On Prayer in St. Pauls Second Letter to the Corinthians

On Prayer in St. Pauls Second Letter to the Corinthians


"In our prayer we are called to say yes to God and to respond with the amen of adherence"


VATICAN CITY, MAY 30, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the Italian-language catechesis Benedict XVI gave during the general audience held in St. Peter’s Square. Today the Holy Father continued his series of catecheses on prayer in the Letters of St. Paul.

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Dear brothers and sisters,

In these catecheses we are pondering prayer in the letters of St. Paul, and we are seeking to see Christian prayer as a true and personal encounter with God the Father, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit. In today’s meeting, God’s faithful “yes” enters into dialogue with believers’ trustful “amen”. I wish to emphasize this dynamic by considering the Second Letter to the Corinthians. St. Paul sends this impassioned letter to a Church that has repeatedly questioned his apostleship, and he opens his heart so that his hearers might be reassured of his fidelity to Christ and to the Gospel. This Second Letter to the Corinthians begins with one of the loftiest prayers of blessing contained in the New Testament. It reads: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Paul suffered great tribulation and had to pass through many difficulties and afflictions, but he never yielded to discouragement, for he was sustained by grace and by the nearness of the Lord Jesus Christ, for whom he had become an apostle by surrendering his entire life to Him. For this reason, Paul begins this Letter with a prayer of blessing and thanksgiving to God -- for there was never a moment in his life as an apostle of Christ that he felt the support of the merciful Father, of the God of all consolation, lessen. He suffered terribly -- he says it in this Letter -- but amidst all these situations, when a path forward didn’t seem to open, he received consolation and comfort from God.

He also suffered persecutions to the point of being imprisoned for the sake of proclaiming Christ, but he always felt interiorly free, animated by the presence of Christ, and filled with desire to announce the Gospel’s word of hope. Thus, from prison he writes to Timothy, his faithful coworker. In chains he writes: “The Word of God is not fettered. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus with its eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:9b-10). In his suffering for Christ, he experiences the consolation of God. He writes: “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Corinthians 1:5).

In the prayer of blessing that introduces the Second Letter to the Corinthians, what prevails in addition to the theme of affliction is the theme of consolation, which should not be understood as simple comfort, but rather as encouragement and exhortation not to let oneself be conquered by tribulation and difficulties. The invitation is to live every situation in union with Christ, who takes all of the world’s suffering and sin upon Himself in order to bring light, hope and redemption. And in this way, Jesus makes us capable of consoling those who are afflicted in any way. Profound union with Christ through prayer and faith in His presence leads to a readiness to share in the sufferings and afflictions of others. St. Paul writes: “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized and I do not tremble?” (2 Corinthians 11:29). This ‘sharing in’ does not originate in benevolence, in human generosity or in a spirit of altruism; rather, it flows from the consolation of the Lord, from the unshakeable support of the “transcendent power that comes from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

Dear brothers and sisters, our lives and our journey are often marked by difficulty, by misunderstandings, by suffering. We all know this to be true. In being faithful to our relationship with the Lord through constant, daily prayer we too are able to feel concretely the consolation that comes from God. And this strengthens our faith, because it makes us experience concretely God’s “yes” to man, to us, to me, in Christ; it makes us feel the fidelity of His love, which extends even to the gift of His Son on the Cross. St. Paul affirms: “The Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not “yes” and “no”; but in Him it is always “yes”. For all the promises of God find their “yes” in Him. That is why we utter the “amen” through Him, to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 1:19-20). God’s “yes” is not halfway; it does not vacillate between “yes” and “no”; rather, it is a simple and sure “yes”. And we respond to this “yes” with our “yes”, with our “amen” and it is in this way that we remain secure in God’s “yes”.

Faith is not primarily a human action; rather, it is a gratuitous gift of God rooted in His fidelity, in His “yes”, which makes us understand how to live our lives by loving Him and our brothers and sisters. The whole of salvation history is a progressive self-revelation of the God’s faithfulness despite our infidelity and our rejection, in the certainty that “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable!” as the Apostle declares in the Letter to the Romans (11:29).

Dear brothers and sisters, God’s way of acting – which is very different from our own – gives us consolation, strength and hope, because God does not take back His “yes”. In the face of conflict in human relationships, even with members of our families, we are inclined not to persevere in gratuitous love, which requires commitment and sacrifice. God, on the other hand, never tires of us; He never tires of being patient with us, and with His immense mercy He always goes before us; He goes out to meet us first; His “yes” is entirely worthy of our trust. In the event of the Cross, He offers us the measure of His love, which neither calculates nor measures. In the Letter to Titus, St. Paul writes: “The goodness of God our Savior and His love for men has appeared” (Titus 3:4). And in order that that this “yes” might be renewed each day, “He has anointed us and has sealed us and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:21b-22).

