I am very excited about the new site where we can see and hear the Holy Father on the Vatican YouTube site. Have some fun, see Papa, and learn you faith here.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
Showing posts with label Pope Benedict XVI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pope Benedict XVI. Show all posts
1.24.2009
7.24.2008
Benedict XVI's Farewell for World Youth Day 2008
On Monday, July 21, the Holy Father gave his farewell address from the international airport in Sydney, Australia. I have taken some excerpts here, and what I want to highlight again about his trip to Australia is his emphasis on the heart. Toward the beginning he said:
“To the host families in Australia and New Zealand who have made room for the young people in their homes, I am especially grateful. You have opened your doors and your hearts to the world’s youth, and on their behalf I thank you.” The families opened their hearts to give the youth a place to stay.
A little further on he said:
“As I look back over these stirring days, there are many scenes that stand out in my mind. …And without doubt, the gatherings at Barangaroo and Southern Cross were high-points of my visit. Those experiences of prayer, and our joyful celebration of the Eucharist, were an eloquent testimony to the life-giving work of the Holy Spirit, present and active in the hearts of our young people. World Youth Day has shown us that the Church can rejoice in the young people of today and be filled with hope for the world of tomorrow.”
In the events of World Youth Day when Benedict XVI was with the young people, he saw the Holy Spirit present and active in those young people’s hearts. That indwelling of the Holy Spirit in those young hearts is cause for rejoicing and for having hope for the future of the world.
The Holy Father ended saying:
“Dear friends, as I depart from Sydney, I ask God to look down lovingly upon this city, this country and all its inhabitants. I pray that many of their number will be inspired by Blessed Mary MacKillop’s example of compassion and service. And as I bid you farewell with deep gratitude in my heart, I say once again: May God bless the people of Australia!”
For the third time in his short address, Benedict XVI mentions the word, “heart.” This time it is in reference to his own heart and the deep thanks he has for all the events of the past few days. It is the heart which is the center of our being, it is what needs to open if we are to be generous to others, it is what needs to open if God is going to dwell within us, it is what needs to open if we are to take in what happens around us and give thanks for it. Above all else, it is our heart, and its state of spiritual health, that matters.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
“To the host families in Australia and New Zealand who have made room for the young people in their homes, I am especially grateful. You have opened your doors and your hearts to the world’s youth, and on their behalf I thank you.” The families opened their hearts to give the youth a place to stay.
A little further on he said:
“As I look back over these stirring days, there are many scenes that stand out in my mind. …And without doubt, the gatherings at Barangaroo and Southern Cross were high-points of my visit. Those experiences of prayer, and our joyful celebration of the Eucharist, were an eloquent testimony to the life-giving work of the Holy Spirit, present and active in the hearts of our young people. World Youth Day has shown us that the Church can rejoice in the young people of today and be filled with hope for the world of tomorrow.”
In the events of World Youth Day when Benedict XVI was with the young people, he saw the Holy Spirit present and active in those young people’s hearts. That indwelling of the Holy Spirit in those young hearts is cause for rejoicing and for having hope for the future of the world.
The Holy Father ended saying:
“Dear friends, as I depart from Sydney, I ask God to look down lovingly upon this city, this country and all its inhabitants. I pray that many of their number will be inspired by Blessed Mary MacKillop’s example of compassion and service. And as I bid you farewell with deep gratitude in my heart, I say once again: May God bless the people of Australia!”
For the third time in his short address, Benedict XVI mentions the word, “heart.” This time it is in reference to his own heart and the deep thanks he has for all the events of the past few days. It is the heart which is the center of our being, it is what needs to open if we are to be generous to others, it is what needs to open if God is going to dwell within us, it is what needs to open if we are to take in what happens around us and give thanks for it. Above all else, it is our heart, and its state of spiritual health, that matters.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
7.21.2008
Benedict XVI's Angelus Reflection at World Youth Day 7.20.08
Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI gave a little meditation before the noon Angelus at World Youth Day. His reflection revolved around the angel Gabriel’s message at the Annunciation that Mary was to be the Mother of God. Mary was “utterly overwhelmed at the prospect that lay before her.” God provided for her need with the power of the Holy Spirit.
“It was the Spirit who gave her the strength and courage to respond to the Lord’s call. It was the Spirit who helped her to understand the great mystery that was to be accomplished through her. It was the Spirit who enfolded her with his love and enabled her to conceive the Son of God in her womb.”
“This scene is perhaps the pivotal moment in the history of God’s relationship with his people. During the Old Testament, God revealed himself partially, gradually, as we all do in our personal relationships. It took time for the chosen people to develop their relationship with God. The Covenant with Israel was like a period of courtship, a long engagement. Then came the definitive moment, the moment of marriage, the establishment of a new and everlasting covenant. As Mary stood before the Lord, she represented the whole of humanity. In the angel’s message, it was as if God made a marriage proposal to the human race. And in our name, Mary said yes.”
The Holy Father uses the image of marriage to describe the personal relationship between God and His people. He uses the words: courtship, engagement, marriage, marriage proposal, and yes. The New Covenant is the establishment of a marriage between God and the whole of humanity.
“In fairy tales, the story ends there, and all “live happily ever after”. In real life it is not so simple. For Mary there were many struggles ahead, as she lived out the consequences of the “yes” that she had given to the Lord. Simeon prophesied that a sword would pierce her heart. When Jesus was twelve years old, she experienced every parent’s worst nightmare when, for three days, the child went missing. And after his public ministry, she suffered the agony of witnessing his crucifixion and death. Throughout her trials she remained faithful to her promise, sustained by the Spirit of fortitude. And she was gloriously rewarded.”
Saying “yes” to God, saying “yes” that we will be His faithful spouse is only the beginning of the story. Struggles always ensue. Mary had a sword pierce her heart on a number of occasions as a consequence of saying yes to God. Yet, she always remained faithful to her personal commitment to her God, her Husband.
The Holy Father ended the Angelus reflection with these words:
“Dear young people, we too must remain faithful to the “yes” that we have given to the Lord’s offer of friendship. We know that he will never abandon us. We know that he will always sustain us through the gifts of the Spirit. Mary accepted the Lord’s “proposal” in our name. So let us turn to her and ask her to guide us as we struggle to remain faithful to the life-giving relationship that God has established with each one of us. She is our example and our inspiration, she intercedes for us with her Son, and with a mother’s love she shields us from harm.”
God desires to be our friend. He desires to be the most intimate of friends, for which we use the analogy of marriage between a man and a woman. Mary said “yes” to the proposal, and as such, she is our guide, example, inspiration, intercessor and mother who will bring us closer to our best friend and husband, Jesus. He will never fail us. His invitation to intimacy to me personally is the singular life-giving relationship that makes me fully alive. And that is why He came…so that we may have life and have it abundantly.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
“It was the Spirit who gave her the strength and courage to respond to the Lord’s call. It was the Spirit who helped her to understand the great mystery that was to be accomplished through her. It was the Spirit who enfolded her with his love and enabled her to conceive the Son of God in her womb.”
“This scene is perhaps the pivotal moment in the history of God’s relationship with his people. During the Old Testament, God revealed himself partially, gradually, as we all do in our personal relationships. It took time for the chosen people to develop their relationship with God. The Covenant with Israel was like a period of courtship, a long engagement. Then came the definitive moment, the moment of marriage, the establishment of a new and everlasting covenant. As Mary stood before the Lord, she represented the whole of humanity. In the angel’s message, it was as if God made a marriage proposal to the human race. And in our name, Mary said yes.”
The Holy Father uses the image of marriage to describe the personal relationship between God and His people. He uses the words: courtship, engagement, marriage, marriage proposal, and yes. The New Covenant is the establishment of a marriage between God and the whole of humanity.
“In fairy tales, the story ends there, and all “live happily ever after”. In real life it is not so simple. For Mary there were many struggles ahead, as she lived out the consequences of the “yes” that she had given to the Lord. Simeon prophesied that a sword would pierce her heart. When Jesus was twelve years old, she experienced every parent’s worst nightmare when, for three days, the child went missing. And after his public ministry, she suffered the agony of witnessing his crucifixion and death. Throughout her trials she remained faithful to her promise, sustained by the Spirit of fortitude. And she was gloriously rewarded.”
Saying “yes” to God, saying “yes” that we will be His faithful spouse is only the beginning of the story. Struggles always ensue. Mary had a sword pierce her heart on a number of occasions as a consequence of saying yes to God. Yet, she always remained faithful to her personal commitment to her God, her Husband.
The Holy Father ended the Angelus reflection with these words:
“Dear young people, we too must remain faithful to the “yes” that we have given to the Lord’s offer of friendship. We know that he will never abandon us. We know that he will always sustain us through the gifts of the Spirit. Mary accepted the Lord’s “proposal” in our name. So let us turn to her and ask her to guide us as we struggle to remain faithful to the life-giving relationship that God has established with each one of us. She is our example and our inspiration, she intercedes for us with her Son, and with a mother’s love she shields us from harm.”
God desires to be our friend. He desires to be the most intimate of friends, for which we use the analogy of marriage between a man and a woman. Mary said “yes” to the proposal, and as such, she is our guide, example, inspiration, intercessor and mother who will bring us closer to our best friend and husband, Jesus. He will never fail us. His invitation to intimacy to me personally is the singular life-giving relationship that makes me fully alive. And that is why He came…so that we may have life and have it abundantly.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
7.20.2008
Benedict XVI's Homily at World Youth Day 7.20.08
Today, the Holy Father celebrated Sunday Mass at World Youth Day. The first reading of the Mass was the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles when Jesus tells the apostles, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (Acts 1:8). This passage is the springboard for Pope Benedict XVI’s wonderful homily. In the second paragraph, he said:
“In these days I too have come, as the Successor of Saint Peter, to this magnificent land of Australia. I have come to confirm you, my young brothers and sisters, in your faith and to encourage you to open your hearts to the power of Christ’s Spirit and the richness of his gifts. I pray that this great assembly, which unites young people “from every nation under heaven” (cf. Acts 2:5), will be a new Upper Room. May the fire of God’s love descend to fill your hearts, unite you ever more fully to the Lord and his Church, and send you forth, a new generation of apostles, to bring the world to Christ!”
The Holy Spirit, the fire of God’s love, wants to come to fill our hearts and unite us to one another in His Church and unite us to Christ Himself. Our hearts are made for the Holy Spirit because our hearts are made for love, and the Holy Spirit is the mutual love of the Father and the Son.
The Holy Father continues:
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you”. These words of the Risen Lord have a special meaning for those young people who will be confirmed, sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, at today’s Mass. But they are also addressed to each of us – to all those who have received the Spirit’s gift of reconciliation and new life at Baptism, who have welcomed him into their hearts as their helper and guide at Confirmation, and who daily grow in his gifts of grace through the Holy Eucharist. At each Mass, in fact, the Holy Spirit descends anew, invoked by the solemn prayer of the Church, not only to transform our gifts of bread and wine into the Lord’s body and blood, but also to transform our lives, to make us, in his power, “one body, one spirit in Christ”.
Notice that the pope again mentions the heart and the Spirit’s filling the hearts of those who welcome Him through the sacrament of Confirmation. At Mass, not only are the bread and wine transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, but each of us is made into another Christ, insofar as we give ourselves to Him to be made new.
In the next paragraph, the Holy Father explains the power of the Holy Spirit:
But what is this “power” of the Holy Spirit? It is the power of God’s life! It is the power of the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at the dawn of creation and who, in the fullness of time, raised Jesus from the dead. It is the power which points us, and our world, towards the coming of the Kingdom of God. In today’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims that a new age has begun, in which the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all humanity (cf. Lk 4:21). He himself, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin May, came among us to bring us that Spirit. As the source of our new life in Christ, the Holy Spirit is also, in a very real way, the soul of the Church, the love which binds us to the Lord and one another, and the light which opens our eyes to see all around us the wonders of God’s grace.
The Spirit hovered over the waters in the beginning and raised Jesus from the dead. The Holy Spirit is poured out over all humanity and is the soul of the Church and the light of the world.
Two paragraphs later, he continues the connection of the Spirit with water:
The power of the Spirit never ceases to fill the Church with life! Through the grace of the Church’s sacraments, that power also flows deep within us, like an underground river which nourishes our spirit and draws us ever nearer to the source of our true life, which is Christ. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who died a martyr in Rome at the beginning of the second century, has left us a splendid description of the Spirit’s power dwelling within us. He spoke of the Spirit as a fountain of living water springing up within his heart and whispering: “Come, come to the Father” (cf. Ad Rom., 6:1-9).
The Holy Spirit is like an underground river drawing us always closer to the source of true life. And then he quotes the first Saint Ignatius who said that the Spirit is a fountain of living water flowing out of our hearts quietly, drawing us to the Father. Saint Ignatius was making a reference to John 7:38 when Jesus says, “Out of your heart shall flow rivers of living water.”
The Holy Father mentions heart three more times in the next paragraph:
Yet this power, the grace of the Spirit, is not something we can merit or achieve, but only receive as pure gift. God’s love can only unleash its power when it is allowed to change us from within. We have to let it break through the hard crust of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age. Only then can we let it ignite our imagination and shape our deepest desires. That is why prayer is so important: daily prayer, private prayer in the quiet of our hearts and before the Blessed Sacrament, and liturgical prayer in the heart of the Church. Prayer is pure receptivity to God’s grace, love in action, communion with the Spirit who dwells within us, leading us, through Jesus, in the Church, to our heavenly Father. In the power of his Spirit, Jesus is always present in our hearts, quietly waiting for us to be still with him, to hear his voice, to abide in his love, and to receive “power from on high”, enabling us to be salt and light for our world.
