Pope Benedict XVI: To the Nuns, The “Five Threads” to be woven for the future of the world
Vatican City, May.07,2007 (CINS/SIR) - “The social, economic and religious challenges which Consecrated Life must face today are by no means few! The five pastoral spheres that you have highlighted are five ‘threads’, to be woven and intertwined in the intricate weft of everyday life, in interpersonal relations and in the apostolate”: it was said this morning in the Vatican by Pope Benedict XVI, who received in audience the Mothers Superior of 794 religious families working in 85 countries in the five continents, convened in Rome for the Plenary meeting of the International Union of Mothers superior (Uisg). The ‘five threads’ that the Pope mentioned are “women, migrants, the land and its sacred character, the lay people, dialogue with the world’s religions”. Then Benedict XVI added: “It is often about treading uncharted missionary and spiritual territories, while keeping one’s inner relation with Christ unfailingly strong. Only by this union with God is the ‘prophetic’ role of your mission generated and fed”.
In his speech to the Mothers superior of 794 religious families from the five continents, Benedict XVI focussed his attention on what he called the “’mystic’ dimension of Consecrated Life”, stating it must be fed by “contemplation”. Then he added that “the ‘prophet’ first listens and contemplates, then he speaks”, and “therefore a true prophet is not so much interested in ‘doing’, which is certainly important but never essential. He strives, first and foremost, to be the witness of God’s love, in the attempt to live such love amidst the reality of the world, even if its presence can sometimes be ‘awkward’”. Then he urged the nuns to “shun comforts, ease, self-interest in order to accomplish their mission” and, “to do this, to establish a serene, friendly cooperation with the priests, the lay devotees and especially the families, so as to meet the sufferings, the needs, the material poverty and above all the spiritual poverty of so many of our contemporaries”. The meeting will go on until Thursday May 10th.
Pope Benedict XVI: Christians, “Ferment of Goodness and Light of Holiness”, Thiniking of Brazil
Vatican City, May.07,2007 (CINS/SIR) - The month of May and the forthcoming apostolic journey to Brazil have been the focus of Benedict XVI’s reflections, before he introduced, in Saint Peter’s Square yesterday morning, the prayer of Regina Caeli. “The month of May has just started, which for many Christian communities – commented the Pope – is the epitome of the Marian months. As such, over the centuries it has become one of people’s most beloved celebrations and has been increasingly promoted by the Ministers as a favourable opportunity for preaching, catechesis and joint prayer”.
After the Second Vatican Council, which highlighted Mary’s role within the Church and within the history of salvation, highlighted the Holy Father, “the devotion to Mary has gone through a dramatic renewal. And the month of May, as it coincides, at least partly, with the time of Easter, is extremely favourable for illustrating the figure of Mary as a Mother who leads the community of the disciples, gathered in joint prayer, waiting for the Holy Spirit”. This month, therefore, he added, “can be an opportunity to go back to the faith of the original Church and, in communion with Mary, understand that our mission is still to announce and bear witness, with courage and joy, to Christ Crucified and Resurrected, the hope of mankind”.
To Mary, the Pope wishes “to entrust the apostolic journey to Brazil, from May 9th to 14th, to attend the opening of the V General Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopacy, at the sanctuary of Our Lady Aparecida, in the city of the same name. “But first – recalled the Pope – I will go to the nearby metropolis of Sao Paulo, where I will meet the young and the bishops of the country and I will have the joy of adding the Blessed Father Antonio di Sant’Anna Galvăo to the list of the Saints”.
“This is my first pastoral visit to Latin America – recalled Benedict XVI – and I am getting spiritually ready to meet the Latin American subcontinent where nearly one half of the world’s Catholics live, many of whom are young. This is why it has been nicknamed the ‘Continent of hope’: a hope that concerns not only the Church but the whole of America and the whole world”. As he renewed the invitation to “pray the Most Holy Virgin for this apostolic pilgrimage” and for the V General Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopacy, “so that all the Christians of those regions will feel they are the disciples and missionaries of Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life. The challenges of this time are many and many-faced: this is why it is important that the Christians be prepared to be the ‘ferment’ of goodness and the ‘light’ of holiness in our world”.