It is the Holy Spirit, in fact, who makes God’s “yes” in Jesus Christ continually present and alive and it is He who creates in our hearts the desire to follow Him, in order to one day enter fully into His love, when in heaven we will receive a dwelling place not fashioned by human hands. There is no person who is not sought and summoned by this faithful love, a love that is capable of waiting even for those who continually respond with the “no” of rejection or with hardness of heart. God waits for us; He always seeks us out; He wills to receive us into communion with Himself in order to give each one of us fullness of life, of hope and of peace.

The Church’s “amen,” which resounds in every liturgical action, is grafted onto God’s faithful “yes”: “amen” is the response of faith that always concludes our personal and communal prayer, and that expresses our “yes” to God’s initiative. In prayer, we often respond with our “amen” through habit, without grasping its profound meaning. This term comes from ‘aman, which in Hebrew and Aramaic means “to make stable” to “strengthen” and, consequently, “to be certain”, “to tell the truth”.

If we look to Sacred Scripture, we see that this “amen” is pronounced at the end of the Psalms of blessing and of praise, as in Psalm 41, for example: “You have upheld me by reason of my integrity: and have established me in Your sight forever. Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel from eternity to eternity. Amen. Amen.” (Verses 13-14). Or it expresses adherence to God, at the time when the People of Israel return full of joy from Babylonian exile and pronounce their “yes”, their “amen” to God and to His Law. In the Book of Nehemiah, it is said that, after this return, “Ezra opened the book in the sight of all people, for he was above all the people; and when he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God; and all the people answered: ‘Amen, amen,” lifting up their hands (Nehemiah 8:5-6).

From the beginning, therefore, the “amen” of the Jewish liturgy became the “amen” of the first Christian communities. And the book on the Christian liturgy par excellence is the Apocalypse of St. John, which begins with the Church’s “amen”: “To Him who loves us and who freed us from our sins by His blood, who made us a kingdom, priests for His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Apocalypse 1:5b-6). So it is in the first chapter of the Apocalypse. And the same Book concludes with the invocation: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Apocalypse 22:21).

Dear friends, prayer is an encounter with a living Person to whom we should listen and with whom we should converse; it is an encounter with God who renews His unshakeable faithfulness, His “yes” to man, and to each one of us, in order to give us His consolation in the midst of storms and to make us live a life united with Him, full of joy and goodness, that will find its fulfillment in life eternal.

In our prayer we are called to say “yes” to God and to respond with the “amen” of adherence, of faithfulness to Him with our whole life. We can never attain to this fidelity by our own powers; it is not only the fruit of our daily commitment; it comes from God and is founded on the “yes” of Christ, who says: “my food is to do the will of the Father (cf. John 4:34). We must enter into this “yes”, [we must] enter into this “yes” of Christ, in adherence to the will of God, in order that we might say with St. Paul that it is no longer we who live, but Christ himself who lives in us. Then the “amen” of our personal and communal prayer will envelop and transform the whole of our lives, into a life of consolation, a life immersed in eternal and unshakeable Love. Thank you.

[Translation by Diane Montagna]

[In English, he said:]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In our continuing reflection on prayer in the letters of Saint Paul, we now consider the Apostle’s striking affirmation that Jesus Christ is God’s “Yes” to mankind and the fulfilment of all his promises, and that through Jesus we say our “Amen”, to the glory of God (cf. 2 Cor 1:19-20). For Paul, prayer is above all God’s gift, grounded in his faithful love which was fully revealed in the sending of his Son and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit, poured forth into our hearts, leads us to the Father, constantly making present God’s “Yes” to us in Christ and in turn enabling us to say our “Yes” – Amen! – to God. Our use of the word “Amen”, rooted in the ancient liturgical prayer of Israel and then taken up by the early Church, expresses our firm faith in God’s word and our hope in his promises. Through this daily “Yes” which concludes our personal and communal prayer, we echo Jesus’ obedience to the Father’s will and, through the gift of the Spirit, are enabled to live a new and transformed life in union with the Lord.

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I welcome the Vietnamese pilgrims from the Archidiocese of Hochiminh City, led by Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Mân. I also welcome the participants in the Buddhist-Christian Symposium being held in Castelgandolfo. My greeting likewise goes to the Hope for Tomorrow Foundation from the United States. Upon all the English-speaking visitors, including those from England, Ireland, Norway, India, Indonesia, Japan and the United States I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace!

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

[In Italian, he said:]

I am particularly pleased to greet young people, the sick and newlyweds. May the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Risen Christ, guide you, dear young people, and make you capable of decisively directing your lives toward the good; may He sustain you, dear sick, in receiving suffering as a mysterious instrument of salvation for yourselves and for your brothers and sisters; and may He help you, dear newlyweds, to rediscover each day the demands of love, and to be always ready to understand and support one another.

