The Holy Father´s Week: September 18, 2011

A report on Benedict XVI´s messages and activities.

by Maribel Torres | Source: Catholic.net

Universidad debe vivir
pasión por la verdad sin dejar de lado la fe

Trust in God can melt away anxieties, transforming a call for help into a song of praise, the Holy Father said continuing with his catechesis series on prayer.
The Pope reflected on Psalm 22, most known for its opening lines quoted by Christ:

   "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" This psalm shows a God who remains silent, nevertheless, the psalmist affirms that 'his' God cannot abandon him." the Pontiff noted; the psalmist shows an "extraordinary act of trust and of faith": Three times he addresses the Lord as "my" God.

   God was present in the life of the one praying "with an undeniable closeness and tenderness," the Pontiff observed and he pointed out how the psalm "breaks forth into thanksgiving". "Death and life have met in an inseparable mystery, and life has triumphed. The God of salvation has shown himself to be the uncontested Lord. "(…) "It is the victory of faith, which is able to transform death into a gift of life -- the abyss of suffering into a source of hope," he said. Placing all of our trust and hope in God the Father, in every anxiety we too will be able to pray to him in faith, and our cry for help will be transformed into a hymn of praise.

   The Holy Father invited the faithful -- having been taken to the foot of Jesus' cross -- to be "flooded by the light of the paschal mystery, even in [times] of God's seeming absence, even in God's silence." VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 14, 2011
On ZENIT's Web page: Full text: www.zenit.org/article-33432?l=english

Like a river that waters a great field, the Gospel has transformed the world, and it is still transforming it. The Holy Father said at the Angelus.

   "God is love; he became man in Jesus and with his sacrifice he ransomed humanity from slavery to evil, giving it a trustworthy hope"

   Christ's "death and resurrection are the Good News that, starting from Jerusalem, is destined to reach all people and nations, and to transform all cultures from within".

   The Holy Father reflected on the beginning of St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians. He wrote this letter while he was in prison, awaiting a sentence of life or death. S. Paul writes: "For me to live is Christ and die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). "It is a new sense of life, of human existence, that consists in living communion with the living Jesus Christ; not only with a historical person, a master of wisdom, a religious leader, but with a man in whom God dwells personally"

   "Today we live in an epoch of new evangelization. Vast horizons open up to the Gospel, while regions of ancient Christian tradition are called to rediscover the beauty of the faith. The protagonists of this mission are the men and women who, like St. Paul, can say: "For me to live is Christ " -- persons, families, communities, who decide to work in the vineyard of the Lord, according to the image of this Sunday's Gospel (cf. Matthew 20:1-16). Humble and generous workers, who do not ask any other recompense than participating in the mission of Jesus and the Church."

   "Let us turn in prayer to the Virgin Mary that in the whole Church priestly, religious and lay vocations ripen in service to the new evangelization." CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, SEPT. 18, 2011

Other papal messages and activities

Holy orders and matrimony have a same root: the love of Christ, who gives himself for the salvation of humanity, the Holy Father said as he addressed a group of priests and families when he visited Ancona to close the 25th Italian National Eucharistic Congress.

   Both priests and parents must find the strength for their vocations in the Eucharist, the Pope affirmed. "Dear priests and dear spouses," the Pope exhorted, "may you be able to find always in Holy Mass the strength to live your membership in Christ and his Church, in forgiveness and in the gift of self and in gratitude. May your daily work have its origin and center in sacramental communion, so that all is done for the glory of God." ANCONA, Italy, SEPT. 12, 2011

The Pope finished a one-day visit to Amcona, Italy, by meeting with a group of engaged couples. "Ours is not an easy time", he explained to them. "The table is full of many delicious things, but, as in the Gospel episode of the Wedding of Cana, it seems that wine is lacking from the celebration".

   The Holy Father named some of the difficulties facing young people symbolized in the lacking wine. He told them to never lose hope and to be sure that, in every circumstance, "you are loved and protected by the love of God, which is our strength".

