February 26, 2012

Pope: Lent, renewing our relationship with God

   “The season of Lent is a time to renew and strengthen our relationship with God through daily prayer, acts of penance, works of fraternal charity”, said Pope Benedict XVI this Sunday before reciting the midday Angelus prayer with thousands of pilgrims and visitors gathered beneath his study window in St Peter’s Square.

   The Pope also asked for the prayers of the faithful in the coming week. Over the next seven days starting sundown Sunday evening, the Pope and cardinals of the Roman Curia begin their Lenten Spiritual Exercises.

   Held in the Vatican’s Redemptoris Mater Chapel, the theme for the week is “The communion of the Christian with God," taken from the First Letter of John: "And our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ" (I John 1.3). This year the exercises will be led by Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, Congo.

   The exercises begin at 6 p.m. on Sunday with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Evening Prayer, followed by meditation and adoration and Benediction. In the coming days, there will be the celebration of Lauds and the Terce each morning, followed by Vespers, adoration and Benediction in the evening. Saturday, March 3, there will be a final meditation at 9:00.

   The titles of each of the seven days of mediations are: “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”; “Communion and Life”; “Communion and Mercy”; “Breach of communion, sin”; “God is love”; “Poverty, Chastity, Obedience and Prayer - The Holy Spirit”; and “Love and Faith.”

   Pope Benedict XVI has no public or private appointments for the duration of the spiritual exercises. There will be no general audience this coming Wednesday.

Below a Vatican Radio Translation of Pope Benedict XVI’s Angelus reflections:

Dear brothers and sisters!

   On this first Sunday of Lent, we find that Jesus, after having received baptism in the River Jordan from John the Baptist (cf. Mk 1.9), he is tempted in the desert(cf. Mk 1:12-13). The narrative of St. Mark's is concise, devoid of the details that we read in the other two Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The desert of which we speak has different meanings. It may indicate the state of abandonment and loneliness, the "place" of man's weakness where there are no supports and certainties, where temptation becomes stronger. But it may also indicate a place of refuge and shelter, as it was for the people of Israel who escaped from slavery in Egypt, where we can experience the presence of God in a special way. Jesus " remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan" (Mk 1.13). St. Leo the Great says that "the Lord willingly suffered the attack of the tempter to defend us with his help and to teach us by his example" (Tractatus XXXIX, 3 De ieiunio quadragesimae: CCL 138 / A, Turnholti 1973, 214-215) .

   What can this episode teach us? As we read in the Book of the Imitation of Christ, " as long as he lives, man is never wholly free from the temptation... but with patience and true humility we become stronger than any enemy" (Liber I, c. XIII , Vatican City 1982, 37), patience and humility to follow the Lord every day, learning to build our life not outside of Him or as if He did not exist, but in Him and with Him, because He is the source of true life. The temptation has always been present in human history to remove God, to order our lives and the world on our own, relying solely on our own abilities.

   Jesus proclaims that " This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand" (Mk 1.15), He announces that something new happens in Him: God speaks to man in an unexpected way, with a unique and concrete closeness, full of love, God becomes incarnate and enters the world of man to take sin upon himself, to overcome evil and bring man back into the world of God. But this proclamation is accompanied by a corresponding request for such a great gift. In fact, Jesus adds: "Repent and believe in the Gospel" (Mk 1.15), it is an invitation to have faith in God and to convert our lives each day to his will, directing all our actions and thoughts towards good. The season of Lent is a time to renew and strengthen our relationship with God through daily prayer, acts of penance, works of fraternal charity.

   Let us fervently beseech the Blessed Virgin Mary to accompany us on our Lenten journey with her protection and may She help impress the words of Jesus Christ upon our hearts and in our life, to convert ourselves to Him. I also commend to your prayers the week of Spiritual Exercises that I begin this evening with my collaborators of the Roman Curia.

   I am pleased to greet all the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims present for this moment of prayer. In these first days of Lent, I invite you to embrace the spirit of this holy season, through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. As we do so, may the Lord accompany us, so that, at the end of Lent, we may worthily celebrate his victory on the cross. God bless all of you abundantly!

February 22, 2012

Pope: Lent a time for mature decisions

   The forty days of Lent, reflecting Christ’s forty days in the desert, were the focus of Pope Benedict XVI’s catechesis this Ash Wednesday. Speaking to pilgrims in the Paul VI audience hall, the Holy Father reflected on the condition of the pilgrim Church in the "desert" of the world and history.

   Speaking in Italian, the Pope said the period of 40 days “does not represent an exact chronological time, divided by the sum of the days. Rather it indicates a patient perseverance, a long trial, a sufficient period to see the works of God, a time within which we must make up our minds and to decide to accept our own responsibilities without additional references. It is the time for mature decisions”.

   Pope Benedict also said: “In this "desert" we believers certainly have the opportunity to profoundly experience God, an experience that makes the spirit strong, confirms the faith, nourishes hope, animates charity; an experience that makes us partakers of Christ's victory over sin and death through the Sacrifice of love on the Cross. But the "desert" is also the negative aspects of the reality that surrounds us: the arid, the poverty of words of life and of values, secularism and the materialist culture, which shut people within a horizon of mundane existence, robbing them of all reference to transcendence. And this is also the environment in which the sky above us is obscured, because covered by the clouds of egoism, misunderstanding and deception. Despite this, even for the Church of today the period in the desert can be transformed into a time of grace, because we have the certainty that even from the hardest rock God can bring forth the living water that refreshes and restores”.

Below a Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s Catechesis:

Dear brothers and sisters,

   in this Catechesis I would like to dwell briefly on the season of Lent, which begins today with the Liturgy of Ash Wednesday. It is a journey of forty days that will lead us to the Paschal Triduum, memorial of the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord, the heart of the mystery of our salvation. In the early centuries of the Church this was the time when those who had heard and accepted the message of Christ began, step by step, their journey of faith and conversion to receive the sacrament of baptism. It was a drawing close to the living God and an initiation of the faith to be gradually accomplished, through an inner change in the catechumens, that is, those who wished to become Christians and thus be incorporated into Christ and the Church.