My thoughts turn once more to the dear people of Emilia, who were hit by further aftershocks, which caused deaths and enormous damage, especially to the churches. I am close in prayer and affection to the wounded and to those who have suffered great inconvenience, and I wish to express my deepest condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives. I hope that, with everyone’s help and with the solidarity of the entire country, they may be able to return as soon as possible to normal life in those areas that have been so sorely tried.

Appeal:

The events of recent days involving the Curia and my collaborators have brought sadness to my heart. However, I have never lost my firm certainty that, despite the weakness of man, despite difficulties and trials, the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit and the Lord will ensure she never lacks the help she needs to support her on her journey.

Nonetheless there has been increasing conjecture, amplified by the communications media, which is entirely gratuitous, goes beyond the facts and presents a completely unrealistic image of the Holy See. Thus, I wish to reiterate my trust and encouragement to my closest collaborators and to all those people who every day, with faithlessness, and with a spirit of sacrifice and in silence, help me to carry out my ministry.

On the Feast of Pentecost

On the Feast of Pentecost


"The Spirit of the Risen Lord Continues to Make His Voice Heard"


VATICAN CITY, MAY 21, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave on Pentecost Sunday before and after praying the midday Regina Caeli with those gathered in St. Peter's Square.

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Dear brothers and sisters!

Today we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, which concludes the Easter Season, 50 days after the Sunday of the Resurrection. By this solemnity we are reminded and we relive the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the other disciples, gathered together in prayer with the Virgin Mary in the cenacle (cf. Acts 2:1-11). Jesus, risen and ascended into heaven, sends his Spirit to the Church, that every Christian might participate in his own divine life and become his true witnesses in the world. The Holy Spirit, breaking into history, overcomes its dryness, opens up hearts to hope, stimulates and fosters in us interior growth in our relationship with God and neighbor.

The Spirit, who “spoke through the prophets,” with the gifts of wisdom and knowledge, continues to inspire women and men who commit themselves to the pursuit of truth, proposing original paths to known and understand the mystery of God, man and the world. In this context I am happy to announce that on October 7, at the beginning of the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, I will proclaim St. John of Avila and St. Hildegard of Bingen doctors of the universal Church. These 2 great witnesses of the faith lived in very different historical periods and cultural environments. Hildegard was a Benedictine nun in the heart of the German Middle Ages, an authentic teacher of theology and a profound student of the natural sciences and music. John, a diocesan priest during the years of the Spanish Renaissance, participated in the travail of the cultural and religious renewal of the Church and of the social order at the dawn of modernity. But the holiness of their lives and the profundity of their doctrine makes them perennial relevant: the grace of the Holy Spirit, in fact, cast them into that experience of the penetrating understanding of divine revelation and intelligent dialogue with the world that constitute the permanent horizon of the life and action of the Church. Above all in the light of the project of a new evangelization, to which the just-mentioned Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will be dedicated, and on the eve of the Year of Faith, these 2 figures of saints and doctors appear to have a relevant importance and actuality. Even in our days, through their teaching, the Spirit of the risen Lord continues to make his voice heard and to illumine the path that leads to that Truth that alone can set us free and give complete meaning to our life.

Praying now together the Regina Caeli, we invoke the intercession of the Virgin Mary, that she obtain for the Church to be powerfully animated by the Holy Spirit, to bear witness to Christ with evangelical boldness and to open herself more and more to the fullness of the truth.

[Following the Regina Caeli, the Holy Father addressed those present in various languages. In Italian he said:]

Dear brothers and sisters!

This morning in Vannes, France, Mère Saint-Louise, who was born Élisabeth Molé, was beatified. She was the foundress of the Sisters of Charity of St. Louis and lived between the 18th and 19th centuries. We thank God for this exemplary witness to love for God and neighbor.

I also note that next Friday, June 1, I will travel to Milan, where the 7th World Meeting of Families will take place. I invite everyone to follow this event and to pray for its success.

[In English he said:]

I offer a warm welcome to the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at this Regina Caeli on the Solemnity of Pentecost. Next Friday, I will go to Milan to be with families from all over the world celebrating the 7th World Meeting of Families. I ask you to join me in praying for the success of this important event, and that families may be filled with the Holy Spirit, rediscover the joy of their vocation in the Church and the world, and bear loving witness to the faith. Upon all of you, I invoke God’s abundant blessings!

[Concluding in Italian, he said:]

I wish everyone a happy feast day and a good Sunday. Happy feast day!

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

Benedict XVI's Pentecost Homily

Benedict XVI's Pentecost Homily


"Only With the Gift of God's Spirit can There be Unity"


VATICAN CITY, JUNE 12, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the homily Benedict XVI gave today when he celebrated a Mass for the feast of Pentecost in St. Peter's Basilica.