   "Do not lose courage in face of the needs that seem to extinguish joy at the table of life," he said. "At the Wedding of Cana, when wine was lacking, Mary invited the servants to go to Jesus and she gave them a precise indication: 'Do whatever he tells you.' Treasure these words, the last of Mary's taken up in the Gospels -- virtually a spiritual testament -- and you will always have the joy of the celebration: Jesus is the wine of the celebration!"

   The Holy Father exhorted the young couples: "Do not give up on pursuing the lofty ideal of love, which is a reflection and testimony of the love of God!" ANCONA, Italy, SEPT. 12, 2011

We can make the planet into a hell by failing to accept one another, or we can learn to live together, open up and give ourselves, Benedict XVI said in a message to an interreligious meeting that concluded Tuesday in Munich. The event was sponsored by the Catholic lay Community of Sant'Egidio.

   "The theme of the peace meeting, 'Bound to live together,' reminds us that we as human beings are bound to each other. This living together is in fact a precondition that derives from our being human. And it is our duty to give it a positive content," the Holy Father said in his message. CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, SEPT. 14, 2011

A group of some 100 newly ordained bishops were received in audience by the Pope in the apostolic palace in Castel Gandolfo. In his address, the Holy Father reflected on the role of the bishop with regard to "the charisms that the Spirit arouses for the edification of the Church." "We are able to see -- and we can almost touch -- that the Holy Spirit is still present in the Church today, and that He creates charisms and unity," the Pope affirmed and it is the role of the bishop to accept the gifts with gratitude, but also to discern and judge their validity. ROME, SEPT. 15, 2011

The Holy Father was moved and slightly astounded as he visited an exhibition that brings together some 600 volumes of the various language editions of works written by Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI.. "My hope is that the words they contain may not just come and go, but that they help men and women to find their way."
The Pope also thanked all those who were behind the scenes in his publications. CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, SEPT. 15, 2011

Benedict XVI has appointed Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, currently apostolic nuncio to Ireland, as apostolic nuncio to the Czech Republic. VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 15, 2011

Benedict XVI sent a telegram expressing his condolences for the victims of a tragedy off the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar. An overloaded ferry capsized and nearly 250 people drowned.

   The telegram gives assurances of his prayers asking consolation for those who suffer, and for all the people of Tanzania. VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 16, 2011

Benedict XVI is praying for the people who died in a wreck involving two trains and a bus on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina. 11 persons were killed and more than 200 were injured. VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 16, 2011

"Where God is, there is a future." This is the motto of Benedict XVI's next visit to Germany. In a message recorded by Benedict XVI for German public television regarding his visit this Thursday through Sunday to Germany, his homeland.

   About this visit he said that "It must focus on the fact that God returns to our world, this God who often seems totally absent, of whom we have dire need".

   "We must again develop the capacity to perceive God, a capacity that exists in us. We can intuit something of God's grandeur in the grandeur of the cosmos. We can use the world through technology because it is made in a rational manner. In the great rationality of the world we can intuit the creator spirit from which it comes, and in the beauty of creation we can intuit something of the beauty, of the grandeur and also the goodness of God. In the Word of sacred Scriptures we can hear the words of eternal life that do not come merely from men, but that come from him, and in them we hear his voice."

   We glimpse God too in encounters with persons who are touched by him, not just the great ones, but the many simple people of whom no one speaks. And yet, when we meet them, there emanates something of goodness, sincerity, joy, and we know that God is there and that he touches us too.

   "So, in these days we want to try to return to seeing God, to return to being persons through whom the light of hope might enter the world, a light that comes from God and helps us to live." VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 18, 2011

A prayer for the Holy Father

Christ Jesus, King and Lord of the Church, in your presence I renew my unconditional loyalty to your Vicar on earth, the Pope. In him you have chosen to show us the safe and sure path that we must follow in the midst of confusion, uneasiness, and unrest. I firmly believe that through him you govern, teach, and sanctify us; with him as our shepherd, we form the true Church: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Grant me the grace to love, live, and spread faithfully our Holy Father's teachings. Watch over his life, enlighten his mind, strengthen his spirit, defend him from calumny and evil. Calm the erosive winds of infidelity and disobedience. Hear our prayer and keep your Church united around him, firm in its belief and action, that it may truly be the instrument of your redemption. Amen

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