For God’s love to transform us, we have to be open and receive His gift, and so we must pray. We pray in the heart of the Church through the liturgy, and we pray in the quiet of our hearts where Jesus is always present and waiting for us to spend time with Him.
After asking the young people what they are going to do and what difference they are going to make, the pope said:
Empowered by the Spirit, and drawing upon faith’s rich vision, a new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God’s gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished – not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed. A new age in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty. A new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships. Dear young friends, the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of his love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity.
The world needs this renewal! In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair. How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns (cf. Jer 2:13) in a desperate search for meaning – the ultimate meaning that only love can give? This is the great and liberating gift which the Gospel brings: it reveals our dignity as men and women created in the image and likeness of God. It reveals humanity’s sublime calling, which is to find fulfilment [sic] in love. It discloses the truth about man and the truth about life.
Again, the Holy Father uses the imagery of water with the empty cisterns. Those who have cut God our of their lives are empty deep inside; those filled with the Holy Spirit have streams of living water welling up within them. We are made for life and love, and only in them, in God, do we find fulfillment.
He continues:
The Church also needs this renewal! She needs your faith, your idealism and your generosity, so that she can always be young in the Spirit (cf. Lumen Gentium, 4)! In today’s second reading, the Apostle Paul reminds us that each and every Christian has received a gift meant for building up the Body of Christ. The Church especially needs the gifts of young people, all young people. She needs to grow in the power of the Spirit who even now gives joy to your youth and inspires you to serve the Lord with gladness. Open your hearts to that power! I address this plea in a special way to those of you whom the Lord is calling to the priesthood and the consecrated life. Do not be afraid to say “yes” to Jesus, to find your joy in doing his will, giving yourself completely to the pursuit of holiness, and using all your talents in the service of others!
Again he mentions the heart and giving oneself completely to Christ. In the next paragraph, he continues the analogy of water and refreshment:
In a few moments, we will celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation. The Holy Spirit will descend upon the confirmands; they will be “sealed” with the gift of the Spirit and sent forth to be Christ’s witnesses. What does it mean to receive the “seal” of the Holy Spirit? It means being indelibly marked, inalterably changed, a new creation. For those who have received this gift, nothing can ever be the same! Being “baptized” in the one Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 12:13) means being set on fire with the love of God. Being “given to drink” of the Spirit means being refreshed by the beauty of the Lord’s plan for us and for the world, and becoming in turn a source of spiritual refreshment for others. Being “sealed with the Spirit” means not being afraid to stand up for Christ, letting the truth of the Gospel permeate the way we see, think and act, as we work for the triumph of the civilization of love.
The Holy Father ended his homily with one last call for every heart to open its doors to Christ:
Through the loving intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, may this Twenty-third World Youth Day be experienced as a new Upper Room, from which all of us, burning with the fire and love of the Holy Spirit, go forth to proclaim the Risen Christ and to draw every heart to him! Amen.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
“In these days I too have come, as the Successor of Saint Peter, to this magnificent land of Australia. I have come to confirm you, my young brothers and sisters, in your faith and to encourage you to open your hearts to the power of Christ’s Spirit and the richness of his gifts. I pray that this great assembly, which unites young people “from every nation under heaven” (cf. Acts 2:5), will be a new Upper Room. May the fire of God’s love descend to fill your hearts, unite you ever more fully to the Lord and his Church, and send you forth, a new generation of apostles, to bring the world to Christ!”
The Holy Spirit, the fire of God’s love, wants to come to fill our hearts and unite us to one another in His Church and unite us to Christ Himself. Our hearts are made for the Holy Spirit because our hearts are made for love, and the Holy Spirit is the mutual love of the Father and the Son.
The Holy Father continues:
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you”. These words of the Risen Lord have a special meaning for those young people who will be confirmed, sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, at today’s Mass. But they are also addressed to each of us – to all those who have received the Spirit’s gift of reconciliation and new life at Baptism, who have welcomed him into their hearts as their helper and guide at Confirmation, and who daily grow in his gifts of grace through the Holy Eucharist. At each Mass, in fact, the Holy Spirit descends anew, invoked by the solemn prayer of the Church, not only to transform our gifts of bread and wine into the Lord’s body and blood, but also to transform our lives, to make us, in his power, “one body, one spirit in Christ”.
Notice that the pope again mentions the heart and the Spirit’s filling the hearts of those who welcome Him through the sacrament of Confirmation. At Mass, not only are the bread and wine transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, but each of us is made into another Christ, insofar as we give ourselves to Him to be made new.
In the next paragraph, the Holy Father explains the power of the Holy Spirit:
But what is this “power” of the Holy Spirit? It is the power of God’s life! It is the power of the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at the dawn of creation and who, in the fullness of time, raised Jesus from the dead. It is the power which points us, and our world, towards the coming of the Kingdom of God. In today’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims that a new age has begun, in which the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all humanity (cf. Lk 4:21). He himself, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin May, came among us to bring us that Spirit. As the source of our new life in Christ, the Holy Spirit is also, in a very real way, the soul of the Church, the love which binds us to the Lord and one another, and the light which opens our eyes to see all around us the wonders of God’s grace.
The Spirit hovered over the waters in the beginning and raised Jesus from the dead. The Holy Spirit is poured out over all humanity and is the soul of the Church and the light of the world.
Two paragraphs later, he continues the connection of the Spirit with water:
The power of the Spirit never ceases to fill the Church with life! Through the grace of the Church’s sacraments, that power also flows deep within us, like an underground river which nourishes our spirit and draws us ever nearer to the source of our true life, which is Christ. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who died a martyr in Rome at the beginning of the second century, has left us a splendid description of the Spirit’s power dwelling within us. He spoke of the Spirit as a fountain of living water springing up within his heart and whispering: “Come, come to the Father” (cf. Ad Rom., 6:1-9).
The Holy Spirit is like an underground river drawing us always closer to the source of true life. And then he quotes the first Saint Ignatius who said that the Spirit is a fountain of living water flowing out of our hearts quietly, drawing us to the Father. Saint Ignatius was making a reference to John 7:38 when Jesus says, “Out of your heart shall flow rivers of living water.”
The Holy Father mentions heart three more times in the next paragraph:
Yet this power, the grace of the Spirit, is not something we can merit or achieve, but only receive as pure gift. God’s love can only unleash its power when it is allowed to change us from within. We have to let it break through the hard crust of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age. Only then can we let it ignite our imagination and shape our deepest desires. That is why prayer is so important: daily prayer, private prayer in the quiet of our hearts and before the Blessed Sacrament, and liturgical prayer in the heart of the Church. Prayer is pure receptivity to God’s grace, love in action, communion with the Spirit who dwells within us, leading us, through Jesus, in the Church, to our heavenly Father. In the power of his Spirit, Jesus is always present in our hearts, quietly waiting for us to be still with him, to hear his voice, to abide in his love, and to receive “power from on high”, enabling us to be salt and light for our world.
For God’s love to transform us, we have to be open and receive His gift, and so we must pray. We pray in the heart of the Church through the liturgy, and we pray in the quiet of our hearts where Jesus is always present and waiting for us to spend time with Him.
After asking the young people what they are going to do and what difference they are going to make, the pope said:
Empowered by the Spirit, and drawing upon faith’s rich vision, a new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God’s gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished – not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed. A new age in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty. A new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships. Dear young friends, the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of his love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity.
The world needs this renewal! In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair. How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns (cf. Jer 2:13) in a desperate search for meaning – the ultimate meaning that only love can give? This is the great and liberating gift which the Gospel brings: it reveals our dignity as men and women created in the image and likeness of God. It reveals humanity’s sublime calling, which is to find fulfilment [sic] in love. It discloses the truth about man and the truth about life.
Again, the Holy Father uses the imagery of water with the empty cisterns. Those who have cut God our of their lives are empty deep inside; those filled with the Holy Spirit have streams of living water welling up within them. We are made for life and love, and only in them, in God, do we find fulfillment.
He continues:
The Church also needs this renewal! She needs your faith, your idealism and your generosity, so that she can always be young in the Spirit (cf. Lumen Gentium, 4)! In today’s second reading, the Apostle Paul reminds us that each and every Christian has received a gift meant for building up the Body of Christ. The Church especially needs the gifts of young people, all young people. She needs to grow in the power of the Spirit who even now gives joy to your youth and inspires you to serve the Lord with gladness. Open your hearts to that power! I address this plea in a special way to those of you whom the Lord is calling to the priesthood and the consecrated life. Do not be afraid to say “yes” to Jesus, to find your joy in doing his will, giving yourself completely to the pursuit of holiness, and using all your talents in the service of others!
Again he mentions the heart and giving oneself completely to Christ. In the next paragraph, he continues the analogy of water and refreshment:
In a few moments, we will celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation. The Holy Spirit will descend upon the confirmands; they will be “sealed” with the gift of the Spirit and sent forth to be Christ’s witnesses. What does it mean to receive the “seal” of the Holy Spirit? It means being indelibly marked, inalterably changed, a new creation. For those who have received this gift, nothing can ever be the same! Being “baptized” in the one Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 12:13) means being set on fire with the love of God. Being “given to drink” of the Spirit means being refreshed by the beauty of the Lord’s plan for us and for the world, and becoming in turn a source of spiritual refreshment for others. Being “sealed with the Spirit” means not being afraid to stand up for Christ, letting the truth of the Gospel permeate the way we see, think and act, as we work for the triumph of the civilization of love.
The Holy Father ended his homily with one last call for every heart to open its doors to Christ:
Through the loving intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, may this Twenty-third World Youth Day be experienced as a new Upper Room, from which all of us, burning with the fire and love of the Holy Spirit, go forth to proclaim the Risen Christ and to draw every heart to him! Amen.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
Pope Benedict's Address at the Vigil of World Youth Day, July 19,2008
Today, the Holy Father spoke at the evening vigil at World Youth Day. I am providing some of his words here. What struck me are his references to the heart, God’s love, the Holy Spirit and the spring of living water. It is striking not so much that he mentioned them but that he connected them. Below are the excerpts; go here to read it in its entirety.
APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI TO SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA) ON THE OCCASION OF THE 23rd WORLD YOUTH DAY (JULY 12 - 21, 2008)
VIGIL WITH THE YOUNG PEOPLE
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Randwick Racecourse Saturday, 19 July 2008
Toward the beginning he said:
Friends, when reciting the Creed we state: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life”. The “Creator Spirit” is the power of God giving life to all creation and the source of new and abundant life in Christ. The Spirit sustains the Church in union with the Lord and in fidelity to the apostolic Tradition. He inspired the Sacred Scriptures and he guides God’s People into the fullness of truth (cf. Jn 16:13) In all these ways the Spirit is the “giver of life”, leading us into the very heart of God. So, the more we allow the Spirit to direct us, the more perfect will be our configuration to Christ and the deeper our immersion in the life of the Triune God.
This sharing in God’s nature (cf. 2 Pet 1:4) occurs in the unfolding of the everyday moments of our lives where he is always present (cf. Bar 3:38). There are times, however, when we might be tempted to seek a certain fulfilment apart from God. Jesus himself asked the Twelve: “do you also wish to go away?” Such drifting away perhaps offers the illusion of freedom. But where does it lead? To whom would we go? For in our hearts we know that it is the Lord who has “the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:67-68). To turn away from him is only a futile attempt to escape from ourselves (cf. Saint Augustine, Confessions VIII, 7)….
The third insight – the Holy Spirit as gift – Augustine derived from meditating on a Gospel passage we all know and love: Christ’s conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. Here Jesus reveals himself as the giver of the living water (cf. Jn 4:10) which later is explained as the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 7:39; 1 Cor 12:13). The Spirit is “God’s gift” (Jn 4:10) - the internal spring (cf. Jn 4:14), who truly satisfies our deepest thirst and leads us to the Father. From this observation Augustine concludes that God sharing himself with us as gift is the Holy Spirit (cf. De Trinitate, 15, 18, 32). Friends, again we catch a glimpse of the Trinity at work: the Holy Spirit is God eternally giving himself; like a never-ending spring he pours forth nothing less than himself. In view of this ceaseless gift, we come to see the limitations of all that perishes, the folly of the consumerist mindset. We begin to understand why the quest for novelty leaves us unsatisfied and wanting. Are we not looking for an eternal gift? The spring that will never run dry? With the Samaritan woman, let us exclaim: give me this water that I may thirst no more! (cf. Jn 4:15).
Dear young people, we have seen that it is the Holy Spirit who brings about the wonderful communion of believers in Jesus Christ. True to his nature as giver and gift alike, he is even now working through you. Inspired by the insights of Saint Augustine: let unifying love be your measure; abiding love your challenge; self-giving love your mission!
Tomorrow, that same gift of the Spirit will be solemnly conferred upon our confirmation candidates. I shall pray: “give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgement and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence … and fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe”. These gifts of the Spirit – each of which, as Saint Francis de Sales reminds us, is a way to participate in the one love of God – are neither prizes nor rewards. They are freely given (cf. 1 Cor 12:11). And they require only one response on the part of the receiver: I accept! Here we sense something of the deep mystery of being Christian. What constitutes our faith is not primarily what we do but what we receive. After all, many generous people who are not Christian may well achieve far more than we do. Friends, do you accept being drawn into God’s Trinitarian life? Do you accept being drawn into his communion of love?....
In the end, life is not about accumulation. It is much more than success. To be truly alive is to be transformed from within, open to the energy of God’s love. In accepting the power of the Holy Spirit you too can transform your families, communities and nations. Set free the gifts! Let wisdom, courage, awe and reverence be the marks of greatness!
The Holy Father ended with these words:
And now, as we move towards adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, in stillness and expectation, I echo to you the words spoken by Blessed Mary MacKillop when she was just twenty six years old: “Believe in the whisperings of God to your heart!”. Believe in him! Believe in the power of the Spirit of Love!