   Subsequently, penitents, and then all the faithful were invited to experience this journey of spiritual renewal, to conform themselves and their lives to that of Christ. The participation of the whole community in the different steps of the Lenten path emphasizes an important dimension of Christian spirituality: redemption is not available to only a few, but to all, through the death and resurrection of Christ. Therefore, those who follow a journey of faith as catechumens to receive baptism, those who had strayed from God and the community of faith and seek reconciliation and those who lived their faith in full communion with the Church, together knew that the period before Easter is a period of metanoia, that is, of inner change, of repentance, the period that identifies our human life and our entire history as a process of conversion that is set in motion now in order to meet the Lord at the end of time.

   In an expression that has become typical in the Liturgy, the Church calls the period in which we are now entering "Quadragesima," in short a period of forty days and, with a clear reference to Sacred Scripture, it introduces us to a specific spiritual context. Forty is in fact the symbolic number in which salient moments of the experience of faith of the People of God are expressed. A figure that expresses the time of waiting, purification, return to the Lord, the awareness that God is faithful to his promises. This number does not represent an exact chronological time, divided by the sum of the days. Rather it indicates a patient perseverance, a long trial, a sufficient period to see the works of God, a time within which we must make up our minds and to decide to accept our own responsibilities without additional references. It is the time for mature decisions.

   The number forty first appears in the story of Noah.

   This just man because of the flood spends forty days and forty nights in the ark, along with his family and animals that God had told him to bring. He waits for another forty days, after the flood, before finding land, saved from destruction (Gen 7,4.12, 8.6). Then, the next stop, Moses on Mount Sinai, in the presence of the Lord, for forty days and forty nights to receive the Law. He fasts throughout this period (Exodus 24:18). Forty, the number of years the Jewish people journeyed from Egypt to the Promised Land, the right amount of time for them to experience the faithfulness of God: " Remember how for these forty years the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the wilderness... The clothing did not fall from you in tatters, nor did your feet swell these forty years, "says Moses in Deuteronomy at the end of the forty years of migration (Dt 8,2.4). The years of peace enjoyed by Israel under the Judges are forty (Judg. 3,11.30), but, once this time ended, forgetfulness of the gifts of God begins and a return to sin.

   The prophet Elijah takes forty days to reach Horeb, the mountain where he meets God (1 Kings 19.8). Forty are the days during which the people of Nineveh do penance for the forgiveness of God (Gen 3.4). Forty were also the years of the reign of Saul (Acts 13:21), David (2 Sam 5:4-5) and Solomon (1 Kings 11:41), the first three kings of Israel. Even the biblical Psalms reflect on the meaning of the forty years, such as Psalm 95 for example, of which we heard a passage: "If you would listen to his voice today! " Oh, that today you would hear his voice: Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the desert. There your ancestors tested me; they tried me though they had seen my works. Forty years I loathed that generation; I said: “This people’s heart goes astray; they do not know my ways"(vv. 7c-10).

   In the New Testament Jesus, before beginning of his public life, retires to the desert for forty days without food or drink (Matt. 4.2): he nourishes himself on the Word of God, which he uses as a weapon to conquer the devil. The temptations of Jesus recall those the Jewish people faced in the desert, but could not conquer. Forty are the days during which the risen Jesus instructs his disciples, before ascending to heaven and sending the Holy Spirit (Acts 1.3).

   A spiritual context is described by this recurring number forty, one that remains current and valid, and the Church, precisely through the days of Lent, intends to maintain its enduring value and make us aware of its efficacy. The Christian liturgy of Lent is intended to facilitate a journey of spiritual renewal in the light of this long biblical experience and especially to learn how to imitate Jesus, who in the forty days spent in the desert taught how to overcome temptation with the Word of God. The forty years of Israel’s wandering in the desert present us with ambivalent attitudes and situations. On the one hand they are the first season of love between God and his people when He spoke to his heart, continuously indicating the path to follow to them. God had pitched his tent, so to speak, in the midst of Israel, He preceded it in a cloud or a pillar of fire, ensured its daily nourishment showering manna upon them, and bringing forth water from rock. Therefore, the years spent by Israel in the desert can be seen as the time of the special election of God and adherence to Him by the people. The time of first love. On the other hand, the Bible also shows another image of Israel's wanderings in the desert: it is also the time of the greatest temptations and dangers, when Israel murmured against God and wanted to return to paganism and builds its own idols, as a need to worship a closer and more tangible God. It is also a time of rebellion against the great and invisible God.

   This ambivalence, a period of special closeness to God, of first love and of temptation, the attempted return to paganism that characterized Israel in the desert, we find once again in a surprising way even in Jesus' earthly journey, of course without any compromise with sin. After his baptism of repentance in the Jordan, in which he takes upon himself the destiny of the Servant of Yahweh God who renounces himself and lives for others and places himself among sinners, to take upon himself the sins of the world, Jesus went to stay in the desert for forty days in deep union with the Father, thus repeating the history of Israel and all these rhythms of forty days a year. This dynamic is a constant in the earthly life of Jesus, who always seeks moments of solitude to pray to his Father and remain in close and intimate communion with Him alone, and exclusive communion with Him, and then return among the people. But in these times of "desert" and special encounter with the Father, Jesus is exposed to danger and is assailed by temptation and the seduction of devil, who offers him another messianic way, far from God's plan, because it passes through power, success, dominion and not through the total gift on the Cross. This is the alternative, messianism of power, of success, not messianism of gift and love of self.

