Pope Benedict XVI: November 2012 Archives

The December prayer intentions of the Pope have us praying for migrants and for the Light of the Incarnation to radiate from our own faces as witnesses to someone greater than ourselves. These are particularly poignant set of prayer intentions for us in the USA: we are a nation of immigrants; we are a City set on a hill. Our solidarity in prayer if not in other concrete ways ought to remind us of our roots.

Let's us join with Pope Benedict to pray for those who have left their home in the hope of finding work, peace, love and acceptance in other lands. Are we still hospitable children of God?

The general intention

That migrants throughout the world may be welcomed with generosity and authentic love, especially by Christian communities.

The Pope will tweet. Is this a mortal sin or a gospel value?

Conversion advances the Kingdom of God. There is no possibility of entering the Kingdom prepared and promised to us without turning away from sin and truly walking on the path given by the Lord. AND this Kingdom is totally other than what we known and expect. And because of our baptism our vocation is to build the Kingdom according to a plan that is not our own. At the Mass offered by the Pope on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, he did so with the six cardinals and their friends and family. The homily follows.

Today's Solemnity of Christ, King of the Universe, the crowning of the liturgical year, is enriched by our reception into the College of Cardinals of six new members whom, following tradition, I have invited to celebrate the Eucharist with me this morning. I greet each of them most cordially and I thank Cardinal James Michael Harvey for the gracious words which he addressed to me in the name of all. I greet the other Cardinals and Bishops present, as well as the distinguished civil Authorities, Ambassadors, priests, religious and all the faithful, especially those coming from the Dioceses entrusted to the pastoral care of the new Cardinals.

In this final Sunday of the liturgical year, the Church invites us to celebrate the Lord Jesus as King of the Universe. She calls us to look to the future, or more properly into the depths, to the ultimate goal of history, which will be the definitive and eternal kingdom of Christ. He was with the Father in the beginning, when the world was created, and he will fully manifest his lordship at the end of time, when he will judge all mankind. Today's three readings speak to us of this kingdom. In the Gospel passage which we have just heard, drawn from the account of Saint John, Jesus appears in humiliating circumstances - he stands accused - before the might of Rome. He had been arrested, insulted, mocked, and now his enemies hope to obtain his condemnation to death by crucifixion. They had presented him to Pilate as one who sought political power, as the self-proclaimed King of the Jews. The Roman procurator conducts his enquiry and asks Jesus: "Are you the King of the Jews?" (Jn 18:33). In reply to this question, Jesus clarifies the nature of his kingship and his messiahship itself, which is no worldly power but a love which serves. He states that his kingdom is in no way to be confused with a political reign: "My kingship is not of this world ... is not from the world" (v. 36).

As the world knows, the Holy Father created 6 new cardinals. These 6 new Princes of the Church represent the diversity of the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church." Their presence in the College of Cardinals reflect Incarnation of Jesus Christ in the life of the local Church, and at the heart of the Church, Rome. They now begin a new dimension of ecclesial service, a new way of being a disciple of Christ, and they offer their full humanity to making Christ known and loved. The Pope's homily is below.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

These words, which the new Cardinals are soon to proclaim in the course of their solemn profession of faith, come from the Niceno-Constantinopolitan creed, the synthesis of the Church's faith that each of us receives at baptism. Only by professing and preserving this rule of truth intact can we be authentic disciples of the Lord. In this Consistory, I would like to reflect in particular on the meaning of the word "catholic", a word which indicates an essential feature of the Church and her mission. Much could be said on this subject and various different approaches could be adopted: today I shall limit myself to one or two thoughts.

The third and final volume of Joseph Ratzinger's bestselling idea on Jesus of Nazareth was generally released today. In the USA it will be released on December 4. The Infancy Narrative (Random House, 2012) is available on Amazon with real good pre-order discount. 

Praying with and for another expands our life, it gives us a new point of view. This is especially true when we unite ourselves in prayer with the monthly prayer intentions published by the Apostleship of Prayer, and published here on the Communio blog on first day of the month.