I say: the Holy Spirit is the love of God which fills our hearts as a spring of living water, speaking to our hearts and giving us the strength and energy of His love to be transformed into Christ and so transform those around us. God desires to give us the Holy Spirit ever more fully as a pure, undeserved gift. All we have to do is open our hearts and accept this most wondrous gift. Come Holy Spirit!
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI TO SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA) ON THE OCCASION OF THE 23rd WORLD YOUTH DAY (JULY 12 - 21, 2008)
VIGIL WITH THE YOUNG PEOPLE
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Randwick Racecourse Saturday, 19 July 2008
Toward the beginning he said:
Friends, when reciting the Creed we state: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life”. The “Creator Spirit” is the power of God giving life to all creation and the source of new and abundant life in Christ. The Spirit sustains the Church in union with the Lord and in fidelity to the apostolic Tradition. He inspired the Sacred Scriptures and he guides God’s People into the fullness of truth (cf. Jn 16:13) In all these ways the Spirit is the “giver of life”, leading us into the very heart of God. So, the more we allow the Spirit to direct us, the more perfect will be our configuration to Christ and the deeper our immersion in the life of the Triune God.
This sharing in God’s nature (cf. 2 Pet 1:4) occurs in the unfolding of the everyday moments of our lives where he is always present (cf. Bar 3:38). There are times, however, when we might be tempted to seek a certain fulfilment apart from God. Jesus himself asked the Twelve: “do you also wish to go away?” Such drifting away perhaps offers the illusion of freedom. But where does it lead? To whom would we go? For in our hearts we know that it is the Lord who has “the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:67-68). To turn away from him is only a futile attempt to escape from ourselves (cf. Saint Augustine, Confessions VIII, 7)….
The third insight – the Holy Spirit as gift – Augustine derived from meditating on a Gospel passage we all know and love: Christ’s conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. Here Jesus reveals himself as the giver of the living water (cf. Jn 4:10) which later is explained as the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 7:39; 1 Cor 12:13). The Spirit is “God’s gift” (Jn 4:10) - the internal spring (cf. Jn 4:14), who truly satisfies our deepest thirst and leads us to the Father. From this observation Augustine concludes that God sharing himself with us as gift is the Holy Spirit (cf. De Trinitate, 15, 18, 32). Friends, again we catch a glimpse of the Trinity at work: the Holy Spirit is God eternally giving himself; like a never-ending spring he pours forth nothing less than himself. In view of this ceaseless gift, we come to see the limitations of all that perishes, the folly of the consumerist mindset. We begin to understand why the quest for novelty leaves us unsatisfied and wanting. Are we not looking for an eternal gift? The spring that will never run dry? With the Samaritan woman, let us exclaim: give me this water that I may thirst no more! (cf. Jn 4:15).
Dear young people, we have seen that it is the Holy Spirit who brings about the wonderful communion of believers in Jesus Christ. True to his nature as giver and gift alike, he is even now working through you. Inspired by the insights of Saint Augustine: let unifying love be your measure; abiding love your challenge; self-giving love your mission!
Tomorrow, that same gift of the Spirit will be solemnly conferred upon our confirmation candidates. I shall pray: “give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgement and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence … and fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe”. These gifts of the Spirit – each of which, as Saint Francis de Sales reminds us, is a way to participate in the one love of God – are neither prizes nor rewards. They are freely given (cf. 1 Cor 12:11). And they require only one response on the part of the receiver: I accept! Here we sense something of the deep mystery of being Christian. What constitutes our faith is not primarily what we do but what we receive. After all, many generous people who are not Christian may well achieve far more than we do. Friends, do you accept being drawn into God’s Trinitarian life? Do you accept being drawn into his communion of love?....
In the end, life is not about accumulation. It is much more than success. To be truly alive is to be transformed from within, open to the energy of God’s love. In accepting the power of the Holy Spirit you too can transform your families, communities and nations. Set free the gifts! Let wisdom, courage, awe and reverence be the marks of greatness!
The Holy Father ended with these words:
And now, as we move towards adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, in stillness and expectation, I echo to you the words spoken by Blessed Mary MacKillop when she was just twenty six years old: “Believe in the whisperings of God to your heart!”. Believe in him! Believe in the power of the Spirit of Love!
I say: the Holy Spirit is the love of God which fills our hearts as a spring of living water, speaking to our hearts and giving us the strength and energy of His love to be transformed into Christ and so transform those around us. God desires to give us the Holy Spirit ever more fully as a pure, undeserved gift. All we have to do is open our hearts and accept this most wondrous gift. Come Holy Spirit!
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
6.10.2008
Pope Benedict XVI's Angelus Message of June 1, 2008
Following is the message from the Holy Father:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On this Sunday, which coincides with the beginning of June, I am pleased to recall that this month is traditionally dedicated to the Heart of Christ, symbol of the Christian faith, particularly dear to the people, to mystics and theologians because it expresses in a simple and authentic way the "good news" of love, compendium of the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption. Last Friday, after the Most Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the third and last feast following Eastertide. This sequence calls to mind a movement toward the centre: a movement of the spirit which God himself guides. In fact, from the infinite horizon of his love, God wished to enter into the limits of human history and the human condition. He took on a body and a heart. Thus, we can contemplate and encounter the infinite in the finite, the invisible and ineffable Mystery in the human Heart of Jesus, the Nazarene. In my first Encyclical on the theme of love, the point of departure was exactly "contemplating the pierced side of Christ", which John speaks of in his Gospel (cf. 19: 37; Deus Caritas Est, n. 12). And this centre of faith is also the font of hope in which we have been saved, the hope that I made the object of my second Encyclical.
Every person needs a "centre" for his own life, a source of truth and goodness to draw from in the daily events, in the different situations and in the toil of daily life. Every one of us, when he/she pauses in silence, needs to feel not only his/her own heartbeat, but deeper still, the beating of a trustworthy presence, perceptible with faith's senses and yet much more real: the presence of Christ, the heart of the world. Therefore, I invite each one of you to renew in the month of June his/her own devotion to the Heart of Christ, also using the traditional prayer of the daily offering and keeping present the intentions I have proposed for the whole Church.
Next to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the liturgy invites us to venerate the Immaculate Heart of Mary. With great confidence let us entrust ourselves to her. Once again I would like to invoke the maternal intercession of the Virgin for the populations of China and Myanmar struck by natural calamities and for those who are going through the many situations of pain, sickness, material and spiritual poverty that mark humanity's path.
My thoughts:
The center of the Catholic faith, the source of truth and goodness, and the font of our hope is the Heart of Christ. Pausing in silence, we are to sense, at a level deeper than our own heartbeat, the heartbeat of Christ Who is always with us. Our life revolves around our awareness of and meditation upon the heart of Jesus beating within us. From His heart we have light, peace, joy and truth.
Mary, the one whose heart was most in union with the Heart of Jesus, shows us the way to give ourselves totally to Him. Entrusting ourselves to this most loving of God-given mothers, we have great confidence that she will be there for us and bring us more into conformity to her divine Son.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On this Sunday, which coincides with the beginning of June, I am pleased to recall that this month is traditionally dedicated to the Heart of Christ, symbol of the Christian faith, particularly dear to the people, to mystics and theologians because it expresses in a simple and authentic way the "good news" of love, compendium of the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption. Last Friday, after the Most Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the third and last feast following Eastertide. This sequence calls to mind a movement toward the centre: a movement of the spirit which God himself guides. In fact, from the infinite horizon of his love, God wished to enter into the limits of human history and the human condition. He took on a body and a heart. Thus, we can contemplate and encounter the infinite in the finite, the invisible and ineffable Mystery in the human Heart of Jesus, the Nazarene. In my first Encyclical on the theme of love, the point of departure was exactly "contemplating the pierced side of Christ", which John speaks of in his Gospel (cf. 19: 37; Deus Caritas Est, n. 12). And this centre of faith is also the font of hope in which we have been saved, the hope that I made the object of my second Encyclical.
Every person needs a "centre" for his own life, a source of truth and goodness to draw from in the daily events, in the different situations and in the toil of daily life. Every one of us, when he/she pauses in silence, needs to feel not only his/her own heartbeat, but deeper still, the beating of a trustworthy presence, perceptible with faith's senses and yet much more real: the presence of Christ, the heart of the world. Therefore, I invite each one of you to renew in the month of June his/her own devotion to the Heart of Christ, also using the traditional prayer of the daily offering and keeping present the intentions I have proposed for the whole Church.
Next to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the liturgy invites us to venerate the Immaculate Heart of Mary. With great confidence let us entrust ourselves to her. Once again I would like to invoke the maternal intercession of the Virgin for the populations of China and Myanmar struck by natural calamities and for those who are going through the many situations of pain, sickness, material and spiritual poverty that mark humanity's path.
My thoughts:
The center of the Catholic faith, the source of truth and goodness, and the font of our hope is the Heart of Christ. Pausing in silence, we are to sense, at a level deeper than our own heartbeat, the heartbeat of Christ Who is always with us. Our life revolves around our awareness of and meditation upon the heart of Jesus beating within us. From His heart we have light, peace, joy and truth.
Mary, the one whose heart was most in union with the Heart of Jesus, shows us the way to give ourselves totally to Him. Entrusting ourselves to this most loving of God-given mothers, we have great confidence that she will be there for us and bring us more into conformity to her divine Son.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
5.08.2008
Pentecost is Coming: Come Holy Spirit!
The Great Feast of Pentecost is Coming. Keep Praying: Come Holy Spirit!
Today at the Pope's Wednesday general audience, he said that, "the Church is always, so to say, in a state of Pentecost. Gathered in the Cenacle, she prays incessantly to obtain ever new effusions of the gifts of the Holy Spirit ... and is not afraid to announce the Gospel to the furthest confines of the earth. This is why, faced with difficulties and divisions, Christians cannot resign themselves or give way to discouragement." The Church, in a certain way, is always in the upper room praying to God to send the Consoler. We are always asking that the Holy Spirit renews the face of the earth, starting with our own hearts. Our renewed heart is not afraid. In the face of trails and roadblocks, we are not afraid to proclaim the Gospel to all the nations.
Benedict XVI continued: "This is what Christ asks of Christians: to persevere in prayer in order to keep alive the flame of faith, hope and charity...." Continuing in our daily prayer and in our hourly prayer and in our minute by minute prayer, we stay alive. Prayer is the breath of the soul. Our bodies require that we breathe rather regularly and frequently, almost daily. We only need to pray as often as we breathe.
I haven't been writing as much lately. The main point of my book and my blog is that God wants to marry each one of us. That marriage only happens through a deep and regular prayer life and radical commitment to the One we love more than anything or anyone else. And I am saying that this is for everyone. That got me thinking. I figured that I should at the very least get my own prayer life in better shape. If I am telling everyone else that they are called to deep communion with God, I should have a deeper relationship with Him myself. How can I tell everyone else that they should be doing it when I am not doing it?
I haven't stopped. I've just begun. Also, I'm not living my faith life in a totally inept manner; I would be a much bigger jerk and idiot if I were.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
Today at the Pope's Wednesday general audience, he said that, "the Church is always, so to say, in a state of Pentecost. Gathered in the Cenacle, she prays incessantly to obtain ever new effusions of the gifts of the Holy Spirit ... and is not afraid to announce the Gospel to the furthest confines of the earth. This is why, faced with difficulties and divisions, Christians cannot resign themselves or give way to discouragement." The Church, in a certain way, is always in the upper room praying to God to send the Consoler. We are always asking that the Holy Spirit renews the face of the earth, starting with our own hearts. Our renewed heart is not afraid. In the face of trails and roadblocks, we are not afraid to proclaim the Gospel to all the nations.
Benedict XVI continued: "This is what Christ asks of Christians: to persevere in prayer in order to keep alive the flame of faith, hope and charity...." Continuing in our daily prayer and in our hourly prayer and in our minute by minute prayer, we stay alive. Prayer is the breath of the soul. Our bodies require that we breathe rather regularly and frequently, almost daily. We only need to pray as often as we breathe.
I haven't been writing as much lately. The main point of my book and my blog is that God wants to marry each one of us. That marriage only happens through a deep and regular prayer life and radical commitment to the One we love more than anything or anyone else. And I am saying that this is for everyone. That got me thinking. I figured that I should at the very least get my own prayer life in better shape. If I am telling everyone else that they are called to deep communion with God, I should have a deeper relationship with Him myself. How can I tell everyone else that they should be doing it when I am not doing it?
I haven't stopped. I've just begun. Also, I'm not living my faith life in a totally inept manner; I would be a much bigger jerk and idiot if I were.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
4.17.2008
Pope Benedict XVI's Message to Catholic Educators and My Thoughts
I will include the full text of the Holy Father given today at the Catholic University of America, and then I will make some comments. (Check out my own philosophy of Catholic Education.) Here is the full text which is rather long:
Address of Pope Benedict XVI to Catholic Educators of the United States
Thursday 17 April 2008, Catholic University of America
Your Eminences, Dear Brother Bishops, Distinguished Professors, Teachers and Educators,
"How beautiful are the footsteps of those who bring good news" (Rom 10:15-17). With these words of Isaiah quoted by Saint Paul, I warmly greet each of you - bearers of wisdom - and through you the staff, students and families of the many and varied institutions of learning that you represent. It is my great pleasure to meet you and to share with you some thoughts regarding the nature and identity of Catholic education today. I especially wish to thank Father David O'Connell, President and Rector of the Catholic University of America. Your kind words of welcome are much appreciated. Please extend my heartfelt gratitude to the entire community - faculty, staff and students - of this University.