Pope Benedict XVI: Audience with Khatami;“Conversations on Dialogue,Peace,Development and the Middle East
Vatican City, May.04,2007 (CINS/SIR) - This morning, Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, former president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, visited Benedict XVI. Then he met the secretary of state, card. Tarcisio Bertone, accompanied by mgr. Dominique Mamberti, secretary for the relations with the States. “The conversations – states a note from the newsroom of the Holy See – lingered on the importance of a serene dialogue between cultures, aimed at overcoming the serious tensions that are affecting our time and at promoting a fruitful cooperation at the service of peace and the development of all peoples.
They also mentioned the conditions and problems of the Christian communities in the Middle East and in Iran. As to the situation of the Middle East, they insisted on the need for powerful initiatives from the international community – as it is happening over these days at the Sharm-el-Sheikh Conference – for opening serious negotiations, that must keep into account everyone’s rights and interests, in the respect of international legality and in the awareness that mutual trust must be rebuilt”.
Pope Benedict XVI: To the Bishops of Fyrom,Montenegro and Serbia
Vatican City, May.04,2007 (CINS/SIR) - “The different countries and the different social and religious settings in which your congregations have their place have quite a few repercussions on their Christian life”. It was said this morning by Benedict XVI as he received the bishops of the International Bishops Conference of Saints Cyril and Methodius (bishops of FYROM, Montenegro and Serbia). The actual issues that are affected by this, according to the Pope, include “the marriage of people of different confessions or religions”, “the religious education of the new generations”, the “training of the holy ministers” and “their spiritual assistance in the multi-confessional setting” in which they live.
Then giving his support to the plan for a high seminary in Subotica, the Holy Father stated that “the priest is entirely at the service of the Church, a lively and spiritual organism that draws energy not from nationalistic, ethnic or political components, but from the action of Christ who is present in its ministers”. “The reality of our dioceses”, added the Pope, “often consists of a small flock set in different contexts of ethnic, cultural and religious multiplicity” and “therefore your mission is by no means easy!”, but it is just because of this that one must “be the evangelical leaven that ferments society”.
“Upright consciences well versed in the Gospel will be more easily pushed to build a life-size society”, commented Benedict XVI, who added: “A misunderstood modernity now tends to exceedingly extol the needs of the individual to the detriment of the duties that every person has towards God and the community to which they belong”. It is important, then, “to highlight the upright concept of civil and public accountability, because it is just from this view that comes one’s commitment to respect everyone’s rights and a fervent integration of one’s culture with the other cultures, aiming together at the common good”.
In the historical process of restructuring of the European continent, “your Churches too feel involved, in the awareness that they can make their unique contribution”, but “obstacles are not missing”, such as “the scarcity of available means due to the economic situation and the smallness of the Catholic forces”. “It is not easy to forget – he went on – the heavy heritage of over forty years of single thinking, and at the same time it is difficult to resist the temptations of western materialism with the risks of relativism and ethical liberalism, radicalism and political fundamentalism”.
Holy Father BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE
St Peter's Square ,Wednesday, 25 April 2007
Origen of Alexandria
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Our catechetical journey through the early Church brings us to the remarkable figure of Origen of Alexandria. This great teacher of the faith was highly esteemed by his students not only for his theological brilliance, but also for his exemplary moral conduct. His father, Leonides, was martyred during the reign of Septimius Severus. Though Origen himself always had a deep yearning to die a martyr’s death, he decided that the best way to honour his father and glorify Christ was by living a good and upright life. Later, under the emperor Decius, he was arrested and tortured for his faith, dying a few years later. Origen is best known for his unique contribution to theology: an “irreversible turn” which grounded theology in Scripture. He emphasized an allegorical and spiritual reading of the word of God, and demonstrated how the three levels of meaning—the literal, the moral, and the spiritual—progressively lead us to a deeper prayer life and closer relationship with God. Origen teaches us that when we meditate on God’s word and conform our lives to it, we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us to the fullness of truth. May we follow Origen’s example by praying with scripture, always listening attentively to God’s word.
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I extend a cordial welcome to the English-speaking pilgrims. I am pleased to greet those attending the Thirteenth World Seminar for Catholic Civil Aviation Chaplains and Chaplaincy Members, as well as pilgrims from the following countries: England, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Indonesia, Japan, and the United States of America. May God bless you all!