Pope Benedict XVI – Page 8

Pope Benedict speaks to Roman Curia, reviews 2012, gives Christmas greetings

It’s custom for the Holy Father to speak to the members of his Curia in way that reviews the past year, assessing the “situation” faced in the Apostolic ministry, and to give some idea of what will be worked on in the coming year. The address is ALWAYS worth the time to read, to study, and to reflect on in a serious manner. The Pope is a masterful thinker and writer; he really sets the bar pretty high but with clarity. One is clear to me is that the Pope is calling the laity to a new engagement in faith formation, worship of God, and cultural and political activities (not activism, there’s a difference). You might say that the goal of the Pope in his address is to help us to rediscover the gift and beauty of Catholic faith. As he notes, God comes to us in the circumstances of life. Some people will latch on the sensational parts of the talk, especially with some of the more heated topics discussed in society today but the raising of issues and talking about them intelligently isn’t a sign of trouble or weakness in the communion of the Church, but a way to seriously look at what is before us and to rely on God for help. We do, as you will agree, have a nostalgia for the Infinite which shows that we are limited human beings in need for a deeper conversion to the Good News. What the Pope reminds us here is that our Salvation doesn’t come from within us but is given by Someone outside, that is, by the Most Holy Trinity.

The foci:

A. pastoral visits: Mexcico, Cuba, Milan, Lebanon

B. post-synodal exhortation to Eastern Churches

C. synod of bishops: on the New Evangelization

D. matters of concern: the family, marriage, justice, peace, interreligious dialogue, sexuality, evangelization, the person, community life, self-giving, conversion

The papal address

It is with great joy that I meet you today, dear Members of the College of Cardinals, Representatives of the Roman Curia and the Governorate, for this traditional event in the days leading up to the feast of Christmas. I greet each one of you cordially, beginning with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, whom I thank for his kind words and for the warm good wishes that he extended to me on behalf of all present. The Dean of the College of Cardinals reminded us of an expression that appears frequently during these days in the Latin liturgy: Prope est iam Dominus, venite, adoremus! The Lord is already near, come, let us adore him! We too, as one family, prepare ourselves to adore the Child in the stable at Bethlehem who is God himself and has come so close as to become a man like us. I willingly reciprocate your good wishes and I thank all of you from my heart, including the Papal Representatives all over the world, for the generous and competent assistance that each of you offers me in my ministry.

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Papal twittering has a history

The real history of papal tweeting.

Pope Benedict’s prayer intentions for December 2012

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 missionary intention

That
Christ may reveal himself to all humanity with the light that shines forth from
Bethlehem and is reflected in the face of his Church.

Pope to the faithful: bear witness to the kingdom of God, to the truth

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.

Pantocrator, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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).

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Pope Benedict’s homily for new cardinals: being Catholic embraces the whole universe, bear witness to Christ

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.

Continue reading Pope Benedict’s homily for new cardinals: being Catholic embraces the whole universe, bear witness to Christ

The Infancy Narratives by Joseph Ratzinger

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.

The four chapter plus epilogue book (256 pages) will be first available in 9 languages with another 20 translations planned. According to the press release The Infancy Narratives analyze the gospel narratives from the Annunciation of John and the Nativity of the Lord up to age 12.

The trilogy is deemed as an exceptional trilogy of Benedict XVI.

Pope Benedict’s prayer intentions for November 2012

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.

The Apostleship of Prayer may
be consider as the Pope’s personal prayer group. Blessed John Paul II wrote in
1985 of the Apostleship of Prayer as “a precious treasure from the Pope’s heart
and the Heart of Christ.” Since 1844, the Apostleship has been a work of the
Society of Jesus and there are some 50 million apostles praying with and for
the Holy Father. Consider joining the Apostleship of Prayer by visiting the link above.

Our prayer intentions…

General intention

That bishops, priests, and all ministers of
the Gospel may bear the courageous witness of fidelity to the crucified and
risen Lord.

Mission intention

That the pilgrim church on earth may shine as a
light to the nations.

Remember Your mercies, O Lord, as a we lift our prayer to
you for the Church.

Work to regain the light of faith lost, or weakened, Pope preaches

The Pope’s homily at the close of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization.

The miracle of
the healing of blind Bartimaeus comes at a significant point in the structure
of Saint Mark’s Gospel. It is situated at the end of the section on the
“journey to Jerusalem”, that is, Jesus’ last pilgrimage to the Holy City, for
the Passover, in which he knows that his passion, death and resurrection await
him. In order to ascend to Jerusalem from the Jordan valley, Jesus passes
through Jericho, and the meeting with Bartimaeus occurs as he leaves the city –
in the evangelist’s words, “as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a
great multitude” (10:46). This is the multitude that soon afterwards would
acclaim Jesus as Messiah on his entry into Jerusalem. Sitting and begging by
the side of the road was Bartimaeus, whose name means “son of Timaeus”, as the
evangelist tells us. The whole of Mark’s Gospel is a journey of faith, which
develops gradually under Jesus’ tutelage. The disciples are the first actors on
this journey of discovery, but there are also other characters who play an
important role, and Bartimaeus is one of them. His is the last miraculous
healing that Jesus performs before his passion, and it is no accident that it
should be that of a blind person, someone whose eyes have lost the light. We
know from other texts too that the state of blindness has great significance in
the Gospels. It represents man who needs God’s light, the light of faith, if he
is to know reality truly and to walk the path of life. It is essential to
acknowledge one’s blindness, one’s need for this light, otherwise one could
remain blind for ever (cf. Jn 9:39-41).

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Philosophy and theology are important in the Church’s dialogue with the contemporary world

The Ratzinger Prize is getting a whole currency these days: it is the second year that’s been bestowed on worthy scholars. What’s novel of me is that it’s not everyday that you get a prize for serious work from the man the prize is named after, and that he’s the Supreme Pontiff! The 2012 Ratzinger Prize was given to a French philosopher and American theologian on Saturday, October 20, 2012. Pope Benedict said that “Father Daley and Professor Brague are exemplary for the transmission of knowledge that unites science and wisdom, scientific rigor and passion for man, so that man might discover the [true] ‘art of living.'” Chris Altieri has the Vatican Radio report here.

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