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Dear brothers and sisters!

On this Solemnity of Pentecost I am happy to celebrate with you this Holy Mass, animated today by the Choir and Youth Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, whom I thank. This mystery constitutes the baptism of the Church; it is an event that gave her, so to say, her initial form and the zeal for her mission. And this “form” and this “zeal” are always valid, always relevant, and they are renewed in a special way through liturgical actions. This morning I would like to reflect upon an essential aspect of the mystery of Pentecost, which maintains its importance in our days. Pentecost is the feast of unity, of understanding and of human communion. We can all recognize how in our world, even if we are ever nearer to each other with the development means of communication, and geographical distances seem to disappear, understanding and communion among persons is often superficial and difficult. Inequalities continue that do not infrequently lead to conflicts; dialogue between generations is hard sometimes opposition prevails; we see daily events which appear to suggest that people are becoming more aggressive and more unsociable; it seems to be too demanding to try to understand each other and we prefer to be closed up in our own “I,” in our own interests. In this situation can we truly find that unity that we need and live it?

The account of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, which we heard in the first reading (cf. Acts 2:1-11), has in its background one of the last great frescos that we find at the beginning of the Old Testament: the ancient story of the construction of the Tower of Babel (cf. Genesis 11:1-9). But what is Babel? It is the description of a kingdom in which men have concentrated so much power that they think that they no longer need a distant God and they believe that they are strong enough to build a way to heaven by themselves and open its gates to put themselves in God’s place. But precisely in this situation something strange and unique occurs. While the men were working to build the tower, suddenly they realized that they were working against each other. While they tried to be like God, they ran the risk of no longer even being men, because they lost a fundamental element of being human persons: the capacity to agree, to understand and to work together.

This biblical account contains a perennial truth; we can see it throughout history, but in our world too. With the progress of science and technology we have developed the power to dominate forces of nature, to manipulate the elements, to manufacture living beings, almost attaining the ability to make human beings. In this context, praying to God seems like something obsolete, useless, because we can build and realize anything we want. But we do not grasp that we are reliving the very experience of Babel. Indeed, we have multiplied the possibilities of communicating, of having information, of transmitting news, but can we say that the capacity to understand each other has grown or is it perhaps the case that, paradoxically, we understand each other less and less? Have not a sense of diffidence, of suspicion, of mutual fear worked themselves into our lives to the point that we have become dangerous to each other? Let us return, then, to the initial question. Can unity, concord really exist? How can they exist?

We find the answer in Sacred Scripture: only with the gift of God’s Spirit can there be unity. This Spirit will give us a new heart and a new tongue, a new capacity to communicate. And this is what happened on Pentecost. On that morning, 50 days after Easter, a tempestuous wind blew upon Jerusalem and the flame of the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, who were gathered together, settling on each and lighting divine fire in them, a fire of love with the power to transform. The fear dissipated, the heart felt a new force, tongues were loosened and began to speak with boldness, in such a way that all could understand the proclamation of Jesus Christ dead and risen. At Pentecost, where there was division and estrangement, unity and understanding were born.

But let us look at today’s Gospel in which Jesus says: “When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth” (John 16:13). Here Jesus, speaking of the Holy Spirit, explains to us what the Church is and how she must live to be herself, to be the place of unity and of communion in the Truth; he tells us that acting like Christians means not being shut up in our own “I,” but relating ourselves to the whole; it means welcoming the whole Church into us or, better, letting ourselves be interiorly taken up into her. So, when I speak, think, act as a Christian, I do not do this closing myself in my “I,” I always do it within the whole and from the whole: thus the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of unity and truth, can continue to resound in our hearts and in the minds of men and move them to engage with and welcome each other. The Spirit, precisely because he acts in this way, leads us to the whole truth, which is Jesus himself, brings us to fathom and understand it: we do not grow in knowledge closing ourselves up in our “I,” but only in becoming capable of listening and sharing in the “we” of the Church, with an attitude of profound interior humility. And thus it becomes clear why Babel is Babel and Pentecost is Pentecost. Where men want to make themselves God, they can only oppose each other. Where they place themselves in the Lord’s truth instead, they open up to the action of the Spirit, who sustains and unites them.