   This ambivalence also describes the condition of the pilgrim Church in the "desert" of the world and history. In this "desert" we believers certainly have the opportunity to profoundly experience God, an experience that makes the spirit strong, confirms the faith, nourishes hope, animates charity; an experience that makes us partakers of Christ's victory over sin and death through the Sacrifice of love on the Cross. But the "desert" is also the negative aspects of the reality that surrounds us: the arid, the poverty of words of life and of values, secularism and the materialist culture, which shut people within a horizon of mundane existence, robbing them of all reference to transcendence. And this is also the environment in which the sky above us is obscured, because covered by the clouds of egoism, misunderstanding and deception. Despite this, even for the Church of today the time of the desert can be transformed into a time of grace, because we have the certainty that even from the hardest rock God can bring forth the living water that refreshes and restores.

   Dear brothers and sisters, in these forty days that will lead us to Easter may we find new courage to accept with patience and with faith situations of difficulty, of affliction and trial, knowing that from the darkness the Lord will make a new day dawn. And if we are faithful to Jesus and follow him on the way of the Cross, the bright world of God, the world of light, truth and joy will be gifted to us once more: it will be the new dawn created by God himself. May you all have a good Lenten journey!

February 19, 2012

Pope celebrates Mass with new Cardinals,

prays Angelus with faithful

   Pope Benedict XVI was the principal celebrant at Mass on Sunday morning in St. Peter’s Basilica, with the twenty-two Cardinals he created the day before during the course of an Ordinary Public Consistory he had called for just that purpose. In his homily, the Holy Father stressed the centrality of the Petrine ministry – the special office of care and responsibility for the whole Church everywhere in the world, which the Bishop of Rome exercises in virtue of his being the Successor to St. Peter. Focusing on the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, which was moved forward to Sunday from its usual calendar place on February 22^nd, since this coming February 22^nd is Ash Wednesday, the Holy Father explained:
   Saint Peter’s chair, we could say, is the throne of truth which takes its origin from Christ’s commission after the confession at Caesarea Philippi. The magisterial chair also reminds us of the words spoken to Peter by the Lord during the Last Supper: “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren.”
   Describing the great chair present in the Basilica behind the High Altar, Pope Benedict noted that it is supported by the Fathers of the Church – symbolically represented in statues that bear the chair. “The two Eastern masters, Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Athanasius, together with the Latins, Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine, represent the whole of the tradition, and hence the richness of expression of the true faith of the one Church,” said Pope Benedict. “This aspect of the altar teaches us that love rests upon faith. Love collapses if man no longer trusts in God and disobeys him. Everything in the Church rests upon faith: the sacraments, the liturgy, evangelization, charity. Likewise the law and the Church’s authority rest upon faith.”
   “Indeed,” said Pope Benedict, “faith is oriented towards love.”
   “Dear brothers and sisters,” he said, “the gift of this love has been entrusted to us, to every Christian. It is a gift to be passed on to others, through the witness of our lives.”
   “This,” he told the new Cardinals, “is your task in particular: to bear witness to the joy of Christ’s love.”
   It was a theme to which the Holy Father returned in his Angelus address to the thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the occasion. “Dear friends,” he said before the ancient prayer of Marian devotion, “we entrust the new Cardinals to the maternal protection of Mary Most Holy, asking that she always assist them in their service to the Church and sustain them in the trials,” they shall face.
   The Holy Father asked that Mary, Mother of the Church, help him and his collaborators to work tirelessly for the unity of the People of God and to proclaim to all peoples the message of salvation, humbly and courageously serving the truth in love.
   After the Angelus, Pope Benedict had greetings for the faithful in many languages, including English:
   I welcome all the English-speaking visitors present for this Angelus prayer, especially those accompanying the new Cardinals. In today’s Gospel, Jesus grants healing and life in body and soul in response to faith. May we too believe and trust in Christ, and seek from him both forgiveness of sin and the power to live a new life of grace. Upon all of you I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace!

Below is the full text of Pope Benedict XVI's homily:

