{"id":24661,"date":"2009-05-25T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-25T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2009\/05\/christ-is-the-answer-pope-remi\/"},"modified":"2013-10-09T15:43:28","modified_gmt":"2013-10-09T19:43:28","slug":"christ-is-the-answer-pope-remi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2009\/05\/christ-is-the-answer-pope-remi\/","title":{"rendered":"Christ is the answer, Pope reminds the Benedictines and all peoples"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"montecassino1.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>In speaking to the Benedictines at Montecassino, the Pope was speaking to all Benedictines, solemnly professed and oblates, and to the laity, in general. He proposes once again the person of Saint Benedict as a person who knew well that Christ is the answer to all things. The Pope’s homily at Vespers follows:<\/em><\/p>\n

Almost at the end of my visit today, I am particularly\u00a0pleased to pause in this sacred place, in this abbey, four times destroyed and\u00a0rebuilt, the last time after the bombings of World War II, 65 years ago.\u00a0“Succisa virescit<\/strong>” [in defeat we are strengthened; when cut down, this tree grows again]: the words of its\u00a0new coat of arms represent well its history. Monte Cassino, just as the secular\u00a0oak tree planted by St. Benedict, was “pruned” by the violence of\u00a0war, but has risen more vigorous. More than once I also have had the\u00a0opportunity to enjoy the hospitality of the monks, and in this abbey I spent\u00a0many unforgettable hours of quiet and prayer. This evening we entered singing\u00a0“Laudes Regiae” together to celebrate the Vespers of the Solemnity of\u00a0the Ascension of Jesus. To each of you I express the joy of sharing this moment\u00a0of prayer, greeting everyone with affection, grateful for the welcome that you\u00a0have reserved for me and those who accompany me in this apostolic pilgrimage.<\/p>\n

\"Pietro<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

In particular, I greet Abbot Dom Pietro Vittorelli, who has\u00a0made himself the spokesman of your common sentiments. I extend my greetings to
\nthe abbots, the abbesses, and to the Benedictine communities present here.<\/p>\n

Today the liturgy invites us to contemplate the mystery of the Ascension of the\u00a0Lord. In the brief reading taken from the first letter of Peter, we were urged\u00a0to fix our gaze on our Redeemer, who died “once and for all for sins”\u00a0in order to lead us back to God, at whose right hand he sits “after having\u00a0ascended to heaven and having obtained sovereignty over the angels and the\u00a0principalities and the powers” (cf. 1 Pt 3, 18.22). “Raised on\u00a0high” and made invisible to the eyes of his disciples, Jesus has not\u00a0however abandoned them, but was: in fact, “put to death in the body, but\u00a0made to live in the spirit” (1 Pt 3:18). He is now present in a new way,\u00a0inside the believers, and\u00a0in him salvation is offered to every human being\u00a0without distinction of people, language, or culture. The first letter of Peter\u00a0contains specific references to the fundamental Christological events of the\u00a0Christian faith. The Apostle’s intention is to highlight the universal scope of\u00a0salvation in Christ. A similar desire we find in St. Paul, of whom we are\u00a0celebrating the two thousandth anniversary of his birth, who to the community\u00a0of Corinth, writes: “He (Christ) died for all, so that those who live,\u00a0live no longer for themselves but for him, who has died and is risen for\u00a0them.” (2 Cor 5, 15).<\/p>\n

To live no longer for themselves but for Christ<\/span>: this is\u00a0what gives full meaning to the lives of those that let themselves be conquered\u00a0by him<\/strong>.\u00a0The human and spiritual journey of St. Benedict attests to this\u00a0clearly, he who, leaving all things behind, dedicated himself to the faithful\u00a0following of Jesus. Embodying in his own life the reality of the Gospel<\/strong>, he has\u00a0become the founder of a vast movement of spiritual and cultural renaissance in\u00a0the West. I would now like to refer to an extraordinary event of his life,\u00a0which the biographer St. Gregory the Great relates, and with which you are\u00a0certainly well acquainted. One could almost say that the holy patriarch was\u00a0“lifted up” in an indescribable mystical experience. On the night of\u00a0October 29 of the year 540 — reads the biography — and, facing the window,\u00a0“with his eyes fixed on the stars he recollected himself in divine\u00a0contemplation, the saint felt that his heart was inflamed … For him, the star\u00a0filled firmament was like the embroidered curtain that revealed the Holy of\u00a0Holies. At one point, he felt his soul felt itself carried to the other side of\u00a0the veil, to contemplate the revealed face of him who dwells in inaccessible\u00a0light”\u00a0(cf. AI Schuster,\u00a0History of Saint Benedict and his time<\/em>, Ed Abbey\u00a0Viboldone, Milan, 1965, p. 11 et seq.). Of course, similar to what happened to\u00a0Paul after his heavenly rapture, St. Benedict, following this extraordinary\u00a0spiritual experience, also found it necessary to start a new life. If the\u00a0vision was transient, the effects were lasting<\/strong>, his very character — the\u00a0biographers say — was changed, his appearance always remained calm and his\u00a0behavior angelic, and even while he was living on earth, he understood that in\u00a0his heart he was already in heaven<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