Education is integral to the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News. First and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth (cf. Spe Salvi, 4). This relationship elicits a desire to grow in the knowledge and understanding of Christ and his teaching. In this way those who meet him are drawn by the very power of the Gospel to lead a new life characterized by all that is beautiful, good, and true; a life of Christian witness nurtured and strengthened within the community of our Lord's disciples, the Church.
The dynamic between personal encounter, knowledge and Christian witness is integral to the diakonia of truth which the Church exercises in the midst of humanity. God's revelation offers every generation the opportunity to discover the ultimate truth about its own life and the goal of history. This task is never easy; it involves the entire Christian community and motivates each generation of Christian educators to ensure that the power of God's truth permeates every dimension of the institutions they serve. In this way, Christ's Good News is set to work, guiding both teacher and student towards the objective truth which, in transcending the particular and the subjective, points to the universal and absolute that enables us to proclaim with confidence the hope which does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5). Set against personal struggles, moral confusion and fragmentation of knowledge, the noble goals of scholarship and education, founded on the unity of truth and in service of the person and the community, become an especially powerful instrument of hope.
Dear friends, the history of this nation includes many examples of the Church's commitment in this regard. The Catholic community here has in fact made education one of its highest priorities. This undertaking has not come without great sacrifice. Towering figures, like Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton and other founders and foundresses, with great tenacity and foresight, laid the foundations of what is today a remarkable network of parochial schools contributing to the spiritual well-being of the Church and the nation. Some, like Saint Katharine Drexel, devoted their lives to educating those whom others had neglected - in her case, African Americans and Native Americans. Countless dedicated Religious Sisters, Brothers, and Priests together with selfless parents have, through Catholic schools, helped generations of immigrants to rise from poverty and take their place in mainstream society.
This sacrifice continues today. It is an outstanding apostolate of hope, seeking to address the material, intellectual and spiritual needs of over three million children and students. It also provides a highly commendable opportunity for the entire Catholic community to contribute generously to the financial needs of our institutions. Their long-term sustainability must be assured. Indeed, everything possible must be done, in cooperation with the wider community, to ensure that they are accessible to people of all social and economic strata. No child should be denied his or her right to an education in faith, which in turn nurtures the soul of a nation.
Some today question the Church's involvement in education, wondering whether her resources might be better placed elsewhere. Certainly in a nation such as this, the State provides ample opportunities for education and attracts committed and generous men and women to this honorable profession. It is timely, then, to reflect on what is particular to our Catholic institutions. How do they contribute to the good of society through the Church's primary mission of evangelization?
All the Church's activities stem from her awareness that she is the bearer of a message which has its origin in God himself: in his goodness and wisdom, God chose to reveal himself and to make known the hidden purpose of his will (cf. Eph 1:9; Dei Verbum, 2). God's desire to make himself known, and the innate desire of all human beings to know the truth, provide the context for human inquiry into the meaning of life. This unique encounter is sustained within our Christian community: the one who seeks the truth becomes the one who lives by faith (cf. Fides et Ratio, 31). It can be described as a move from "I" to "we", leading the individual to be numbered among God's people.
This same dynamic of communal identity - to whom do I belong? - vivifies the ethos of our Catholic institutions. A university or school's Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students. It is a question of conviction - do we really believe that only in the mystery of the Word made flesh does the mystery of man truly become clear (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22)? Are we ready to commit our entire self - intellect and will, mind and heart - to God? Do we accept the truth Christ reveals? Is the faith tangible in our universities and schools? Is it given fervent expression liturgically, sacramentally, through prayer, acts of charity, a concern for justice, and respect for God's creation? Only in this way do we really bear witness to the meaning of who we are and what we uphold.
From this perspective one can recognize that the contemporary "crisis of truth" is rooted in a "crisis of faith". Only through faith can we freely give our assent to God's testimony and acknowledge him as the transcendent guarantor of the truth he reveals. Again, we see why fostering personal intimacy with Jesus Christ and communal witness to his loving truth is indispensable in Catholic institutions of learning. Yet we all know, and observe with concern, the difficulty or reluctance many people have today in entrusting themselves to God. It is a complex phenomenon and one which I ponder continually. While we have sought diligently to engage the intellect of our young, perhaps we have neglected the will. Subsequently we observe, with distress, the notion of freedom being distorted. Freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in - a participation in Being itself. Hence authentic freedom can never be attained by turning away from God. Such a choice would ultimately disregard the very truth we need in order to understand ourselves. A particular responsibility therefore for each of you, and your colleagues, is to evoke among the young the desire for the act of faith, encouraging them to commit themselves to the ecclesial life that follows from this belief. It is here that freedom reaches the certainty of truth. In choosing to live by that truth, we embrace the fullness of the life of faith which is given to us in the Church.
Clearly, then, Catholic identity is not dependent upon statistics. Neither can it be equated simply with orthodoxy of course content. It demands and inspires much more: namely that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith. Only in faith can truth become incarnate and reason truly human, capable of directing the will along the path of freedom (cf. Spe Salvi, 23). In this way our institutions make a vital contribution to the mission of the Church and truly serve society. They become places in which God's active presence in human affairs is recognized and in which every young person discovers the joy of entering into Christ's "being for others" (cf. ibid., 28).
The Church's primary mission of evangelization, in which educational institutions play a crucial role, is consonant with a nation's fundamental aspiration to develop a society truly worthy of the human person's dignity. At times, however, the value of the Church's contribution to the public forum is questioned. It is important therefore to recall that the truths of faith and of reason never contradict one another (cf. First Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith Dei Filius, IV: DS 3017; St. Augustine, Contra Academicos, III, 20, 43). The Church's mission, in fact, involves her in humanity's struggle to arrive at truth. In articulating revealed truth she serves all members of society by purifying reason, ensuring that it remains open to the consideration of ultimate truths. Drawing upon divine wisdom, she sheds light on the foundation of human morality and ethics, and reminds all groups in society that it is not praxis that creates truth but truth that should serve as the basis of praxis. Far from undermining the tolerance of legitimate diversity, such a contribution illuminates the very truth which makes consensus attainable, and helps to keep public debate rational, honest and accountable. Similarly the Church never tires of upholding the essential moral categories of right and wrong, without which hope could only wither, giving way to cold pragmatic calculations of utility which render the person little more than a pawn on some ideological chess-board.
With regard to the educational forum, the diakonia of truth takes on a heightened significance in societies where secularist ideology drives a wedge between truth and faith. This division has led to a tendency to equate truth with knowledge and to adopt a positivistic mentality which, in rejecting metaphysics, denies the foundations of faith and rejects the need for a moral vision. Truth means more than knowledge: knowing the truth leads us to discover the good. Truth speaks to the individual in his or her the entirety, inviting us to respond with our whole being. This optimistic vision is found in our Christian faith because such faith has been granted the vision of the Logos, God's creative Reason, which in the Incarnation, is revealed as Goodness itself. Far from being just a communication of factual data - "informative" - the loving truth of the Gospel is creative and life-changing - "performative" (cf. Spe Salvi, 2). With confidence, Christian educators can liberate the young from the limits of positivism and awaken receptivity to the truth, to God and his goodness. In this way you will also help to form their conscience which, enriched by faith, opens a sure path to inner peace and to respect for others.
It comes as no surprise, then, that not just our own ecclesial communities but society in general has high expectations of Catholic educators. This places upon you a responsibility and offers an opportunity. More and more people - parents in particular - recognize the need for excellence in the human formation of their children. As Mater et Magistra, the Church shares their concern. When nothing beyond the individual is recognized as definitive, the ultimate criterion of judgment becomes the self and the satisfaction of the individual's immediate wishes. The objectivity and perspective, which can only come through a recognition of the essential transcendent dimension of the human person, can be lost. Within such a relativistic horizon the goals of education are inevitably curtailed. Slowly, a lowering of standards occurs. We observe today a timidity in the face of the category of the good and an aimless pursuit of novelty parading as the realization of freedom. We witness an assumption that every experience is of equal worth and a reluctance to admit imperfection and mistakes. And particularly disturbing, is the reduction of the precious and delicate area of education in sexuality to management of 'risk', bereft of any reference to the beauty of conjugal love.
How might Christian educators respond? These harmful developments point to the particular urgency of what we might call "intellectual charity". This aspect of charity calls the educator to recognize that the profound responsibility to lead the young to truth is nothing less than an act of love. Indeed, the dignity of education lies in fostering the true perfection and happiness of those to be educated. In practice "intellectual charity" upholds the essential unity of knowledge against the fragmentation which ensues when reason is detached from the pursuit of truth. It guides the young towards the deep satisfaction of exercising freedom in relation to truth, and it strives to articulate the relationship between faith and all aspects of family and civic life. Once their passion for the fullness and unity of truth has been awakened, young people will surely relish the discovery that the question of what they can know opens up the vast adventure of what they ought to do. Here they will experience "in what" and "in whom" it is possible to hope, and be inspired to contribute to society in a way that engenders hope in others.
Dear friends, I wish to conclude by focusing our attention specifically on the paramount importance of your own professionalism and witness within our Catholic universities and schools. First, let me thank you for your dedication and generosity. I know from my own days as a professor, and I have heard from your Bishops and officials of the Congregation for Catholic Education, that the reputation of Catholic institutes of learning in this country is largely due to yourselves and your predecessors. Your selfless contributions - from outstanding research to the dedication of those working in inner-city schools - serve both your country and the Church. For this I express my profound gratitude.
In regard to faculty members at Catholic colleges universities, I wish to reaffirm the great value of academic freedom. In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you. Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university's identity and mission; a mission at the heart of the Church's munus docendi and not somehow autonomous or independent of it.
Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church's Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution's life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual or spiritual.
I wish also to express a particular word of encouragement to both lay and Religious teachers of catechesis who strive to ensure that young people become daily more appreciative of the gift of faith. Religious education is a challenging apostolate, yet there are many signs of a desire among young people to learn about the faith and practice it with vigor. If this awakening is to grow, teachers require a clear and precise understanding of the specific nature and role of Catholic education. They must also be ready to lead the commitment made by the entire school community to assist our young people, and their families, to experience the harmony between faith, life and culture.
Here I wish to make a special appeal to Religious Brothers, Sisters and Priests: do not abandon the school apostolate; indeed, renew your commitment to schools especially those in poorer areas. In places where there are many hollow promises which lure young people away from the path of truth and genuine freedom, the consecrated person's witness to the evangelical counsels is an irreplaceable gift. I encourage the Religious present to bring renewed enthusiasm to the promotion of vocations. Know that your witness to the ideal of consecration and mission among the young is a source of great inspiration in faith for them and their families.
To all of you I say: bear witness to hope. Nourish your witness with prayer. Account for the hope that characterizes your lives (cf. 1 Pet 3:15) by living the truth which you propose to your students. Help them to know and love the One you have encountered, whose truth and goodness you have experienced with joy. With Saint Augustine, let us say: "we who speak and you who listen acknowledge ourselves as fellow disciples of a single teacher" (Sermons, 23:2). With these sentiments of communion, I gladly impart to you, your colleagues and students, and to your families, my Apostolic Blessing.
My thoughts and summary of the Holy Father, and I am looking at it primarily as a teacher and what I need to do as a teacher based on his message:
One point is that since "The Church's primary mission [is] evangelization," and since "educational institutions play a crucial role" in evangelization, "Education is integral to the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News." Then, if a Catholic school is really an institution strongly concerned with evangelization, it would follow that, "Christian educators...ensure that the power of God's truth permeates every dimension of the institutions they serve." We are not talking just about religion class here, and we are not talking about a little decoration on the side; we are talking about everything and about something of a saturation.
If a teacher himself is not permeated and saturated with Catholicism, it is impossible to have all dimensions of the school be so. I cannot give away what I do not possess myself. That is why the Pope concludes his message with these words: "Nourish your witness with prayer. Account for the hope that characterizes your lives (cf. 1 Pet 3:15) by living the truth which you propose to your students. Help them to know and love the One you have encountered, whose truth and goodness you have experienced with joy." It is because we pray and encounter Jesus and love Him that we are able to share that with our students.
It is for this reason that he can say, "We see why fostering personal intimacy with Jesus Christ and communal witness to his loving truth is indispensable in Catholic institutions of learning." If teachers and administrators have a deep intimacy with Jesus, which is what Catholicism is all about, then they will be able to participate in the evangelizing mission of the Church. This is what makes a Catholic school Catholic. "Clearly, then, Catholic identity is not dependent upon statistics. Neither can it be equated simply with orthodoxy of course content. It demands and inspires much more: namely that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith." It is not about getting the Catholic thing "down," so to speak, or having good Catholic curriculum, but it has to do with each staff person being filled with the faith of the Church.
In another place the Holy Father puts it this way: "A university or school's Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students. It is a question of conviction - do we really believe that only in the mystery of the Word made flesh does the mystery of man truly become clear (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22)? Are we ready to commit our entire self - intellect and will, mind and heart - to God? Do we accept the truth Christ reveals? Is the faith tangible in our universities and schools? Is it given fervent expression liturgically, sacramentally, through prayer, acts of charity, a concern for justice, and respect for God's creation? Only in this way do we really bear witness to the meaning of who we are and what we uphold." Do we really believe in Jesus, do we really commit our whole self to God, do we fully accept all that Christ reveals in the teachings of the Church, and do we whole-heartedly express our faith in all we do in the school so that that faith is palpable? This is what makes a school Catholic.
Yet another time the Holy Father says the same thing: "Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church's Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution's life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual or spiritual."