Dear Cardinals,
Brother Bishops and Priests,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
   On this solemnity of the Chair of Saint Peter, we have the joy of gathering around the altar of the Lord together with the new Cardinals whom yesterday I incorporated into the College of Cardinals. It is to them, first of all, that I offer my cordial greetings and I thank Cardinal Fernando Filoni for the gracious words he has addressed to me in the name of all. I extend my greetings to the other Cardinals and all the Bishops present, as well as to the distinguished authorities, ambassadors, priests, religious and all the faithful who have come from different parts of the world for this happy occasion, which is marked by a particular character of universality.
   In the second reading that we have just heard, Saint Peter exhorts the “elders” of the Church to be zealous pastors, attentive to the flock of Christ (cf. 1 Pet 5:1-2). These words are addressed in the first instance to you, my dear venerable brothers, who have already shown great merit among the people of God through your wise and generous pastoral ministry in demanding dioceses, or through presiding over the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, or in your service to the Church through study and teaching. The new dignity that has been conferred upon you is intended to show appreciation for the faithful labour you have carried out in the Lord’s vineyard, to honour the communities and nations from which you come and which you represent so worthily in the Church, to invest you with new and more important ecclesial responsibilities and finally to ask of you an additional readiness to be of service to Christ and to the entire Christian community. This readiness to serve the Gospel is firmly founded upon the certitude of faith. We know that God is faithful to his promises and we await in hope the fulfilment of these words of Saint Peter: “And when the chief shepherd is manifested you will obtain the unfading crown of glory” (1 Pet 5:4).
   Today’s Gospel passage presents Peter, under divine inspiration, expressing his own firm faith in Jesus as the Son of God and the promised Messiah. In response to this transparent profession of faith, which Peter makes in the name of the other Apostles as well, Christ reveals to him the mission he intends to entrust to him, namely that of being the “rock”, the visible foundation on which the entire spiritual edifice of the Church is built (cf. Mt 16:16-19). This new name of “rock” is not a reference to Peter’s personal character, but can be understood only on the basis of a deeper aspect, a mystery: through the office that Jesus confers upon him, Simon Peter will become something that, in terms of “flesh and blood”, he is not. The exegete Joachim Jeremias has shown that in the background, the symbolic language of “holy rock” is present. In this regard, it is helpful to consider a rabbinic text which states: “The Lord said, ‘How can I create the world, when these godless men will rise up in revolt against me?’ But when God saw that Abraham was to be born, he said, ‘Look, I have found a rock on which I can build and establish the world.’ Therefore he called Abraham a rock.” The prophet Isaiah makes reference to this when he calls upon the people to “look to the rock from which you were hewn ... look to Abraham your father” (51:1-2). On account of his faith, Abraham, the father of believers, is seen as the rock that supports creation. Simon, the first to profess faith in Jesus as the Christ and the first witness of the resurrection, now, on the basis of his renewed faith, becomes the rock that is to prevail against the destructive forces of evil.
   Dear brothers and sisters, this Gospel episode that has been proclaimed to us finds a further and more eloquent explanation in one of the most famous artistic treasures of this Vatican Basilica: the altar of the Chair. After passing through the magnificent central nave, and continuing past the transepts, the pilgrim arrives in the apse and sees before him an enormous bronze throne that seems to hover in mid air, but in reality is supported by the four statues of great Fathers of the Church from East and West. And above the throne, surrounded by triumphant angels suspended in the air, the glory of the Holy Spirit shines through the oval window. What does this sculptural composition say to us, this product of Bernini’s genius? It represents a vision of the essence of the Church and the place within the Church of the Petrine Magisterium.
   The window of the apse opens the Church towards the outside, towards the whole of creation, while the image of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove shows God as the source of light. But there is also another aspect to point out: the Church herself is like a window, the place where God draws near to us, where he comes towards our world. The Church does not exist for her own sake, she is not the point of arrival, but she has to point upwards, beyond herself, to the realms above. The Church is truly herself to the extent that she allows the Other, with a capital “O”, to shine through her – the One from whom she comes and to whom she leads. The Church is the place where God “reaches” us and where we “set off” towards him: she has the task of opening up, beyond itself, a world which tends to become enclosed within itself, the task of bringing to the world the light that comes from above, without which it would be uninhabitable.
   The great bronze throne encloses a wooden chair from the ninth century, which was long thought to be Saint Peter’s own chair and was placed above this monumental altar because of its great symbolic value. It expresses the permanent presence of the Apostle in the Magisterium of his successors. Saint Peter’s chair, we could say, is the throne of truth which takes its origin from Christ’s commission after the confession at Caesarea Philippi. The magisterial chair also reminds us of the words spoken to Peter by the Lord during the Last Supper: “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren” (Lk 22:32).
   The chair of Peter evokes another memory: the famous expression from Saint Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Romans, where he says of the Church of Rome that she “presides in charity” (Salutation, PG 5, 801). In truth, presiding in faith is inseparably linked to presiding in love. Faith without love would no longer be an authentic Christian faith. But the words of Saint Ignatius have another much more concrete implication: the word “charity”, in fact, was also used by the early Church to indicate the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the Sacramentum caritatis Christi, through which Christ continues to draw us all to himself, as he did when raised up on the Cross (cf. Jn 12:32). Therefore, to “preside in charity” is to draw men and women into a eucharistic embrace – the embrace of Christ – which surpasses every barrier and every division, creating communion from all manner of differences. The Petrine ministry is therefore a primacy of love in the eucharistic sense, that is to say solicitude for the universal communion of the Church in Christ. And the Eucharist is the shape and the measure of this communion, a guarantee that it will remain faithful to the criterion of the tradition of the faith.
   The great Chair is supported by the Fathers of the Church. The two Eastern masters, Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Athanasius, together with the Latins, Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine, represent the whole of the tradition, and hence the richness of expression of the true faith of the one Church. This aspect of the altar teaches us that love rests upon faith. Love collapses if man no longer trusts in God and disobeys him. Everything in the Church rests upon faith: the sacraments, the liturgy, evangelization, charity. Likewise the law and the Church’s authority rest upon faith. The Church is not self-regulating, she does not determine her own structure but receives it from the word of God, to which she listens in faith as she seeks to understand it and to live it. Within the ecclesial community, the Fathers of the Church fulfil the function of guaranteeing fidelity to sacred Scripture. They ensure that the Church receives reliable and solid exegesis, capable of forming with the Chair of Peter a stable and consistent whole. The sacred Scriptures, authoritatively interpreted by the Magisterium in the light of the Fathers, shed light upon the Church’s journey through time, providing her with a stable foundation amid the vicissitudes of history.
   After considering the various elements of the altar of the Chair, let us take a look at it in its entirety. We see that it is characterized by a twofold movement: ascending and descending. This is the reciprocity between faith and love. The Chair is placed in a prominent position in this place, because this is where Saint Peter’s tomb is located, but this too tends towards the love of God. Indeed, faith is oriented towards love. A selfish faith would be an unreal faith. Whoever believes in Jesus Christ and enters into the dynamic of love that finds its source in the Eucharist, discovers true joy and becomes capable in turn of living according to the logic of gift. True faith is illumined by love and leads towards love, leads on high, just as the altar of the Chair points upwards towards the luminous window, the glory of the Holy Spirit, which constitutes the true focus for the pilgrim’s gaze as he crosses the threshold of the Vatican Basilica. That window is given great prominence by the triumphant angels and the great golden rays, with a sense of overflowing fulness that expresses the richness of communion with God. God is not isolation, but glorious and joyful love, spreading outwards and radiant with light.
   Dear brothers and sisters, the gift of this love has been entrusted to us, to every Christian. It is a gift to be passed on to others, through the witness of our lives. This is your task in particular, dear brother Cardinals: to bear witness to the joy of Christ’s love. We now entrust your ecclesial service to the Virgin Mary, who was present among the apostolic community as they gathered in prayer, waiting for the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14). May she, Mother of the Incarnate Word, protect the Church’s path, support the work of the pastors by her intercession and take under her mantle the entire College of Cardinals. Amen!