The opposition between Babel and Pentecost echoes in the second reading too, where the Apostle says: “Walk according to the Spirit and do not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). St. Paul explains to us that our personal life is marked by an interior conflict, by division, between impulses that come from the flesh and those that come from the Spirit; and we cannot follow all of them. We cannot, in fact, be simultaneously egoistic and generous, giving in to the temptation to dominate others and experience the joy of disinterested service. We must choose which impulse to follow and we can do it authentically only with the help of the Spirit of Christ. St. Paul lists – as we have heard – the works of the flesh, they are the sins of egoism and violence, such as strife, discord, jealousy, dissension; there are thoughts and deeds that to not allow us to live in a truly human and Christian way, in love. The latter is a direction that leads to the losing of one’s own life. The Holy Spirit leads us toward the heights of God, that we might already live on this earth from the seed of divine life that is in us. St. Paul, in fact, states: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace” (Galatians 5:22). And let us note that the Apostle uses the plural to describe the works of the flesh, which divide and scatter us, while he uses the singular to define the Spirit’s action – he speaks of “fruit” – just as the scattering of Babel is opposed to the unity of Pentecost.

Dear friends, we must live according to the Spirit of unity and of truth, and for this we must pray that the Spirit enlighten us and lead us to overcome the fascination with following our own truths and instead the truth of Christ transmitted in the Church. The Lucan account of Pentecost tells us that Jesus, before ascending into heaven, asks the Apostles to remain together to prepare themselves to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And they gather in prayer with Mary in the cenacle in expectation of the promised event (cf. Acts 1:14). Today the Church – recollected as she was at her birth with Mary – prays: “Veni Sancte Spiritus!” –“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love!” Amen.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

On the Holy Spirit's Prayer in Us: 'Abba! Father!'

On the Holy Spirit's Prayer in Us: 'Abba! Father!'




"God has inscribed Himself in our hearts"


VATICAN CITY, MAY 23, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the Italian-language catechesis Benedict XVI gave during the general audience held in St. Peter’s Square. Today the Holy Father continued his series of catecheses on prayer.

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Last Wednesday I showed how St. Paul says that the Holy Spirit is the great teacher of prayer and teaches us to address God with the affectionate words of children, calling Him “Abba, Father”. This is what Jesus did; even in the most dramatic moment of His earthly life, He never lost confidence in the Father and always called out to Him with the intimacy of the beloved Son. In Gethsemane, as He feels the anguish of death, His prayer is: “Abba! Father! All things are possible to Thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what Thou wilt” (Mark 14:36).

From the very first steps of her journey, the Church received this invocation and made it her own, especially in the prayer of the Our Father, in which we daily say: “Father … Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (cf. Matthew 6:9-10). In the Letters of St. Paul we find it twice. The Apostle, as we just heard, addresses himself to the Galatians with these words: “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6). And at the heart of that hymn to the Spirit, which is Chapter 8 of the Letter to the Romans, St. Paul affirms: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15). Christianity is not a religion of fear but of trust, and of love for the Father who loves us.

These two packed statements speak to us of the sending and receiving of the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Risen One that makes us sons in Christ -- the Only begotten Son -- and establishes us in a filial relationship with God, a relationship of profound trust, like that of children; a filial relationship analogous to Jesus’, even though its origin is different and its depth is different: Jesus is the eternal Son of God made flesh; we instead become sons in Him, in time, through faith and the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation; thanks to these two sacraments we are immersed in the Paschal Mystery of Christ.

The Holy Spirit is the precious and necessary gift that makes us children of God, that effects that filial adoption to which all human beings are called, for as the divine blessing contained in the Letter to the Ephesians states: God, in Christ, “chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and immaculate in his sight in charity. He predestined us to be his adopted sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:4).

Perhaps men today do not perceive the beauty, the grandeur and the profound consolation contained in the word “father” by which we may address God in prayer, because the father figure today is often not sufficiently present; and this presence is often not adequately positive in daily life. A father’s absence, i.e. the problem of a father who is not present in the child’s life, is a great problem of our time; and therefore, it becomes difficult to understand the profound significance of what it means to say that God is a Father to us. We can learn from Jesus Himself, and from His filial relationship with God, what being a “father” truly means, and the true nature of the Father who is in heaven. Critics of religion have said that to speak of the “Father”, of God, would be a projection of our human fathers onto heavenly realities. But the opposite is true: in the Gospel, Christ shows us who a father is and what a true father is like, so that we may sense what true fatherhood is, and also learn true fatherhood. Consider Jesus’ word during the Sermon on the Mount, where he says: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:44-45). It is precisely Jesus’ love -- which reaches even to the gift of himself on the Cross -- that reveals the Father’s true nature to us: He is Love, and we too, in our prayer as children, enter into this movement of love, into God’s love, which purifies our desires and our attitudes that are marked by closure, by self-sufficiency and by the egoism that characterize the old man.

