the United Nations Assembly, repeating in the name of the Church: ‘Never again war!’. From this place of peace, in which the horrors of ‘senseless slaughter’ are amplified’, – ha concluded the Pope – I renew my appeal to tenaciously pursue the rule of law, to refute with determination any recourse to arms and the temptation to apply old systems to new realities”.

Then from the wire services as taken here from Forbes:

Pope Benedict XVI called Sunday for an end to all wars, saying they were “useless slaughters” that bring hell to paradise on Earth.

Benedict made the appeal in this small mountain town in Italy’s Veneto region while on vacation. He recalled that 90 years ago – on Aug. 1, 1917 – predecessor Pope Benedict XV urged a similar end to the first World War, then ravaging this part of northern Italy.

“While this inhuman conflict raged, the pope had the courage to affirm that it was a ‘useless slaughter,’” Benedict said. “These words – ‘useless slaughter’ – contained a fuller prophetic value that can be applied to so many other conflicts that have cut off countless human lives.”

Benedict didn’t cite any conflicts in particular in his comments to several hundred faithful gathered in the main piazza of Lorenzago di Cadore for his traditional Sunday blessing. Rather, he made a general appeal.

“From this place of peace, where one still senses how unacceptable the horrors of ‘useless slaughters’ are, I renew the appeal to pursue the path of rights, to strongly refuse the recourse to weapons and refuse to confront new situations with old systems,” he said.

Notice the avoidance of real reporting in the second, while the search for a sensational headline.

Pope’s Vacation Angelus

Reflects on next year’s World Youth Day in Austrailia and on his present vacation–from Asia News Italy:

“Before the wonder of these pastures, forests and summits which rise towards the heavens – continued the pontiff – the soul spontaneously rises in a song of praise to God for the wonders of his works, and our admiration of nature’s beauty is easily transformed into prayer”.

Benedict XVI then urged everyone to use this period of vacation “to rest the body and nourish the spirit through greater space for prayer and meditation, thus deepening our personal relationship with Christ and in turn increasing our understanding of his teachings”.

Note the “tree man” in the picture…Amy will understand why I find this interesting.

"A Life Completely Oriented Toward Christ"

In days where “orientation” often means something entirely different, the Pope on the Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist points out the orientation that all humans should share. From Asia News Italy:

An Angelus entirely dedicated to the figure of John the Baptist, “witness” of Christ and of the “truth without compromise”, was proclaimed by the pope today in St Peter’s Square, because he “knew how to remain faithful to Christ and to be a courageous witness of his truth and his love for all”.
Speaking to many pilgrims – some gathered with umbrellas and fans to find relief from the great heat – Benedict XVI underscored the value of John the Baptist “whose life was completely orientated on Christ, as was His mother, Mary”.
In fact of all the saints for whom the “dies natalis” (day of their death, that is their heavenly “birth”) is celebrated, the birthdays of John the Baptist and Mary are also celebrated
“By commemorating his birth – explained the pope – we are celebrating Christ, the realisation of all the promises made by the prophets, of which John the Baptist was the greatest, called to “prepare the way” for the Messiah ( Mth 11,9-10)”.
The pontiff recalled that “each of the Gospels begin narrating Christ’s public life with the story of his baptism in the river Jordan by John the Baptist” and he adds “My book Jesus of Nazareth also finds its source in Christ’s baptism in the river Jordan, an event of enormous resonance at the time”.
The event of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, allowed the latter to know “the full reality of Jesus of Nazareth” and to “make him known to Israel’ (Jn 1,31), indicating him as the Son of God and mankind’s redeemer: ‘This is the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world’ (Jn 1,29)”.
Another important element in the life of the Baptist is that he bore “witness to the truth without compromise”. And listing the many battles that the Church sustains in its defence of life, the family, religious freedom, human rights, Benedict XVI adds: He denounced the transgression of God’s commandments, even when the transgressors were powerful. Such as when he accused Herod and Erodiade of adultery, he paid with his life thus sealing with his martyrdom his service to Christ, who is Truth in person. We invoke his intercession together with the Virgin Mary, so that the Church of our times remains faithful to Christ and bears courageous witnesses of his truth and love for all”.