February 18, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI's allocution to new cardinals

Venerable Brothers,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

   With these words the entrance hymn has led us into the solemn and evocative ritual of the ordinary public Consistory for the creation of new Cardinals, with the placing of the biretta, the handing over of the ring and the assigning of a titular church. They are the efficacious words with which Jesus constituted Peter as the solid foundation of the Church. On such a foundation the faith represents the qualitative factor: Simon becomes Peter – the Rock – in as much as he professed his faith in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God. In the proclamation of Christ the Church is bound to Peter and Peter is placed in the Church as a rock; although it is Christ himself who builds up the Church, Peter must always be a constitutive element of that upbuilding. He will always be such through faithfulness to his confession made at Caesarea Philippi, in virtue of the affirmation, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”.

   The words Jesus addressed to Peter highlight well the ecclesial character of today’s event. The new Cardinals, in receiving the title of a church in this city or of a suburban Diocese, are fully inserted in the Church of Rome led by the Successor of Peter, in order to cooperate closely with him in governing the universal Church. These beloved Brothers, who in a few minutes’ time will enter and become part of the College of Cardinals, will be united with new and stronger bonds not only to the Roman Pontiff but also to the entire community of the faithful spread throughout the world. In carrying out their particular service in support of the Petrine ministry, the new Cardinals will be called to consider and evaluate the events, the problems and the pastoral criteria which concern the mission of the entire Church. In this delicate task, the life and the death of the Prince of the Apostles, who for love of Christ gave himself even unto the ultimate sacrifice, will be an example and a helpful witness of faith for the new Cardinals.

   It is with this meaning that the placing of the red biretta is also to be understood. The new Cardinals are entrusted with the service of love: love for God, love for his Church, an absolute and unconditional love for his brothers and sisters, even unto shedding their blood, if necessary, as expressed in the words of placing the biretta and as indicated by the colour of their robes. Furthermore, they are asked to serve the Church with love and vigour, with the transparency and wisdom of teachers, with the energy and strength of shepherds, with the fidelity and courage of martyrs. They are to be eminent servants of the Church that finds in Peter the visible foundation of unity.

   In the Gospel we have just heard proclaimed there is offered a model to imitate and to follow. Against the background of the third prediction of the Passion, death and resurrection of the Son of Man, and in profound contrast to it, is placed the scene of the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, who are still pursuing dreams of glory beside Jesus. They ask him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (Mk 10:37). The response of Jesus is striking, and he asks an unexpected question: “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?” (Mk 10:38). The allusion is crystal clear: the chalice is that of the Passion, which Jesus accepts as the will of God. Serving God and others, self-giving: this is the logic which authentic faith imparts and develops in our daily lives and which is not the type of power and glory which belongs to this world.

   By their request, James and John demonstrate that they do not understand the logic of the life to which Jesus witnesses, that logic which – according to the Master – must characterize the disciple in his spirit and in his actions. The erroneous logic is not the sole preserve of the two sons of Zebedee because, as the evangelist narrates, it also spreads to “the other ten” apostles who “began to be indignant at James and John” (Mk 10:41). They were indignant, because it is not easy to enter into the logic of the Gospel and to let go of power and glory. Saint John Chrysostom affirms that all of the apostles were imperfect, whether it was the two who wished to lift themselves above the other ten, or whether it was the ten who were jealous of them (“Commentary on Matthew”, 65, 4: PG 58, 619-622). Commenting on the parallel passages in the Gospel of Luke, Saint Cyril of Alexandria adds, “The disciples had fallen into human weakness and were discussing among themselves which one would be the leader and superior to the others… This happened and is recounted for our advantage… What happened to the holy Apostles can be understood by us as an incentive to humility” (“Commentary on Luke”, 12, 5, 24: PG 72, 912). This episode gives Jesus a way to address each of the disciples and “to call them to himself”, almost to pull them in, to form them into one indivisible body with him, and to indicate which is the path to real glory, that of God: “You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all” (Mk 10:42-44).

   Dominion and service, egoism and altruism, possession and gift, self-interest and gratuitousness: these profoundly contrasting approaches confront each other in every age and place. There is no doubt about the path chosen by Jesus: he does not merely indicate it with words to the disciples of then and of today, but he lives it in his own flesh. He explains, in fact, “For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45). These words shed light upon today’s public Consistory with a particular intensity. They resound in the depths of the soul and represent an invitation and a reminder, a commission and an encouragement especially for you, dear and venerable Brothers who are about to be enrolled in the College of Cardinals.

   According to biblical tradition, the Son of man is the one who receives power and dominion from God (cf. Dan 7:13f). Jesus interprets his mission on earth by combining the figure of the Son of man with that of the suffering Servant, described in Isaiah (cf. 53:1-12). He receives power and the glory only inasmuch as he is “servant”; but he is servant inasmuch as he welcomes within himself the fate of the suffering and the sin of all humanity. His service is realized in total faithfulness and complete responsibility towards mankind. In this way the free acceptance of his violent death becomes the price of freedom for many, it becomes the beginning and the foundation of the redemption of each person and of the entire human race.

   Dear Brothers who are to be enrolled in the College of Cardinals, may Christ’s total gift of self on the Cross be for you the foundation, stimulus and strength of a faith operative in charity. May your mission in the Church and the world always be “in Christ” alone, responding to his logic and not that of the world, and may it be illumined by faith and animated by charity which comes to us from the glorious Cross of the Lord. On the ring which I will soon place on your finger, are represented Saints Peter and Paul, and in the middle a star which evokes the Mother of God. Wearing this ring, you are reminded each day to remember the witness which these two Apostles gave to Christ even unto martyrdom here in Rome, their blood making the Church fruitful. The example of the Virgin Mother will always be for you an invitation to follow her who was strong in faith and a humble servant of the Lord.