No teacher or administrator can do this without a deep prayer life and personal love of Jesus Christ and His Church.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
Address of Pope Benedict XVI to Catholic Educators of the United States
Thursday 17 April 2008, Catholic University of America
Your Eminences, Dear Brother Bishops, Distinguished Professors, Teachers and Educators,
"How beautiful are the footsteps of those who bring good news" (Rom 10:15-17). With these words of Isaiah quoted by Saint Paul, I warmly greet each of you - bearers of wisdom - and through you the staff, students and families of the many and varied institutions of learning that you represent. It is my great pleasure to meet you and to share with you some thoughts regarding the nature and identity of Catholic education today. I especially wish to thank Father David O'Connell, President and Rector of the Catholic University of America. Your kind words of welcome are much appreciated. Please extend my heartfelt gratitude to the entire community - faculty, staff and students - of this University.
Education is integral to the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News. First and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth (cf. Spe Salvi, 4). This relationship elicits a desire to grow in the knowledge and understanding of Christ and his teaching. In this way those who meet him are drawn by the very power of the Gospel to lead a new life characterized by all that is beautiful, good, and true; a life of Christian witness nurtured and strengthened within the community of our Lord's disciples, the Church.
The dynamic between personal encounter, knowledge and Christian witness is integral to the diakonia of truth which the Church exercises in the midst of humanity. God's revelation offers every generation the opportunity to discover the ultimate truth about its own life and the goal of history. This task is never easy; it involves the entire Christian community and motivates each generation of Christian educators to ensure that the power of God's truth permeates every dimension of the institutions they serve. In this way, Christ's Good News is set to work, guiding both teacher and student towards the objective truth which, in transcending the particular and the subjective, points to the universal and absolute that enables us to proclaim with confidence the hope which does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5). Set against personal struggles, moral confusion and fragmentation of knowledge, the noble goals of scholarship and education, founded on the unity of truth and in service of the person and the community, become an especially powerful instrument of hope.
Dear friends, the history of this nation includes many examples of the Church's commitment in this regard. The Catholic community here has in fact made education one of its highest priorities. This undertaking has not come without great sacrifice. Towering figures, like Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton and other founders and foundresses, with great tenacity and foresight, laid the foundations of what is today a remarkable network of parochial schools contributing to the spiritual well-being of the Church and the nation. Some, like Saint Katharine Drexel, devoted their lives to educating those whom others had neglected - in her case, African Americans and Native Americans. Countless dedicated Religious Sisters, Brothers, and Priests together with selfless parents have, through Catholic schools, helped generations of immigrants to rise from poverty and take their place in mainstream society.
This sacrifice continues today. It is an outstanding apostolate of hope, seeking to address the material, intellectual and spiritual needs of over three million children and students. It also provides a highly commendable opportunity for the entire Catholic community to contribute generously to the financial needs of our institutions. Their long-term sustainability must be assured. Indeed, everything possible must be done, in cooperation with the wider community, to ensure that they are accessible to people of all social and economic strata. No child should be denied his or her right to an education in faith, which in turn nurtures the soul of a nation.
Some today question the Church's involvement in education, wondering whether her resources might be better placed elsewhere. Certainly in a nation such as this, the State provides ample opportunities for education and attracts committed and generous men and women to this honorable profession. It is timely, then, to reflect on what is particular to our Catholic institutions. How do they contribute to the good of society through the Church's primary mission of evangelization?
All the Church's activities stem from her awareness that she is the bearer of a message which has its origin in God himself: in his goodness and wisdom, God chose to reveal himself and to make known the hidden purpose of his will (cf. Eph 1:9; Dei Verbum, 2). God's desire to make himself known, and the innate desire of all human beings to know the truth, provide the context for human inquiry into the meaning of life. This unique encounter is sustained within our Christian community: the one who seeks the truth becomes the one who lives by faith (cf. Fides et Ratio, 31). It can be described as a move from "I" to "we", leading the individual to be numbered among God's people.
This same dynamic of communal identity - to whom do I belong? - vivifies the ethos of our Catholic institutions. A university or school's Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students. It is a question of conviction - do we really believe that only in the mystery of the Word made flesh does the mystery of man truly become clear (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22)? Are we ready to commit our entire self - intellect and will, mind and heart - to God? Do we accept the truth Christ reveals? Is the faith tangible in our universities and schools? Is it given fervent expression liturgically, sacramentally, through prayer, acts of charity, a concern for justice, and respect for God's creation? Only in this way do we really bear witness to the meaning of who we are and what we uphold.
From this perspective one can recognize that the contemporary "crisis of truth" is rooted in a "crisis of faith". Only through faith can we freely give our assent to God's testimony and acknowledge him as the transcendent guarantor of the truth he reveals. Again, we see why fostering personal intimacy with Jesus Christ and communal witness to his loving truth is indispensable in Catholic institutions of learning. Yet we all know, and observe with concern, the difficulty or reluctance many people have today in entrusting themselves to God. It is a complex phenomenon and one which I ponder continually. While we have sought diligently to engage the intellect of our young, perhaps we have neglected the will. Subsequently we observe, with distress, the notion of freedom being distorted. Freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in - a participation in Being itself. Hence authentic freedom can never be attained by turning away from God. Such a choice would ultimately disregard the very truth we need in order to understand ourselves. A particular responsibility therefore for each of you, and your colleagues, is to evoke among the young the desire for the act of faith, encouraging them to commit themselves to the ecclesial life that follows from this belief. It is here that freedom reaches the certainty of truth. In choosing to live by that truth, we embrace the fullness of the life of faith which is given to us in the Church.
Clearly, then, Catholic identity is not dependent upon statistics. Neither can it be equated simply with orthodoxy of course content. It demands and inspires much more: namely that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith. Only in faith can truth become incarnate and reason truly human, capable of directing the will along the path of freedom (cf. Spe Salvi, 23). In this way our institutions make a vital contribution to the mission of the Church and truly serve society. They become places in which God's active presence in human affairs is recognized and in which every young person discovers the joy of entering into Christ's "being for others" (cf. ibid., 28).
The Church's primary mission of evangelization, in which educational institutions play a crucial role, is consonant with a nation's fundamental aspiration to develop a society truly worthy of the human person's dignity. At times, however, the value of the Church's contribution to the public forum is questioned. It is important therefore to recall that the truths of faith and of reason never contradict one another (cf. First Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith Dei Filius, IV: DS 3017; St. Augustine, Contra Academicos, III, 20, 43). The Church's mission, in fact, involves her in humanity's struggle to arrive at truth. In articulating revealed truth she serves all members of society by purifying reason, ensuring that it remains open to the consideration of ultimate truths. Drawing upon divine wisdom, she sheds light on the foundation of human morality and ethics, and reminds all groups in society that it is not praxis that creates truth but truth that should serve as the basis of praxis. Far from undermining the tolerance of legitimate diversity, such a contribution illuminates the very truth which makes consensus attainable, and helps to keep public debate rational, honest and accountable. Similarly the Church never tires of upholding the essential moral categories of right and wrong, without which hope could only wither, giving way to cold pragmatic calculations of utility which render the person little more than a pawn on some ideological chess-board.
With regard to the educational forum, the diakonia of truth takes on a heightened significance in societies where secularist ideology drives a wedge between truth and faith. This division has led to a tendency to equate truth with knowledge and to adopt a positivistic mentality which, in rejecting metaphysics, denies the foundations of faith and rejects the need for a moral vision. Truth means more than knowledge: knowing the truth leads us to discover the good. Truth speaks to the individual in his or her the entirety, inviting us to respond with our whole being. This optimistic vision is found in our Christian faith because such faith has been granted the vision of the Logos, God's creative Reason, which in the Incarnation, is revealed as Goodness itself. Far from being just a communication of factual data - "informative" - the loving truth of the Gospel is creative and life-changing - "performative" (cf. Spe Salvi, 2). With confidence, Christian educators can liberate the young from the limits of positivism and awaken receptivity to the truth, to God and his goodness. In this way you will also help to form their conscience which, enriched by faith, opens a sure path to inner peace and to respect for others.
It comes as no surprise, then, that not just our own ecclesial communities but society in general has high expectations of Catholic educators. This places upon you a responsibility and offers an opportunity. More and more people - parents in particular - recognize the need for excellence in the human formation of their children. As Mater et Magistra, the Church shares their concern. When nothing beyond the individual is recognized as definitive, the ultimate criterion of judgment becomes the self and the satisfaction of the individual's immediate wishes. The objectivity and perspective, which can only come through a recognition of the essential transcendent dimension of the human person, can be lost. Within such a relativistic horizon the goals of education are inevitably curtailed. Slowly, a lowering of standards occurs. We observe today a timidity in the face of the category of the good and an aimless pursuit of novelty parading as the realization of freedom. We witness an assumption that every experience is of equal worth and a reluctance to admit imperfection and mistakes. And particularly disturbing, is the reduction of the precious and delicate area of education in sexuality to management of 'risk', bereft of any reference to the beauty of conjugal love.
How might Christian educators respond? These harmful developments point to the particular urgency of what we might call "intellectual charity". This aspect of charity calls the educator to recognize that the profound responsibility to lead the young to truth is nothing less than an act of love. Indeed, the dignity of education lies in fostering the true perfection and happiness of those to be educated. In practice "intellectual charity" upholds the essential unity of knowledge against the fragmentation which ensues when reason is detached from the pursuit of truth. It guides the young towards the deep satisfaction of exercising freedom in relation to truth, and it strives to articulate the relationship between faith and all aspects of family and civic life. Once their passion for the fullness and unity of truth has been awakened, young people will surely relish the discovery that the question of what they can know opens up the vast adventure of what they ought to do. Here they will experience "in what" and "in whom" it is possible to hope, and be inspired to contribute to society in a way that engenders hope in others.
Dear friends, I wish to conclude by focusing our attention specifically on the paramount importance of your own professionalism and witness within our Catholic universities and schools. First, let me thank you for your dedication and generosity. I know from my own days as a professor, and I have heard from your Bishops and officials of the Congregation for Catholic Education, that the reputation of Catholic institutes of learning in this country is largely due to yourselves and your predecessors. Your selfless contributions - from outstanding research to the dedication of those working in inner-city schools - serve both your country and the Church. For this I express my profound gratitude.
In regard to faculty members at Catholic colleges universities, I wish to reaffirm the great value of academic freedom. In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you. Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university's identity and mission; a mission at the heart of the Church's munus docendi and not somehow autonomous or independent of it.
Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church's Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution's life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual or spiritual.
I wish also to express a particular word of encouragement to both lay and Religious teachers of catechesis who strive to ensure that young people become daily more appreciative of the gift of faith. Religious education is a challenging apostolate, yet there are many signs of a desire among young people to learn about the faith and practice it with vigor. If this awakening is to grow, teachers require a clear and precise understanding of the specific nature and role of Catholic education. They must also be ready to lead the commitment made by the entire school community to assist our young people, and their families, to experience the harmony between faith, life and culture.
Here I wish to make a special appeal to Religious Brothers, Sisters and Priests: do not abandon the school apostolate; indeed, renew your commitment to schools especially those in poorer areas. In places where there are many hollow promises which lure young people away from the path of truth and genuine freedom, the consecrated person's witness to the evangelical counsels is an irreplaceable gift. I encourage the Religious present to bring renewed enthusiasm to the promotion of vocations. Know that your witness to the ideal of consecration and mission among the young is a source of great inspiration in faith for them and their families.
To all of you I say: bear witness to hope. Nourish your witness with prayer. Account for the hope that characterizes your lives (cf. 1 Pet 3:15) by living the truth which you propose to your students. Help them to know and love the One you have encountered, whose truth and goodness you have experienced with joy. With Saint Augustine, let us say: "we who speak and you who listen acknowledge ourselves as fellow disciples of a single teacher" (Sermons, 23:2). With these sentiments of communion, I gladly impart to you, your colleagues and students, and to your families, my Apostolic Blessing.
My thoughts and summary of the Holy Father, and I am looking at it primarily as a teacher and what I need to do as a teacher based on his message:
One point is that since "The Church's primary mission [is] evangelization," and since "educational institutions play a crucial role" in evangelization, "Education is integral to the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News." Then, if a Catholic school is really an institution strongly concerned with evangelization, it would follow that, "Christian educators...ensure that the power of God's truth permeates every dimension of the institutions they serve." We are not talking just about religion class here, and we are not talking about a little decoration on the side; we are talking about everything and about something of a saturation.
If a teacher himself is not permeated and saturated with Catholicism, it is impossible to have all dimensions of the school be so. I cannot give away what I do not possess myself. That is why the Pope concludes his message with these words: "Nourish your witness with prayer. Account for the hope that characterizes your lives (cf. 1 Pet 3:15) by living the truth which you propose to your students. Help them to know and love the One you have encountered, whose truth and goodness you have experienced with joy." It is because we pray and encounter Jesus and love Him that we are able to share that with our students.
It is for this reason that he can say, "We see why fostering personal intimacy with Jesus Christ and communal witness to his loving truth is indispensable in Catholic institutions of learning." If teachers and administrators have a deep intimacy with Jesus, which is what Catholicism is all about, then they will be able to participate in the evangelizing mission of the Church. This is what makes a Catholic school Catholic. "Clearly, then, Catholic identity is not dependent upon statistics. Neither can it be equated simply with orthodoxy of course content. It demands and inspires much more: namely that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith." It is not about getting the Catholic thing "down," so to speak, or having good Catholic curriculum, but it has to do with each staff person being filled with the faith of the Church.
In another place the Holy Father puts it this way: "A university or school's Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students. It is a question of conviction - do we really believe that only in the mystery of the Word made flesh does the mystery of man truly become clear (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22)? Are we ready to commit our entire self - intellect and will, mind and heart - to God? Do we accept the truth Christ reveals? Is the faith tangible in our universities and schools? Is it given fervent expression liturgically, sacramentally, through prayer, acts of charity, a concern for justice, and respect for God's creation? Only in this way do we really bear witness to the meaning of who we are and what we uphold." Do we really believe in Jesus, do we really commit our whole self to God, do we fully accept all that Christ reveals in the teachings of the Church, and do we whole-heartedly express our faith in all we do in the school so that that faith is palpable? This is what makes a school Catholic.