We may say, then, that in God, being Father has two dimensions. First of all, God is our Father, because He is our Creator. Each one of us, every man and every woman, is a miracle of God, is wanted by Him and is known personally by Him. When, in the Book of Genesis, it says that the human being is created in the image of God (cf. 1:27), what it wishes to express is precisely this reality: God is our Father; for Him we are not anonymous, impersonal beings; rather, we have a name. And a word from the psalms always touches me when I pray it: “Your hands have made and fashioned me,” the psalmist says (Psalm 119:73). Each one of us can say, according to this beautiful image of the personal relationship with God: "Your hands have made and fashioned me. You thought of me and created me and wanted me”.

But this is still not enough. The Spirit of Christ opens us to a second dimension of God’s fatherhood, beyond creation, for Jesus is the “Son” in the fullest sense, “consubstantial with the Father,” as we profess in the Creed. In becoming a human being like us through His Incarnation, Death and Resurrection, Jesus in turn receives us into His humanity and into His own being Son; thus we too may enter into His specific belonging to God. To be sure, our being sons of God does not have the fullness of Jesus’: we must become this more and more, through the course of the whole of our Christian lives, by growing in our following of Christ, in our communion with Him, in order to enter ever more intimately into the relationship of love with God the Father, who sustains our lives. It is this fundamental reality that is disclosed to us when we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit and when He causes us to turn to God saying “Abba! Father!” We have truly entered - beyond creation – into adoption; with Jesus, we are truly united in God and are children in a new way and in a new dimension.

But now I would like to return to two passages from St. Paul that we are considering regarding this action of the Holy Spirit in our prayer; here too the two passages correspond to one another but contain slightly different nuances. In the Letter to the Galatians, in fact, the Apostle says that the Holy Spirit cries out in us “Abba! Father!”, the Spirit. In the Letter to the Romans it says that it is we who cry out “Abba! Father!” And St. Paul wants us to understand that Christian prayer is never, and never occurs in one direction between us and God, it is not only “our action”; rather, it is the expression of a reciprocal relationship in which God acts first: it is the Holy Spirit who cries out in us, and we are able to cry out because the impulse comes from the Holy Spirit. We would be unable to pray were the desire for God, and the desire to be God’s children, not inscribed in our hearts. From the moment of his existence, the homo sapiens is always in search of God; he seeks to speak with God, because God has inscribed Himself in our hearts. Therefore the first initiative is God’s, and through Baptism, once again God acts in us, the Holy Spirit acts in us; He is the first initiator of prayer so that we may then truly speak with God and say “Abba” to God. Therefore, His presence opens our prayer and our lives, opens to the horizons of the Trinity and the Church.

Furthermore, we comprehend -- this is the second point -- that the prayer of the Spirit of Christ in us and ours in Him, is not merely an individual act; rather, it is an act of the entire Church. In prayer our hearts are opened, we enter into communion not only with God, but also with all of God’s children, for we are one. When we turn to the Father in our interior room, in silence and recollection, we are never alone. He who speaks with God is not alone. We are in the great prayer of the Church, we are part of a great symphony, which the Christian community scattered in every part of the world and in every time raises to God; certainly, the musicians and the instruments are varied -- and this is an enriching element -- but the melody of praise is one and harmonious. Every time, then, that we cry out and say: “Abba! Father!” it is the Church, the whole communion of people in prayer that supports our invocation and our invocation is the Church’s invocation. This is also reflected in the wealth of charisms, of ministries, of tasks, that we carry out in the community. St. Paul writes to the Christians at Corinth: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one” (1 Corinthians 12:4-6). Prayer guided by the Holy Spirit, which causes us to say “Abba! Father!” with Christ and in Christ, inserts us into one great mosaic of the family of God in which each one of us has a place and an important role, in deep unity with the whole.

A final note: we also learn to cry out “Abba! Father” with Mary, the Mother of the Son of God. The arrival of the fullness of time, of which St. Paul speaks in the Letter to the Galatians (cf. 4:4) occurs at the moment of Mary’s “yes”, of her full adherence to the Will of God: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord” (Luke 1:38).

Dear brothers and sisters, let us learn in our prayer to taste the beauty of being friends, indeed, of being children of God, of being able to call upon Him with the confidence and trust that a child has in his parents who love him. Let us open our prayer to the action of the Holy Spirit that He may cry out to God in us “Abba! Father!” and that our prayer may change and constantly convert our way of thinking and acting, conforming it ever more to that of the Only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you.

[Translation by Diane Montagna]

[In English, he said:]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In our reflection on prayer in the letters of Saint Paul, we now consider two passages in which the Apostle speaks of the Holy Spirit, who enables us to call upon God as “Abba”, our Father (cf. Gal 4:6; Rom 8:5). The word “Abba” was used by Jesus to express his loving relationship with the Father; our own use of this word is the fruit of the presence of the Spirit of Christ within us. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit in Baptism, we have become sons and daughters of God, sharing by adoption in the eternal sonship of Jesus. Paul teaches us that Christian prayer is not simply our own work, but primarily that of the Spirit, who cries out in us and with us to the Father. In our prayer, we enter into the love of the indwelling Trinity as living members of Christ’s Body, the Church. Our individual prayer is always part of the great symphony of the Church’s prayer. Let us open our hearts ever more fully to the working of the Spirit within us, so that our prayer may lead us to greater trust in the Father and conformity to Jesus, his Son.