   As I bring these brief reflections to a close, I would like to extend warm greetings and thanks to all present, especially to the official Delegations from various countries and to the various diocesan groups. The new Cardinals, in their service, are called to remain faithful to Christ at all times, letting themselves be guided only by his Gospel. Dear brothers and sisters, pray that their lives will always reflect the Lord Jesus, our sole shepherd and teacher, source of every hope, who points out the path to everyone. And pray also for me, that I may continually offer to the People of God the witness of sound doctrine and guide holy Church with a firm and humble hand.

February 15, 2012

Pope: We never fall from God’s embrace

   Jesus’ last prayer on the Cross, in the face of death, teaches us “no matter how hard the trial, difficult the problem, heavy the suffering, we never fall from the hands of God”, said Pope Benedict XVI Wednesday as he dedicated the second general audience to the last words of Christ.

   In his catechesis in Italian, to a packed Paul VI audience hall, the Holy Father said “In our school of prayer last week I spoke about Christ’s prayer on the Cross, taken from Psalm 22 "My God, my God why have you forsaken me". Now I would like to continue to meditate on the prayers of Jesus on the cross in the imminence of death and today I would like to focus on the narrative that we encounter in the Gospel of St. Luke. The Evangelist has handed down three words of Jesus on the cross, two of which - the first and third - are explicitly prayers to the Father. The second one consists of the promise made to the so-called good thief crucified with him, answering, in fact, the thief’s prayer, Jesus reassures him: "Truly I tell you today will be with me in Paradise" (Lk 23 , 43). The two prayers of the dying Jesus and the acceptance of the repentant sinner’s supplication to Him are suggestively entwined in Luke's account. Jesus both prays to the Father and hears the prayer of this man who is often called latro poenitens, "the repentant thief."
   Let us dwell on these three prayers of Jesus. The first pronounced immediately after being nailed to the cross, while the soldiers are dividing his garments as sad reward of their service. In a way this gesture closes the process of crucifixion. St. Luke writes: "When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. [Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”] They divided his garments by casting lots "(23.33 to 34). The first prayer that Jesus addresses to the Father is one of intercession: He asks forgiveness for his executioners. With this, Jesus in person carries out what he had taught in the Sermon on the Mount when he said: " But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you " (Lk 6:27) and also promised to those who can forgive, "then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High " (v. 35). Now, from the cross, He not only forgives his executioners, but speaks directly to the Father interceding on their behalf.
   This is attitude of Jesus' finds a moving 'imitation' in the story of the stoning of St. Stephen, the first martyr. Stephen, in fact, coming to an end, "knelt down and cried with a loud voice:" Lord, do not hold this sin against them". That said, he died "(Acts 7.60). It was his last word. The comparison of the prayer for forgiveness of Jesus and that of the martyr is significant. Stephen turns to the Risen Lord and calls for his murder - a gesture clearly defined by the expression "this sin" - is not imputed against those who stone him. Jesus addresses the Father on the cross and not only asks for forgiveness for his executioners, but also offers a reading of what is happening. In his words, in fact, the men who crucify him "know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). He gives that ignorance, "not knowing" as the reason for the request for forgiveness from the Father, for this ignorance leaves the way open to conversion, as is the case in the words that the centurion spoke at Jesus' death: " This man was innocent beyond doubt"(v. 47), he was the Son of God". It is a consolation for all times and for all men that the Lord, both for those who really did not know - the killers - and those who knew and condemned him, gives ignorance as the reason for asking for forgiveness – he sees it as a door that can open us up to repentance "(Jesus of Nazareth, II, 233).
   The second prayer of Jesus on the cross as told by St. Luke is a word of hope, is His answer to the prayer of one of the two men crucified with Him. The good thief before Jesus returned to himself and repents, he feels himself to be before the Son of God, who reveals the Face of God, and prays: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom" (v. 42). The Lord's answer to this prayer goes far beyond the supplication, he says: " Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (v. 43). Jesus is aware of entering directly into communion with the Father and of reopening the path for the man to God’s paradise. So through this response gives the firm hope that the goodness of God can touch us even at the last moment of life and that sincere prayer, even after a life of wrong, meets the open arms of the good Father who awaits the return of his son.
   But let us pause on the last words of the dying Jesus. The Evangelist says: " It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”; and when he had said this he breathed his last."(vv. 44-46). Some aspects of this narrative are different than the picture offered in Mark and Matthew. The three hours of darkness are not described in Mark, while Matthew they are connected with a different set of apocalyptic events, such as the earthquake, the opening of graves, the dead raised to life (cf. Mt 27.51-53). In Luke, the hours of darkness are caused by the eclipse of the sun, but at that moment is the veil of the temple is also torn. In this way Luke's account has two signs, in some way parallel, in heaven and in the temple. The sky loses its light, the land sinks, while in the temple, the place of God's presence, tears the veil that protects the shrine. The death of Jesus is explicitly characterized as a cosmic and liturgical event, in particular, it marks the beginning of a new worship in a temple not built by men, because it is the very Body of Jesus dead and risen, that brings together the people and they are joined in the Sacrament of his Body and his Blood.
   The prayer of Jesus in this moment of suffering - "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit" - is a loud cry of extreme and total trust in God. This prayer express the full awareness of not being abandoned. The opening invocation - "Father" - recalls his first declaration as a twelve year old boy. Then he remained for three days in the temple of Jerusalem, the veil of which is now torn. And when his parents had expressed their concern, he replied: " Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s ho "(Luke 2.49). From beginning to end, what completely determines the Jesus’s sentiments, his words, his actions, is His unique relationship with the Father. On the cross He also fully lives, in love, his filial relationship with God, which animates his prayer.
   The words spoken by Jesus, after the invocation "Father," are taken from the expression of Psalm 31: "Into your hands I commend my spirit" (Ps. 31.6). These words, however, are not a simple quote, but rather show a firm decision: Jesus "delivers” himself to the Father in an act of total abandonment. These words are a prayer of 'custody', full of confidence in the love of God. The prayer of Jesus before his death is tragic as it is for every man, but at the same time, it is pervaded by the deep calm that comes from trust in the Father and the will abandon himself totally to Him. In Gethsemane, when he entered the final fight and intense prayer and was about to be "delivered into the hands of men" (Lk 9.44), his sweat became "like drops of blood falling to the ground" (Luke 22:44). But his heart was fully obedient to the will of the Father, and "an angel from heaven" had come to comfort him (cf. Lk 22.42 to 43). Now, in his last moments, Jesus addresses the Father saying into which hands he really surrenders his whole life. Even before leaving for the journey to Jerusalem, Jesus had insisted with his disciples, " Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men." (Lk 9.44). Now, that life is about to leave him, he seals his final decision in prayer: Jesus allowed himself to be delivered "into the hands of men", but it is into the hands of the Father that He raises his spirit, so - as stated by the Evangelist John - it is finished, the supreme act of love is brought to an end, to the limit and beyond the limit.
   Dear brothers and sisters, the words of Jesus on the cross in the last moments of his earthly life offer challenging indications to our prayers, but also open them to a quiet confidence and a firm hope. Jesus by asking the Father to forgive those who are crucifying him, invites us to the difficult act of praying for those who do us wrong, who have damaged us, knowing always how to forgive, so the light of God may illuminate their hearts, inviting us, that is, to live in our prayers, the same attitude of mercy and love that God has towards us: "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive our those who trespass against us," we say every day in the "Our Father." At the same time, Jesus in the final moment of death, by placing himself entirely in the hands of God the Father, communicates to us the certainty that, no matter how hard the trial, difficult the problem, heavy the suffering, we never fall from the hands of God, those hands that created us, support us and accompany us on the journey of life, because guided by an infinite and faithful love.