St. Benedict received this gift of God not to satisfy his\u00a0intellectual curiosity, but rather because the charism with which\u00a0God had\u00a0endowed him had the ability to reproduce in the monastery the very life of heaven and reestablish the harmony of creation through contemplation and work.\u00a0Rightly, therefore, the Church venerates him as an “eminent teacher of the\u00a0monastic life<\/strong>” and “doctor of spiritual wisdom in the love of prayer\u00a0and work; shining guide of people in the light of the Gospel<\/strong>” who,”raised to heaven by a luminous road” teaches people of all ages to\u00a0seek God and the eternal riches prepared by him (cf. Preface of the Holy in the\u00a0monastery to the MR, 1980, 153).<\/p>\n

\"St<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Yes,\u00a0Benedict was a shining example of holiness and pointed\u00a0the monks to Christ as their only great ideal; he was a master of civility<\/strong>, who\u00a0proposed a balanced and adequate vision<\/span> of the demands of God and of the final\u00a0ends of man; he also always kept well in mind the needs and the reasons of the\u00a0heart, in order to teach and inspire a genuine and constant brotherhood<\/span>, so\u00a0that in the complexity of social relationships the\u00a0unity of spirit\u00a0capable of\u00a0always building and maintaining peace was never lost sight of. It is not by
\nchance that the word Pax<\/strong> [peace] is the word that welcomes pilgrims and\u00a0visitors at the gates of the abbey, rebuilt after the terrible disaster of the\u00a0Second World War, which stands as a silent reminder to reject all forms of\u00a0violence in order to build peace: in families, within communities, between\u00a0peoples and all of humanity.\u00a0St. Benedict invites every person that climbs this\u00a0mountain to seek peace and follow it: “inquire pacem et sequere eam”\u00a0[seek peace and follow it.]<\/strong> (Ps. 33,14-15) (Rule, Prologue, 17).<\/p>\n

By its example,\u00a0monasteries\u00a0have become, over the centuries,\u00a0centers of fervent dialogue, encounter and beneficial union of diverse peoples,\u00a0unified by the evangelical culture of peace. The monks have known how to teach\u00a0by word and example the art of peace, implementing in a concrete way the three\u00a0“ties” that Benedict identifies as necessary to maintain the unity of\u00a0the Spirit among men:\u00a0the cross<\/strong>, which is the very law of Christ, the book\u00a0which is\u00a0culture, and the plow, which indicates\u00a0work, the lordship over matter\u00a0and time. Thanks to the activity of the monastery<\/span>, articulated in the\u00a0three-fold daily commitments<\/span> of prayer<\/strong>, study<\/strong> and work<\/strong>, entire populations of\u00a0Europe have experienced a genuine redemption and a beneficial moral, spiritual\u00a0and cultural development, learning in the spirit of continuity with the past,\u00a0of concrete action for the common good, and of openness to God and the\u00a0transcendent aspect of the world. We pray that Europe always exploit this\u00a0wealth of principles and Christian ideals, which constitutes an immense\u00a0cultural and spiritual wealth.<\/p>\n

\"mercy1.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

This is possible but only if the constant teaching of St.
\nBenedict is embraced, the “quaerere Deum<\/strong>,” to seek God, as the\u00a0fundamental commitment of man.\u00a0Human beings cannot achieve full\u00a0self-realization or ever be truly happy without God.\u00a0It is your special\u00a0responsibility, dear monks,\u00a0to be living examples of this interior and profound\u00a0relationship with him, implementing without compromise the program that your founder summarized in the “nihil amori Christi praeponere”\u00a0[put\u00a0nothing before the love of Christ.] (Rule 4.21). In this holiness consists<\/span>, a\u00a0valid proposal for every Christian<\/strong>, more than ever in our time, in which the\u00a0need to anchor life and history to solid spiritual principles<\/strong> is felt.<\/p>\n

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, your vocation is a timely as ever, and\u00a0your mission as monks is indispensable.<\/p>\n

From this place, where his mortal remains rest, the patron\u00a0saint of Europe continues to urge everyone to continue his work of\u00a0evangelization and human promotion. I encourage you<\/strong> in the first place, dear\u00a0brethren, to remain faithful to the spirit of your origins and to be authentic\u00a0interpreters of this program of social and spiritual rebirth<\/strong>. The Lord grants\u00a0you this gift, through the intercession of your holy founder, of his holy sister St. Scholastica, and of the saints of your order. And may the heavenly\u00a0Mother of the Lord, who today we invoke as “Help of Christians,”\u00a0watch over you and protect this abbey and all your monasteries, as well as the\u00a0diocesan community that lives around Monte Cassino. Amen!<\/p>\n

Pope Benedict XVI
\nHomily at Vespers II
\nThe Abbey of Monte Casino
\nMay 24, 2009<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In speaking to the Benedictines at Montecassino, the Pope was speaking to all Benedictines, solemnly professed and oblates, and to the laity, in general. He proposes once again the person of Saint Benedict as a person who knew well that Christ is the answer to all things. The Pope’s homily at Vespers follows: Almost at … Continue reading Christ is the answer, Pope reminds the Benedictines and all peoples<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,7],"tags":[32089,2108,3010,32081,1746],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24661"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24661"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28718,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24661\/revisions\/28718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}