* * *

I am pleased to greet the ecumenical delegation from the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Sweden. I also welcome the group from the Pontifical University of Santo Tomas in Manila. I thank the choirs for their praise of God in song. Upon all the English-speaking visitors present at today’s Audience, including those from England, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, India, the Philippines, South Korea and the United States I cordially invoke the Holy Spirit’s gifts of wisdom, joy and peace.

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

[In Italian, he said:]

Lastly, my thoughts go out to young people, to the sick and to newlyweds. The gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost always supports the Christian community’s life of faith: dear young people, may you place the search for God and love for Him above all else; dear sick, may the Holy Spirit help and comfort you in the moment of your greatest need; and may you, dear newlyweds, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, make your union firmer and more profound.

[Translation by Diane Montagna]

On the Ascension

On the Ascension



"In his humanity, he brought humanity with him into the depths of the Father"

VATICAN CITY, MAY 21, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave Sunday before and after praying the midday Regina Caeli with those gathered in St. Peter's Square.

* * *

Dear brothers and sisters!

According to the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, 40 days after the Resurrection Jesus ascended into heaven, that is, he returned to the Father, by whom he had been sent into the world. In many countries this mystery is not celebrated on Thursday but today, the Sunday that follows. The Ascension of the Lord marks the completion of the salvation that began with the Incarnation. After having instructed his disciples, Jesus ascended into heaven (cf. Mark 16:19). However, he “did not separate himself from our condition” (cf. Preface); in fact, in his humanity, he brought humanity with him into the depths of the Father and thus revealed the final destination of our earthly pilgrimage. Just as he descended from heaven for us, and suffered and died for us on the cross, so too he rose from the dead and ascended to God for us. And so God is no longer distant but is “our God,” “our Father,” (cf. John 20:17).

The ascension is the last act of our liberation from sin; as St. Paul writes: “he ascended on high and took prisoners captive” (Ephesians 4:8). St. Leo the Great Explains that with this mystery “not only is there proclaimed the immortality of the soul, but also that of the flesh. Today, in fact, we are not only confirmed as possessors of paradise, but we have with Christ penetrated the heights of heaven” (De Ascensione Domini, Tractatus 73, 2.4: CCL 138 A, 451.453). This is why, when the disciples saw the Master lifted up from the earth and carried on high, they were not seized by discouragement, indeed, they experienced a great joy and felt driven to proclaim Christ’s victory over death (cf. Mark 16:20). And the risen Lord worked with them, distributing to each a particular charism, so that the whole Christian community might reflect the harmonious richness of the heavens. St. Paul continues: “he gave gifts to men ... he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers ... for building up the body of Christ .... to the extent of the full stature of Christ” (Ephesians 4:8, 11-13).

Dear friends, the Ascension tells us that in Christ our humanity is raised to the heights of God; thus every time we pray, earth joins heaven. And like the smoke of burning incense lifts high its sweet odor, when we then raise up to the Lord our fervent and confident prayer in Christ, it passes through the heavens and reaches the Throne of God it is heard and answered by God. In the celebrated work by St. John of the Cross, “The Ascent of Mount Carmel,” we read that “to see the desires of our heart realized, there is no better way than to direct the energy of our prayer to the thing that most pleases God. For then not only will he give that which we ask of Him, which is salvation, but also that which he sees to be fitting and good for us, although we pray not for it” (Book III, ch. 4, 2).

We supplicate the Virgin Mary, that she help us to contemplate the heavenly goods that the Lord has promised us and to become ever more credible witnesses of the divine life.

[Following the Regina Caeli the Holy Father addressed those present in St. Peter’s Square in various languages. In Italian he said:]

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today we observe the World Day of Social Communications, whose theme this year is “Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization.” I invite all to pray that communication, in all of its forms, always serve to establish authentic dialogue with our neighbor based on mutual respect, listening and sharing. Silence is an integral part of communication, it is a privileged place for the encounter with the Word of God and our brothers and sisters.

Thursday, May 24 is a day dedicated to the liturgical memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary Help of Christians, venerated with great devotion at the shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai. Let us join in prayer with all of the Catholics of China that they might proclaim Christ dead and risen with humility and joy, that they be faithful to his Church and to the Successor of Peter and live their everyday lives in a way that is consistent with the faith that they profess. May Mary, faithful Virgin, sustain Chinese Catholics on their journey, make their prayer ever more intense and precious in the eyes of the Lord, and make the universal Church’s affection for the Church in China grow along with her participation in her path.