Yet another time the Holy Father says the same thing: "Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church's Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution's life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual or spiritual."
No teacher or administrator can do this without a deep prayer life and personal love of Jesus Christ and His Church.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
4.08.2008
Pope Benedict XVI's Preliminary Message to America
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the United States of America,
The grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you! In just a few days from now, I shall begin my apostolic visit to your beloved country. Before setting off, I would like to offer you a heartfelt greeting and an invitation to prayer. As you know, I shall only be able to visit two cities: Washington and New York. The intention behind my visit, though, is to reach out spiritually to all Catholics in the United States. At the same time, I earnestly hope that my presence among you will be seen as a fraternal gesture towards every ecclesial community, and a sign of friendship for members of other religious traditions and all men and women of good will. The risen Lord entrusted the apostles and the Church with his Gospel of love and peace, and his intention in doing so was that the message should be passed on to all peoples.
At this point I should like to add some words of thanks, because I am conscious that many people have been working hard for a long time, both in Church circles and in the public services, to prepare for my journey. I am especially grateful to all who have been praying for the success of the visit, since prayer is the most important element of all. Dear friends, I say this because I am convinced that without the power of prayer, without that intimate union with the Lord, our human endeavors would achieve very little. Indeed this is what our faith teaches us. It is God who saves us, he saves the world, and all of history. He is the shepherd of his people. I am coming, sent by Jesus Christ, to bring you his word of life.
Together with your bishops, I have chosen as the theme of my journey three simple but essential words: "Christ our hope." Following in the footsteps of my venerable predecessors, Paul VI and John Paul II, I shall come to United States of America as Pope for the first time, to proclaim this great truth: Jesus Christ is hope for men and women of every language, race, culture, and social condition. Yes, Christ is the face of God present among us. Through him, our lives reach fullness, and together, both as individuals and peoples, we can become a family united by fraternal love, according to the eternal plan of God the Father.
I know how deeply rooted this Gospel message is in your country. I am coming to share it with you, in a series of celebrations and gatherings. I shall also bring the message of Christian hope to the great assembly of the United Nations, to the representatives of all the peoples of the world. Indeed, the world has greater need of hope than ever: hope for peace, for justice, and for freedom; but this hope can never be fulfilled without obedience to the law of God, which Christ brought to fulfillment in the commandment to love one another. Do to others as you would have them do to you, and avoid doing what you would not want them to do. This "golden rule" is given in the Bible, but it is valid for all people, including non-believers. It is the law written on the human heart; on this we can all agree, so that when we come to address other matters we can do so in a positive and constructive manner for the entire human community.
[I removed the paragraph in Spanish]
Dear brothers and sisters, dear friends in the United States, I am very much looking forward to being with you. I want you to know that, even if my itinerary is short, with just a few engagements, my heart is close to all of you, especially to the sick, the weak, and the lonely. I thank you once again for your prayerful support of my mission. I reach out to every one of you with affection, and I invoke upon you the maternal protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
My thoughts:
First of all, the Holy Father asks us for our prayers for his upcoming visit; that I will surely do. He goes on to make a powerful statement: "without the power of prayer, without that intimate union with the Lord, our human endeavors would achieve very little [emphasis added]." The only way to achieve much of lasting value, to become holy, to be a saint, is a close, personal, intimate love relationship with Jesus our Lord. Apart from our union with Him, we are capable of very little. God made us for Himself, He made us to be holy, and the only way to be vessels of God and be holy is to have that union with Him that is only possible with a deep, daily prayer life.
The theme of his journey here to America is: "Christ our hope." Our deepest hope is to be completely and utterly happy forever and ever; this is not an impossible and unrealistic fantasy; it is the God-given hunger for Him. He is the fulfillment of our deepest hope, and, as such, Christ is our hope. He is the hope for every person individually and the hope for the entire human family; only in Him can we become a united family in fraternal love. The world has never had a greater need for hope, "but this hope can never be fulfilled without obedience to the law of God, which Christ brought to fulfillment in the commandment to love one another." There is no true hope apart from the truth and obedience to that truth given to us in the law of God. The Holy Father goes on to say that the golden rule is valid for everyone, regardless of their beliefs, for it is written on our hearts by God Himself. Hope is only possible if we obey that God-written law inscribed on our hearts. With this universal truth as our foundation, all peoples can work together for the benefit of the whole world.
As he stated the other day, the Holy Father again said, "I know how deeply rooted this Gospel message is in your country." We have much to be proud of in our founding and our history. He will remind us of the treasures we have been given. Lastly, he regrets that his stay is so short, but, he said, "my heart is close to all of you," and " I reach out to every one of you with affection." Let us reach out to him in return with our prayers and our loving affection.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
The grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you! In just a few days from now, I shall begin my apostolic visit to your beloved country. Before setting off, I would like to offer you a heartfelt greeting and an invitation to prayer. As you know, I shall only be able to visit two cities: Washington and New York. The intention behind my visit, though, is to reach out spiritually to all Catholics in the United States. At the same time, I earnestly hope that my presence among you will be seen as a fraternal gesture towards every ecclesial community, and a sign of friendship for members of other religious traditions and all men and women of good will. The risen Lord entrusted the apostles and the Church with his Gospel of love and peace, and his intention in doing so was that the message should be passed on to all peoples.
At this point I should like to add some words of thanks, because I am conscious that many people have been working hard for a long time, both in Church circles and in the public services, to prepare for my journey. I am especially grateful to all who have been praying for the success of the visit, since prayer is the most important element of all. Dear friends, I say this because I am convinced that without the power of prayer, without that intimate union with the Lord, our human endeavors would achieve very little. Indeed this is what our faith teaches us. It is God who saves us, he saves the world, and all of history. He is the shepherd of his people. I am coming, sent by Jesus Christ, to bring you his word of life.
Together with your bishops, I have chosen as the theme of my journey three simple but essential words: "Christ our hope." Following in the footsteps of my venerable predecessors, Paul VI and John Paul II, I shall come to United States of America as Pope for the first time, to proclaim this great truth: Jesus Christ is hope for men and women of every language, race, culture, and social condition. Yes, Christ is the face of God present among us. Through him, our lives reach fullness, and together, both as individuals and peoples, we can become a family united by fraternal love, according to the eternal plan of God the Father.
I know how deeply rooted this Gospel message is in your country. I am coming to share it with you, in a series of celebrations and gatherings. I shall also bring the message of Christian hope to the great assembly of the United Nations, to the representatives of all the peoples of the world. Indeed, the world has greater need of hope than ever: hope for peace, for justice, and for freedom; but this hope can never be fulfilled without obedience to the law of God, which Christ brought to fulfillment in the commandment to love one another. Do to others as you would have them do to you, and avoid doing what you would not want them to do. This "golden rule" is given in the Bible, but it is valid for all people, including non-believers. It is the law written on the human heart; on this we can all agree, so that when we come to address other matters we can do so in a positive and constructive manner for the entire human community.
[I removed the paragraph in Spanish]
Dear brothers and sisters, dear friends in the United States, I am very much looking forward to being with you. I want you to know that, even if my itinerary is short, with just a few engagements, my heart is close to all of you, especially to the sick, the weak, and the lonely. I thank you once again for your prayerful support of my mission. I reach out to every one of you with affection, and I invoke upon you the maternal protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
My thoughts:
First of all, the Holy Father asks us for our prayers for his upcoming visit; that I will surely do. He goes on to make a powerful statement: "without the power of prayer, without that intimate union with the Lord, our human endeavors would achieve very little [emphasis added]." The only way to achieve much of lasting value, to become holy, to be a saint, is a close, personal, intimate love relationship with Jesus our Lord. Apart from our union with Him, we are capable of very little. God made us for Himself, He made us to be holy, and the only way to be vessels of God and be holy is to have that union with Him that is only possible with a deep, daily prayer life.
The theme of his journey here to America is: "Christ our hope." Our deepest hope is to be completely and utterly happy forever and ever; this is not an impossible and unrealistic fantasy; it is the God-given hunger for Him. He is the fulfillment of our deepest hope, and, as such, Christ is our hope. He is the hope for every person individually and the hope for the entire human family; only in Him can we become a united family in fraternal love. The world has never had a greater need for hope, "but this hope can never be fulfilled without obedience to the law of God, which Christ brought to fulfillment in the commandment to love one another." There is no true hope apart from the truth and obedience to that truth given to us in the law of God. The Holy Father goes on to say that the golden rule is valid for everyone, regardless of their beliefs, for it is written on our hearts by God Himself. Hope is only possible if we obey that God-written law inscribed on our hearts. With this universal truth as our foundation, all peoples can work together for the benefit of the whole world.
As he stated the other day, the Holy Father again said, "I know how deeply rooted this Gospel message is in your country." We have much to be proud of in our founding and our history. He will remind us of the treasures we have been given. Lastly, he regrets that his stay is so short, but, he said, "my heart is close to all of you," and " I reach out to every one of you with affection." Let us reach out to him in return with our prayers and our loving affection.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
4.06.2008
Pope Benedict XVI is Coming to America
What will the Pope say to us when he arrives for his visit? That is one question many are asking and one question that I have some ideas about. As with any good shepherd, he will encourage the good and redirect the wayward. A little more than a month ago, February 29, he welcomed Mary Ann Glendon as the new US ambassador to the Holy See. On that occasion, he praised America as "a nation which values the role of religious belief," and went on to say that a just government, "must be the fruit of a deeper consensus based on the acknowledgment of universal truths." Valuing religious belief and basing society on universal truths, which is how America was founded, is essential to building and maintaining a good and just society. In this way, the Pope will call Americans back to their roots and to the traditions that have made us a great country.
What is endangering America and the entire world, especially Europe, is the attempt to eradicate religion, especially Christianity, from all aspects of public discourse and life. Truth is reduced merely to what is empirically verifiable. Anything beyond the five senses is, at best, considered subjective, and it has nothing to do with universal truths, so it is seen. This is the message the Pope made in his famous Regensburg address, in which toward the end he said: "For philosophy and, albeit in a different way, for theology, listening to the great experiences and insights of the religious traditions of humanity, and those of the Christian faith in particular, is a source of knowledge, and to ignore it would be an unacceptable restriction of our listening and responding." Faith is a source of knowledge which all too often is ignored or despised. Reasonableness is reduced to the sensory while religion is reduced to the garbage heap.
He continues: "The West has long been endangered by this aversion to the questions which underlie its rationality, and can only suffer great harm thereby. The courage to engage the whole breadth of reason, and not the denial of its grandeur--this is the programme with which a theology grounded in Biblical faith enters into the debates of our time." For a long time, the universal truths upon which our country is founded, have been cut off from the Christian heritage out of which they grew. The Pope lives within the European Union which has decided to build its unity without any connection to Christianity and so has no lasting anchor for its foundation. To do whatever he can to encourage us to avoid that deadly mistake, the Pope will reiterate one of the primary messages of Regensburg; he will tell us that the only way we will overcome the dangers and evils of the world are, "if reason and faith come together in a new way, if we overcome the self-imposed limitation of reason to the empirically falsifiable, and if we once more disclose its vast horizons." The rationality of faith is the anchor for the world to thrive and avoid self-destruction.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
What is endangering America and the entire world, especially Europe, is the attempt to eradicate religion, especially Christianity, from all aspects of public discourse and life. Truth is reduced merely to what is empirically verifiable. Anything beyond the five senses is, at best, considered subjective, and it has nothing to do with universal truths, so it is seen. This is the message the Pope made in his famous Regensburg address, in which toward the end he said: "For philosophy and, albeit in a different way, for theology, listening to the great experiences and insights of the religious traditions of humanity, and those of the Christian faith in particular, is a source of knowledge, and to ignore it would be an unacceptable restriction of our listening and responding." Faith is a source of knowledge which all too often is ignored or despised. Reasonableness is reduced to the sensory while religion is reduced to the garbage heap.
He continues: "The West has long been endangered by this aversion to the questions which underlie its rationality, and can only suffer great harm thereby. The courage to engage the whole breadth of reason, and not the denial of its grandeur--this is the programme with which a theology grounded in Biblical faith enters into the debates of our time." For a long time, the universal truths upon which our country is founded, have been cut off from the Christian heritage out of which they grew. The Pope lives within the European Union which has decided to build its unity without any connection to Christianity and so has no lasting anchor for its foundation. To do whatever he can to encourage us to avoid that deadly mistake, the Pope will reiterate one of the primary messages of Regensburg; he will tell us that the only way we will overcome the dangers and evils of the world are, "if reason and faith come together in a new way, if we overcome the self-imposed limitation of reason to the empirically falsifiable, and if we once more disclose its vast horizons." The rationality of faith is the anchor for the world to thrive and avoid self-destruction.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
3.22.2008
Benedict XVI: Reflections after the Way of the Cross
The full text of the Holy Father's talk is found by clicking on the title of this entry. Below is the section that I want to highlight:
"Jesus Christ died to liberate the humanity of old of their ignorance of God, of the circle of hate and violence, of the slavery to sin. The cross makes us brothers and sisters.
But let us ask ourselves, in this moment, what have we done with this gift, what have we done with the revelation of the face of God in Christ, with the revelation of the love of God that conquers hate. Many, in our age as well, do not know God and cannot encounter him in Christ crucified. Many are in search of a love or a liberty that excludes God. Many believe they have no need of God.
Dear friends: After having lived together the passion of Jesus, let us this night allow his sacrifice on the cross to question us. Let us permit him to challenge our human certainties. Let us open our hearts. Jesus is the truth that makes us free to love. Let us not be afraid: upon dying, the Lord destroyed sin and saved sinners, that is, all of us. The Apostle Peter writes: "He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24). This is the truth of Good Friday: On the cross, the Redeemer has made us adoptive sons of God who he created in his image and likeness. Let us remain, then, in adoration before the cross.