February 12, 2012

Pope Benedict: God desires to heal us 

   Healing was the theme of Pope Benedict’s weekly Angelus address, delivered this morning in St. Peter’s Square. The Holy Father spoke about today’s Gospel, which relates how a leper had come to Christ, saying “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus replied, saying, “I do will it, be made clean.”

   “In that gesture and in those words of Christ,” the Pope said, “is the whole history of salvation, there is embodied the will of God to heal, to cleanse us from the evil that disfigures us and destroys our relationships”.

   Pope Benedict spoke of the “existential commentary” on this Gospel passage in the life of Saint Francis, who recognised Christ in a leper. When, overcoming his initial revulsion, Francis nonetheless embraced the leper, “Jesus healed him of his leprosy—that is, his pride—and converted him to the love of God. This,” the Pope said, “is the victory of Christ, which is our deep healing and our resurrection to new life!”

   The Pope concluded his remarks with a prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose apparition at Lourdes was commemorated yesterday. Our Lady, he said, gave to St. Bernadette, the visionary of Lourdes, a timeless message: the call to prayer and penance.

   At the end of his address, Pope Benedict made an urgent appeal for an end to violence and bloodshed in Syria. He called all people to remember in prayer the victims of the conflict. And he called on everyone—and above all the political authorities in Syria—to favor the path of dialogue, reconciliation and commitment to peace.

February 8, 2012

Pope: The cry of Jesus from the Cross

   “In our relationship with the Lord, in front of the most difficult and painful situations, when it seems that God does not listen, we need not fear to entrust to Him all the weight we carry in our hearts, we must not be afraid to cry out to Him in our suffering”, said Pope Benedict XVI Wednesday as he continued his series of lessons on Christ’s prayer in his General Audience, this week focusing on the cry of Jesus from the Cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
   He said : “This cry comes after a three-hour period when there was darkness over the whole land. Darkness is an ambivalent symbol in the Bible – while it is frequently a sign of the power of evil, it can also serve to express a mysterious divine presence. Just as Moses was covered in the dark cloud when God appeared to him on the mountain, so Jesus on Calvary is wrapped in darkness. Even though the Father appears to be absent, in a mysterious way his loving gaze is focussed upon the Son’s loving sacrifice on the Cross.
   In comments in Italian Pope Benedict said: “Jesus prays at the time of ultimate rejection by men, at the time of abandonment; he prays, however, aware of the presence of God the Father in this hour in which he feels the human drama of death. But we wonder: how could a God so powerful not intervene to save his Son from this terrible ordeal? It is important to understand that the prayer of Jesus is not the cry of one who goes to meet death with despair, nor is it the cry of one who knows himself to be abandoned. Jesus then makes his Psalm 22, the Psalm of the people of Israel that suffers, and in this way not only takes upon Himself the punishment of his people, but also that of all men who suffer from the oppression of evil and at the same time, brings all of this to the heart of God himself in the certainty that his cry will be heard in the resurrection”.
   “This prayer of Jesus encloses the utmost confidence and abandonment in God's hands, even when He seems absent, even when He seems to remain silent, according to a design that is incomprehensible to us. His is a suffering in communion with us and for us, that comes from love and already carries within redemption, the victory of love”.
   The Holy Father concluded: “Dear friends, in prayer we bring our daily crosses to God, in the certainty that He is present and hears us. The cry of Jesus reminds us that in prayer we must overcome the barriers of our "self" and our problems and open ourselves to the needs and suffering of others. The prayer of the dying Jesus on the Cross teaches us to pray with love for so many brothers and sisters who feel the weight of everyday life, who are experiencing difficult moments, who are in pain, without a word of comfort, so that they too can feel the love of the God who never abandons”.
   Following his catechesis Pope Benedict launched an appeal for all the victims of a deadly cold snap that has gripped much of Europe this week: “In recent weeks a wave of cold and frost has swept some regions of Europe causing great inconvenience and considerable damage. I wish to express my closeness to people affected by this intense bad weather, while I invite prayers for the victims and their families. At the same time I encourage solidarity so that those who are suffering from these tragic events are generously supported”.
   And finally he had greetings for pilgrims present in the Paul VI hall: “I greet all the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims present at today’s Audience, including groups from England, Ireland, Norway and the United States of America. I extend a special welcome to the many students who are here, and I pray that your studies may serve to deepen your knowledge and love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Whatever darkness you experience in your lives, may you always remain firm in faith, hope and love. May God bless all of you!”