Christ, give us the peace we seek, the happiness we desire, the love the fills our heart thirsty for the infinite. This is our prayer for this night, Jesus, Son of God, who died for us on the cross and was resurrected on the third day."
How often we ignore God's love for us. How seldom do we look in the direction of the One who is calling us to friendship and union. How hard it is to truly walk the way of the cross with Him. My wife and I watched "The Passion of the Christ" last night as has become our tradition on Good Friday. We didn't want to watch it. We wanted to go to bed early. But we both knew that we needed to watch it. It never gets old. It is always horrible. Jesus became the Passover Lamb to set me free from the slavery of sin and death. He was slaughtered in a most horrible manner. How could I ever sin again after seeing what it cost Him? What won't I do to draw close to Him after all He did to draw close to me?
God invites us draw near to Him. He invites us to open our hearts to Him. We seek complete and total peace, happiness and love forever, and this is what God alone is able to give us. He died to give us what we desire. What are we doing with this gift? God asks us: Will you marry me? How do we respond to this invitation? It is all a matter of the heart. Do we close our heart and refuse Him? Or worse, do we simply ignore His invitation and greet it with indifference? True life is found only in our opening our heart to the One who loves us and died for us. "Let us remain, then, in adoration before the cross."
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
"Jesus Christ died to liberate the humanity of old of their ignorance of God, of the circle of hate and violence, of the slavery to sin. The cross makes us brothers and sisters.
But let us ask ourselves, in this moment, what have we done with this gift, what have we done with the revelation of the face of God in Christ, with the revelation of the love of God that conquers hate. Many, in our age as well, do not know God and cannot encounter him in Christ crucified. Many are in search of a love or a liberty that excludes God. Many believe they have no need of God.
Dear friends: After having lived together the passion of Jesus, let us this night allow his sacrifice on the cross to question us. Let us permit him to challenge our human certainties. Let us open our hearts. Jesus is the truth that makes us free to love. Let us not be afraid: upon dying, the Lord destroyed sin and saved sinners, that is, all of us. The Apostle Peter writes: "He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24). This is the truth of Good Friday: On the cross, the Redeemer has made us adoptive sons of God who he created in his image and likeness. Let us remain, then, in adoration before the cross.
Christ, give us the peace we seek, the happiness we desire, the love the fills our heart thirsty for the infinite. This is our prayer for this night, Jesus, Son of God, who died for us on the cross and was resurrected on the third day."
How often we ignore God's love for us. How seldom do we look in the direction of the One who is calling us to friendship and union. How hard it is to truly walk the way of the cross with Him. My wife and I watched "The Passion of the Christ" last night as has become our tradition on Good Friday. We didn't want to watch it. We wanted to go to bed early. But we both knew that we needed to watch it. It never gets old. It is always horrible. Jesus became the Passover Lamb to set me free from the slavery of sin and death. He was slaughtered in a most horrible manner. How could I ever sin again after seeing what it cost Him? What won't I do to draw close to Him after all He did to draw close to me?
God invites us draw near to Him. He invites us to open our hearts to Him. We seek complete and total peace, happiness and love forever, and this is what God alone is able to give us. He died to give us what we desire. What are we doing with this gift? God asks us: Will you marry me? How do we respond to this invitation? It is all a matter of the heart. Do we close our heart and refuse Him? Or worse, do we simply ignore His invitation and greet it with indifference? True life is found only in our opening our heart to the One who loves us and died for us. "Let us remain, then, in adoration before the cross."
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
3.20.2008
Benedict XVI: "We must see with heart."
Pope Benedict XVI's homily last Sunday for Palm Sunday ended with these words:
" Jesus shows God as the One who loves and his power as the power of love. Thus, he tells us what will always be part of the correct worship of God: healing, serving and the goodness that cures.
And then there are children who pay homage to Jesus as the Son of David and acclaim him the Hosanna. Jesus had said to his disciples that to enter the Kingdom of God it was essential to become once again like children. He himself, who embraces the whole world, made himself little in order to come to our aid, to draw us to God. In order to recognize God, we must give up the pride that dazzles us, that wants to drive us away from God as though God were our rival. To encounter God it is necessary to be able to see with the heart. We must learn to see with a child's heart, with a youthful heart not hampered by prejudices or blinded by interests. Thus, it is in the lowly who have such free and open hearts and recognize Jesus, that the Church sees her own image, the image of believers of all ages.
Dear friends, let us join at this moment the procession of the young people of that time - a procession that winds through the whole of history. Together with young people across the world let us go forth to meet Jesus. Let us allow ourselves to be guided toward God by him, to learn from God himself the right way to be human beings. Let us thank God with him because with Jesus, Son of David, he has given us a space of peace and reconciliation that embraces the world with the Holy Eucharist. Let us pray to him that we too may become, with him and starting from him, messengers of his peace, adorers in spirit and truth, so that his Kingdom may increase in us and around us. Amen."
That was the end of the Holy Father's homily. He said that Jesus shows us the power of love and that to see that power of love that Jesus shows we need to see with our hearts. The children cheered Jesus as He entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and the Pope invites us to join them in their jubilation. To join them and to be able to see Jesus, we must become like them; it is not too much for you and me to become like children if God Himself was able to do it in Bethlehem. We must flee from pride and see with a child's heart unencumbered by prejudice or selfish interests; becoming humble and lowly, our hearts will become free and open like a child, and we will be able to recognize Jesus. Jesus, in Himself, gives the world a space for peace and reconciliation, for healing and goodness, for worship and love, and we encounter Jesus as He seeks us out and embraces the world in the Holy Eucharist. It is in our encounter with Christ in the Holy Eucharist that we worship in spirit and truth and that the Kingdom of God increases in us and spills out of us to all those around us.
This Holy Thursday, the commemoration of the Last Supper and the institution of the Holy Eucharist, let us encounter Jesus anew with the eyes of faith, with the heart of a simple, trusting child, and entrust our whole selves to Him as He gives Himself to us. This is why Jesus came and became a man. He wanted to give Himself to us and become one with you and me. He says: "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you." Let's earnestly desire to receive Him in every Holy Communion, and hold Him dearly within our hearts throughout each day.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
" Jesus shows God as the One who loves and his power as the power of love. Thus, he tells us what will always be part of the correct worship of God: healing, serving and the goodness that cures.
And then there are children who pay homage to Jesus as the Son of David and acclaim him the Hosanna. Jesus had said to his disciples that to enter the Kingdom of God it was essential to become once again like children. He himself, who embraces the whole world, made himself little in order to come to our aid, to draw us to God. In order to recognize God, we must give up the pride that dazzles us, that wants to drive us away from God as though God were our rival. To encounter God it is necessary to be able to see with the heart. We must learn to see with a child's heart, with a youthful heart not hampered by prejudices or blinded by interests. Thus, it is in the lowly who have such free and open hearts and recognize Jesus, that the Church sees her own image, the image of believers of all ages.
Dear friends, let us join at this moment the procession of the young people of that time - a procession that winds through the whole of history. Together with young people across the world let us go forth to meet Jesus. Let us allow ourselves to be guided toward God by him, to learn from God himself the right way to be human beings. Let us thank God with him because with Jesus, Son of David, he has given us a space of peace and reconciliation that embraces the world with the Holy Eucharist. Let us pray to him that we too may become, with him and starting from him, messengers of his peace, adorers in spirit and truth, so that his Kingdom may increase in us and around us. Amen."
That was the end of the Holy Father's homily. He said that Jesus shows us the power of love and that to see that power of love that Jesus shows we need to see with our hearts. The children cheered Jesus as He entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and the Pope invites us to join them in their jubilation. To join them and to be able to see Jesus, we must become like them; it is not too much for you and me to become like children if God Himself was able to do it in Bethlehem. We must flee from pride and see with a child's heart unencumbered by prejudice or selfish interests; becoming humble and lowly, our hearts will become free and open like a child, and we will be able to recognize Jesus. Jesus, in Himself, gives the world a space for peace and reconciliation, for healing and goodness, for worship and love, and we encounter Jesus as He seeks us out and embraces the world in the Holy Eucharist. It is in our encounter with Christ in the Holy Eucharist that we worship in spirit and truth and that the Kingdom of God increases in us and spills out of us to all those around us.
This Holy Thursday, the commemoration of the Last Supper and the institution of the Holy Eucharist, let us encounter Jesus anew with the eyes of faith, with the heart of a simple, trusting child, and entrust our whole selves to Him as He gives Himself to us. This is why Jesus came and became a man. He wanted to give Himself to us and become one with you and me. He says: "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you." Let's earnestly desire to receive Him in every Holy Communion, and hold Him dearly within our hearts throughout each day.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
2.26.2008
Jesus of Nazareth
I plan to work my way through Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI, formerly Joseph Ratzinger, published by Doubleday in 2007. Tonight I want to start by focusing on the last sentences of his introduction on page eight:
“The disciple who walks with Jesus is thus caught up with him into communion with God. And that is what redemption means: this stepping beyond the limits of human nature, which had been there as a possibility and an expectation in man, God’s image and likeness, since the moment of creation.”
Putting what the Pope says in my own words, I would say: Jesus is the Way by which we are united to God and have a relationship with Him. This union and friendship with God is what redemption is, for heaven itself is nothing other than being with God. Jesus enables us to go beyond the merely natural and be transported into the supernatural reality for which God created us. Being made in God’s image and likeness bespeaks the reality that God made us to be in relationship with Him.
What I find most interesting in this quote from our Holy Father is that he connects our communion with God to our being created in the image and likeness of God. That makes sense. It relates to what I say which is that being created in the image and likeness of God means that we are created to be God’s spouse and to have the deepest union with Him. Our two statements are not mutually exclusive; my statement is more specific and strongly stated.
The first chapter of the book is a reflection on the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. John is shocked that Jesus wants to be baptized by him, but Jesus replies to John saying, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). The Pope reflects on Jesus’ words on page seventeen of his book:
“The key to interpreting Jesus’ answer is how we understand the word righteousness: The whole of righteousness must be fulfilled. In Jesus’ world, righteousness is man’s answer to the Torah, acceptance of the whole of God’s will, the bearing of the “yoke of God’s kingdom,” as one formulation had it. There is no provision for John’s baptism in the Torah, but this reply of Jesus is his way of acknowledging it as an expression of an unrestricted Yes to God’s will, as an obedient acceptance of his yoke.”
One is baptized then, in Jesus’ understanding, as an expression of an unrestricted Yes to the whole of God’s will and an obedient fulfillment of God’s commands. Pope Benedict says that the Eastern Church sees Jesus’ response here to John’s bewilderment as an anticipation of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: “My Father…not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Jesus is wholly given over to the will of His Heavenly Father, even unto death.
Today, when one is baptized, he enters into the death of Jesus, and he is given the very heart of Jesus which led Him to His faithful-unto-death self-offering. With Jesus’ heart within us, we are able to take on the impossible task of following and loving God and obeying His commands. We too are given the courage and spirit of sacrifice to say together with Jesus: “Not as I will, but as thou wilt.” The Eucharist is an extension and celebration of our baptism, and as such, the Eucharist is the new heart we need to be wholly given over to the will of God. Jesus frees us from our slavery to our own wills and makes it possible for us to follow and please God perfectly.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
“The disciple who walks with Jesus is thus caught up with him into communion with God. And that is what redemption means: this stepping beyond the limits of human nature, which had been there as a possibility and an expectation in man, God’s image and likeness, since the moment of creation.”
Putting what the Pope says in my own words, I would say: Jesus is the Way by which we are united to God and have a relationship with Him. This union and friendship with God is what redemption is, for heaven itself is nothing other than being with God. Jesus enables us to go beyond the merely natural and be transported into the supernatural reality for which God created us. Being made in God’s image and likeness bespeaks the reality that God made us to be in relationship with Him.
What I find most interesting in this quote from our Holy Father is that he connects our communion with God to our being created in the image and likeness of God. That makes sense. It relates to what I say which is that being created in the image and likeness of God means that we are created to be God’s spouse and to have the deepest union with Him. Our two statements are not mutually exclusive; my statement is more specific and strongly stated.
The first chapter of the book is a reflection on the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. John is shocked that Jesus wants to be baptized by him, but Jesus replies to John saying, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). The Pope reflects on Jesus’ words on page seventeen of his book:
“The key to interpreting Jesus’ answer is how we understand the word righteousness: The whole of righteousness must be fulfilled. In Jesus’ world, righteousness is man’s answer to the Torah, acceptance of the whole of God’s will, the bearing of the “yoke of God’s kingdom,” as one formulation had it. There is no provision for John’s baptism in the Torah, but this reply of Jesus is his way of acknowledging it as an expression of an unrestricted Yes to God’s will, as an obedient acceptance of his yoke.”
One is baptized then, in Jesus’ understanding, as an expression of an unrestricted Yes to the whole of God’s will and an obedient fulfillment of God’s commands. Pope Benedict says that the Eastern Church sees Jesus’ response here to John’s bewilderment as an anticipation of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: “My Father…not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Jesus is wholly given over to the will of His Heavenly Father, even unto death.
Today, when one is baptized, he enters into the death of Jesus, and he is given the very heart of Jesus which led Him to His faithful-unto-death self-offering. With Jesus’ heart within us, we are able to take on the impossible task of following and loving God and obeying His commands. We too are given the courage and spirit of sacrifice to say together with Jesus: “Not as I will, but as thou wilt.” The Eucharist is an extension and celebration of our baptism, and as such, the Eucharist is the new heart we need to be wholly given over to the will of God. Jesus frees us from our slavery to our own wills and makes it possible for us to follow and please God perfectly.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
2.18.2008
Ratzinger: the Cross and Eucharist=the Tree of Life
This weekend I went on my yearly silent retreat with Opus Dei, and that is why I haven’t written anything these past several days. While on the retreat, I read a short book that consists of four homilies during lent that Pope Benedict XVI gave back before he was pope or even the prefect for the Doctrine of the Faith. He gave the lectures during lent in 1981, right before he was the prefect (at least I don’t think he was just yet). Ratzinger didn’t publish them for five years; the edition I read was from 1995 and is titled: ‘In the Beginning…’ A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall.
One of the overriding themes of these homilies is that the belief that God created the world is extremely important to properly understanding not only ourselves, but reality and the Faith itself. I am not going to summarize the reasons for this, at least not tonight. I assume this point in everything I write, and it was encouraging to know that, hopefully, I can do a small part to lead others to re-examine the creation account. In the beginning of the preface of the book, Ratzinger laments how “…the creation account is noticeably and nearly completely absent from catechesis, preaching, and even theology.” That was true when he preached these homilies in 1981. “Since then, from the perspective of my new work [as prefect], the critical state of the creation theme in the present-day kerygma has become so much more evident that I now feel pressed to bring out the old manuscripts again and prepare them for printing.” That is why he published them five years later and created the book I read this weekend.
I want to quote at length his conclusion to his forth homily:
“Thus Christ is the new Adam, with whom humankind begins anew….The cross, the place of obedience, is the true tree of life. Christ is the antitype of the serpent, as is indicated in John 3:14. From this tree there comes not the word of temptation but that of redeeming love, the word of obedience, which an obedient God himself used, thus offering us his obedience as a context for freedom. The cross is the tree of life, now become approachable….Therefore the Eucharist, as the presence of the cross, is the abiding tree of life, which is ever in our midst and ever invites us to take the fruit of true life….To receive it, to eat of the tree of life, thus means to receive the crucified Lord and consequently to accept the parameters of his life, his obedience, his ‘yes,’ the standard of our creatureliness. It means to accept the love of God, which is our truth—that dependence on God which is no more an imposition from without than is the Son’s sonship. It is precisely this dependence that is freedom, because it is truth and love.”
Of course, I love this quote; I do because it resonates so well with much of what I have been saying. For someone who only desires to write within the context of Catholicism, in the strict sense of the word, having the Pope say some of the very same things is sweet music to my ears. I am glad that I found this quote this weekend; I plan to work my way through the Pope’s most recent book, Jesus of Nazareth, so I can see what else he says that may resonate with what I am saying. Isn’t his next book coming out soon, too?
At the same time, what I am saying is only in part what the Pope is saying. I say that the heart that loves, trusts and obeys God is the tree of life, and that that is the way it was from the beginning with the man and the woman in the garden. Their hearts trusted in Satan and his wisdom, and so they brought death into the world for themselves and all their descendants. The problem with us then, is that we have hard hearts, hearts that trust in themselves, rely upon their own power, turn away from God, are disobedient and in love with self and the good things of this world. We need hearts of flesh that love, trust and obey God in all things, at all times, and against all difficulties even unto death. We receive that loving and self-sacrificing heart of flesh at Baptism when we are united to Christ in His death and resurrections; being united to Jesus, we receive His very heart which was crucified and pierced; every Eucharist is a celebration of our Baptism wherein we receive that Heart of Christ, crucified and risen. With such a heart, we are able to fully and truly love, trust and obey God. That is the awesome gift we receive at every Eucharist, but it is up to us to open the present and use it. Nothing less than sanctity awaits us when we take the heart of Jesus given to us and make it our own.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
One of the overriding themes of these homilies is that the belief that God created the world is extremely important to properly understanding not only ourselves, but reality and the Faith itself. I am not going to summarize the reasons for this, at least not tonight. I assume this point in everything I write, and it was encouraging to know that, hopefully, I can do a small part to lead others to re-examine the creation account. In the beginning of the preface of the book, Ratzinger laments how “…the creation account is noticeably and nearly completely absent from catechesis, preaching, and even theology.” That was true when he preached these homilies in 1981. “Since then, from the perspective of my new work [as prefect], the critical state of the creation theme in the present-day kerygma has become so much more evident that I now feel pressed to bring out the old manuscripts again and prepare them for printing.” That is why he published them five years later and created the book I read this weekend.
I want to quote at length his conclusion to his forth homily:
“Thus Christ is the new Adam, with whom humankind begins anew….The cross, the place of obedience, is the true tree of life. Christ is the antitype of the serpent, as is indicated in John 3:14. From this tree there comes not the word of temptation but that of redeeming love, the word of obedience, which an obedient God himself used, thus offering us his obedience as a context for freedom. The cross is the tree of life, now become approachable….Therefore the Eucharist, as the presence of the cross, is the abiding tree of life, which is ever in our midst and ever invites us to take the fruit of true life….To receive it, to eat of the tree of life, thus means to receive the crucified Lord and consequently to accept the parameters of his life, his obedience, his ‘yes,’ the standard of our creatureliness. It means to accept the love of God, which is our truth—that dependence on God which is no more an imposition from without than is the Son’s sonship. It is precisely this dependence that is freedom, because it is truth and love.”
Of course, I love this quote; I do because it resonates so well with much of what I have been saying. For someone who only desires to write within the context of Catholicism, in the strict sense of the word, having the Pope say some of the very same things is sweet music to my ears. I am glad that I found this quote this weekend; I plan to work my way through the Pope’s most recent book, Jesus of Nazareth, so I can see what else he says that may resonate with what I am saying. Isn’t his next book coming out soon, too?
At the same time, what I am saying is only in part what the Pope is saying. I say that the heart that loves, trusts and obeys God is the tree of life, and that that is the way it was from the beginning with the man and the woman in the garden. Their hearts trusted in Satan and his wisdom, and so they brought death into the world for themselves and all their descendants. The problem with us then, is that we have hard hearts, hearts that trust in themselves, rely upon their own power, turn away from God, are disobedient and in love with self and the good things of this world. We need hearts of flesh that love, trust and obey God in all things, at all times, and against all difficulties even unto death. We receive that loving and self-sacrificing heart of flesh at Baptism when we are united to Christ in His death and resurrections; being united to Jesus, we receive His very heart which was crucified and pierced; every Eucharist is a celebration of our Baptism wherein we receive that Heart of Christ, crucified and risen. With such a heart, we are able to fully and truly love, trust and obey God. That is the awesome gift we receive at every Eucharist, but it is up to us to open the present and use it. Nothing less than sanctity awaits us when we take the heart of Jesus given to us and make it our own.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
1.25.2008
Book Meme
I've been tagged by Clayton to take part in the following meme:
Book Meme Rules
1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.
The book on my computer desk is Jesus of Nazareth by some fellow named Joseph Ratzinger, also known as Pope Benedict XVI.
Page 123 falls at the end of the fourth chapter called "The Sermon on the Mount." It is in the section called The Torah of the Messiah, and it is the subsection called Compromise and Prophetic Radicalism.
I am going to cheat a bit because sentences six through eight make little sense without some context. Here is the context: "Not only are we not to kill, but we must offer reconciliation to our unreconciled brother. No more divorce. Not only are we to be even-handed in justice (eye for eye, tooth for tooth), but we must let ourselves be struck without striking back. We are to love not simply our neighbor, but also our enemy. The lofty ethics that is expressed here will continue to astonish people of all backgrounds and to impress them as the height of moral greatness. We need only recall Mahatma Gandhi's interest in Jesus, which was based on these very texts."
Alright, that was the previous context, and here are sentences six through eight to qualify for the meme: "But is what Jesus says here actually realistic? Is it incumbent upon us--is it even legitimate--to act like this? Doesn't some of it, as Neusner objects, destroy all concrete social order?"
I'll leave it up to you to find out the answer; unless, of course, someone wants me to provide it. Then I will.
I will tag Dan, Margaret, Susan, Leon, and Dominic, if they care and are free to partake in this fun.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
Book Meme Rules
1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.
The book on my computer desk is Jesus of Nazareth by some fellow named Joseph Ratzinger, also known as Pope Benedict XVI.
Page 123 falls at the end of the fourth chapter called "The Sermon on the Mount." It is in the section called The Torah of the Messiah, and it is the subsection called Compromise and Prophetic Radicalism.
I am going to cheat a bit because sentences six through eight make little sense without some context. Here is the context: "Not only are we not to kill, but we must offer reconciliation to our unreconciled brother. No more divorce. Not only are we to be even-handed in justice (eye for eye, tooth for tooth), but we must let ourselves be struck without striking back. We are to love not simply our neighbor, but also our enemy. The lofty ethics that is expressed here will continue to astonish people of all backgrounds and to impress them as the height of moral greatness. We need only recall Mahatma Gandhi's interest in Jesus, which was based on these very texts."
Alright, that was the previous context, and here are sentences six through eight to qualify for the meme: "But is what Jesus says here actually realistic? Is it incumbent upon us--is it even legitimate--to act like this? Doesn't some of it, as Neusner objects, destroy all concrete social order?"
I'll leave it up to you to find out the answer; unless, of course, someone wants me to provide it. Then I will.
I will tag Dan, Margaret, Susan, Leon, and Dominic, if they care and are free to partake in this fun.
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
1.03.2008
Nupital Union
Lately, the daily readings at Mass cover some key points that I want to make, and tomorrow’s reading is no exception. The passage I will examine is the first reading which comes from 1 John 3:7-10:
“Children, let no one deceive you. The person who acts in righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. Whoever sins belongs to the Devil, because the Devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the Devil. No one who is begotten by God commits sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot sin because he is begotten by God. In this way, the children of God and the children of the Devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother.”
To be saved, we have to be righteous, and to be righteous, we have to act in righteousness. Salvation is not some external imputation, for if it is merely an external imputation, then we would still be attached to serious sin, and whoever sins belongs to the Devil. The works of the Devil are to lead us into and keep us bound to sin. The work of God destroys these evil works and gives us the grace to act in righteousness, for there is no salvation apart from interior holiness. With God’s grace, we are truly God’s children with His seed within us which helps us to do and love the good, which helps us to actually love our brother. God transforms us into Himself and perfects and elevates our nature. He seeks the greatest intimacy with you and me, and the symbol of that intimacy is that of marriage.
I end tonight with some words of our beloved Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, from his general audience of Wednesday, May 2, 2007, where he quotes the early Church Father, Origen, as well as John Paul the Great:
“The prayer of the Alexandrian [Origen] thus attained the loftiest levels of mysticism, as is attested to by his Homilies on the Song of Songs. A passage is presented in which Origen confessed: ‘I have often felt - God is my witness - that the Bridegroom came to me in the most exalted way. Then he suddenly left, and I was unable to find what I was seeking. Once again, I am taken by the desire for his coming and sometimes he returns, and when he has appeared to me, when I hold him with my hands, once again he flees from me, and when he has vanished I start again to seek him...’ ”(Hom. in Cant. 1, 7).
“I remember what my Venerable Predecessor wrote as an authentic witness in Novo Millennio Ineunte, where he showed the faithful ‘how prayer can progress, as a genuine dialogue of love, to the point of rendering the person wholly possessed by the divine Beloved, vibrating at the Spirit's touch, resting filially within the Father's heart’.”
“ ‘It is’, John Paul II continues, ‘a journey totally sustained by grace, which nonetheless demands an intense spiritual commitment and is no stranger to painful purifications.... But it leads, in various possible ways, to the ineffable joy experienced by mystics as ‘nuptial union' ” ”(n. 33).
God proposes to you saying, “Will you marry me?”
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
“Children, let no one deceive you. The person who acts in righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. Whoever sins belongs to the Devil, because the Devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the Devil. No one who is begotten by God commits sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot sin because he is begotten by God. In this way, the children of God and the children of the Devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother.”
To be saved, we have to be righteous, and to be righteous, we have to act in righteousness. Salvation is not some external imputation, for if it is merely an external imputation, then we would still be attached to serious sin, and whoever sins belongs to the Devil. The works of the Devil are to lead us into and keep us bound to sin. The work of God destroys these evil works and gives us the grace to act in righteousness, for there is no salvation apart from interior holiness. With God’s grace, we are truly God’s children with His seed within us which helps us to do and love the good, which helps us to actually love our brother. God transforms us into Himself and perfects and elevates our nature. He seeks the greatest intimacy with you and me, and the symbol of that intimacy is that of marriage.
I end tonight with some words of our beloved Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, from his general audience of Wednesday, May 2, 2007, where he quotes the early Church Father, Origen, as well as John Paul the Great:
“The prayer of the Alexandrian [Origen] thus attained the loftiest levels of mysticism, as is attested to by his Homilies on the Song of Songs. A passage is presented in which Origen confessed: ‘I have often felt - God is my witness - that the Bridegroom came to me in the most exalted way. Then he suddenly left, and I was unable to find what I was seeking. Once again, I am taken by the desire for his coming and sometimes he returns, and when he has appeared to me, when I hold him with my hands, once again he flees from me, and when he has vanished I start again to seek him...’ ”(Hom. in Cant. 1, 7).
“I remember what my Venerable Predecessor wrote as an authentic witness in Novo Millennio Ineunte, where he showed the faithful ‘how prayer can progress, as a genuine dialogue of love, to the point of rendering the person wholly possessed by the divine Beloved, vibrating at the Spirit's touch, resting filially within the Father's heart’.”
“ ‘It is’, John Paul II continues, ‘a journey totally sustained by grace, which nonetheless demands an intense spiritual commitment and is no stranger to painful purifications.... But it leads, in various possible ways, to the ineffable joy experienced by mystics as ‘nuptial union' ” ”(n. 33).
God proposes to you saying, “Will you marry me?”
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
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