February 5, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI: Overcoming illness with faith

    St Peter’s Square was very much the picture postcard scene this Sunday as a blanket of snow covered the ground and monuments.

   Pope Benedict as he greeted the estimated 10 thousand faithful gather was wrapped up warm in a white coat to guard against the chill in the air.

   At weeks Angelus Pope Benedict took his inspiration from Sunday’s Gospel

   “In the Gospel this Sunday, we learn of the healing that Jesus brought to many who were suffering from diseases of one kind or another. We commend to him all those known to us who are in need of healing and we ask him to take away our own hardness of heart, so that we may respond more generously to his love.”

   The Holy Father went on to describe disease as “a sign of Evil in the world and in man”, and he added that, “healing shows that the Kingdom of God is near.”

   In sickness, said the Pope "you can experience the attention of others”, but he also said that you have the chance to “give attention to others."

   Empathizing with those who suffer, the Holy Father described disease, as a condition, that "can become too long and difficult", and "when healing does not come and suffering is extended, we can remain isolated and overwhelmed."

   The Holy Father made his reflections, a few days before the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, and the World Day of the Sick, saying, we must react to illness, "with the appropriate care," but also with faith.

   "In sickness the Pope said we all need human warmth." He also pointed out that on Sunday the 5^th in Italy the Day for Life is celebrated.

   "As Jesus faced the devil, Pope Benedict said, the power of love came from the Father, so we can face and overcome disease by keeping the heart immersed in the love of God."

February 2, 2012

Pope celebrates World Day of Consecrated Life

   On Thursday evening, Pope Benedict celebrated Solemn Vespers for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord at Saint Peter’s Basilica. The Feast celebrates the presentation of Jesus in the Temple forty days after his birth, and is also known as Candlemas on account of the Blessing of Candles and Procession that take place during the liturgy. In his homily during Vespers, the Holy Father noted that the liturgical significance of the Feast, and especially the idea of Christ the Light: “This is one of those cases in which liturgical time follows historical time, because today we mark precisely forty days from the feast of Christmas; the theme of Christ the Light, which has characterized the series of Christmas feasts and culminated in the Feast of the Epiphany, is taken up and extended to the celebration today."
    The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord also marks the observance of World Day for Consecrated Life. The Holy Father connected the Gospel story of the Presentation of Christ with the consecration of men and women who have dedicated their lives to the Church: “On today’s feast we therefore celebrate the mystery of consecration: the consecration of Christ, the consecration of Mary, the consecration of all those who commit themselves to following Jesus for the sake of the Kingdom of God.” The yearly celebration is an opportunity to express gratitude for the work of those who have dedicated their lives to the service of God and of their neighbour by embracing the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. At the same time, it offers a chance to promote vocations to consecrated life, especially through prayer.
    Father Bernd Hagenkord – a Jesuit for almost twenty years – spoke about the meaning of the “It means a couple of things: praising God for the gift of vocations, of having this particular kind of vocation… and praying for more of them – it’s also a day of prayer for vocations… and renewal, we need constant renewal … of the charism we try to live. So these three things come together in celebrating this day.”
    Consecrated life, he said, is one of the ways in which men and women try to recognise Jesus Christ in the world: “We try to do that… it is one way of recognising Jesus Christ in the world so that’s what we try to do, and try to be – or we are called to be, I should rather say. And this is what connects this particular charism to this Feast of today.”

February 1, 2012

Pope Benedict: Contemplate the Lord's prayer

   Despite it being a rainy Wednesday morning in Rome, thousands of pilgrims gathered in the Paul the VI hall for the Pope’s General Audience. Pope Benedict greeting the faithful said he wanted this week to focus on a significant event, that being Jesus in Gethsemane and his prayers in the Garden of Olives.
   "In our continuing catechesis on Christian prayer, we now turn to the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane, the Garden of Olives, following the Last Supper. As the Lord prepares to face his death, he prays alone, as the eternal Son in communion with the Father. Yet he also desires the company of Peter, James and John; their presence is an invitation to every disciple to draw near to Jesus along the way of the Cross."
   The Holy Father went on to note Jesus’ very human qualities as he nears his death and urged people to reflect on the Lord’s prayer in order to seek guidance.
   "Christ’s prayer reveals his human fear and anguish in the face of death, and at the same time shows his complete obedience to the will of the Father. His words, “not what I want, but what you want” , teach us that only in complete abandonment to God’s will do we attain the full measure of our humanity. In Christ’s “yes” to the Father, Adam’s sin is redeemed and humanity attains true freedom, the freedom of the children of God. May our contemplation of the Lord’s prayer in Gethsemane help us better to discern God’s will for us and for our lives, and sustain our daily petition that his will be done, “on earth as it is in heaven”.
   Speaking in Italian the Pope stressed the importance of prayer in our lives, saying in prayer we can bring our problems to God and he in turn he shows us the light on our life’s journey.
   Towards the end of the Audience the Holy Father had greetings for all the English speaking pilgrims gathered including a number of British Army Chaplains.
   "I offer a warm welcome to the group of British Army Chaplains taking part in today’s Audience. My greeting also goes to the many student and parish groups present. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, including those from Hong Kong and the United States of America, I cordially invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace!"