I address a cordial greeting to the thousands of members of the Italian Movement for Life, who are gathered in Paul VI Hall. Dear friends, your movement has always been engaged in defending human life in accordance with the teachings of the Church. Along these lines you have announced a new initiative called “One of Us,” to support the dignity and rights of every human being from the moment of conception. I encourage and exhort you always to be witnesses and builders of the culture of life.

[In English he said:]

I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors here today. Jesus tells us in the Gospel that he has come so that his joy may be fulfilled in us. Let us ask the Virgin Mary to obtain for us a deeper faith in her Son, so that we may live to the full the spiritual joy which he wills for us. Upon all of you I invoke God’s abundant blessings.

[In Italian he said:]

I greet the various school groups, and unfortunately today I must recall the young people of the school in Brindisi who were affected by yesterday’s vile attack. Let us pray together for those who were injured, some gravely, and especially for the young woman Melissa, the innocent victim of a brutal act of violence, and for her family, who are grieving. My affectionate thoughts also go out to the dear people of Emilia Romagna who were struck a few hours ago by an earthquake. I am spiritually near to the persons who have been tried in these calamities: let us implore God for mercy on those who have died and relief from suffering from those who were injured.

I wish everyone a good Sunday.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

Papal Audience on the 'Logic of the Gift'

Papal Audience on the 'Logic of the Gift'

"What happens in the family ... is a fundamental educational moment for learning how to live as a Christian"

VATICAN CITY, MAY 21, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave Saturday to members of the Federation of Christian Organizations for International Volunteer Service (FOCSIV); the Ecclesial Movement for Cultural Commitment; and the Christian Workers Movement.

* * *

Dear brothers and sisters!

I am happy to welcome you this morning in this meeting that brings together the Ecclesial Movement for Cultural Engagement, the Federation of Christian Organizations of International Voluntary Service and the Christian Workers Movement. I greet with affection my brothers in the episcopate, who support you and guide you, the directors and leaders, the ecclesiastical assistants and all of the members and supporters. This year your associations celebrate anniversaries of your foundation. The Ecclesial Movement for Cultural Engagement celebrates 80 years and the Federation of Christian International Voluntary Service Organizations and the Christian Workers Movement celebrate 40 years. And all three of these entities are indebted to the wise work of the Servant of God Paul VI, who, as national assistant in 1932 supported the first steps of the Graduate Movement of Catholic Action [which changed its name to the Ecclesial Movement for Cultural Engagement in 1980], and, as Pontiff, gave recognition to the Federation of Christian Volunteer Organizations and in the Christian Workers Movement in 1972. My venerable predecessor deserves your grateful remembrance for having given impetus to such important ecclesial associations.

These anniversaries are propitious occasions for reconsidering your charisms with gratitude and with a critical scrutiny too, attentive to the historical origins and to the new signs of the times. Culture, volunteering and work constitute a indissoluble trinomial of the daily commitment of the Catholic laity, which intends to give incisive witness to Christ and the Church both in the private sphere and the public sphere of society. The faithful layman takes up a challenge when he involves himself in one or more of these areas and – in cultural service, in acts of solidarity with those in need or in work – promotes human dignity. These three spheres are linked by a common denominator: the gift of self. Cultural engagement, above all in schools and universities, aimed at the formation of future generations, does not limit itself to the transmission of technical and theoretical concepts, but requires the gift of self by word and example. Volunteering, an irreplaceable resource for society, does not so much involve giving things but in giving oneself in concrete assistance to the neediest. Finally, work is not only and instrument for individual prophet but a movement in which we express our abilities by spending ourselves, in a spirit of service, in professional activity, whether this be in manual labor, farming, science or some other area.

But for you all of this has a Christian connotation. Your activity must be animated by charity; this means learning to see with the eyes of Christ and giving to the other more than external necessities; it means looking and acting with love in your relationships with those in need. This is born in the love that comes from God, who first loved us, it is born from the intimate encounter with him (cf. “Deus Caritas Est,” 18). St. Paul, in his farewell discourse to the elders at Ephesus, recalls a truth expressed by Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Dear friends, it is the logic of the gift – a logic that is often threatened – that you value and to which you bear witness: giving your time, your abilities and expertise, your teaching, your professionalism; in a word, giving attention to others without expecting like reciprocation; and I thank you for this great testimony. Acting in this way, not only do we do good for others, but we discover profound happiness, according to the logic of Christ, who gave all of himself.

The family is the first place in which we experience gratuitous love; and when that does not happen, the family is denatured, it enters into crisis. What happens in the family, giving oneself without reserve for the good of the other is a fundamental educational moment for learning how to live as a Christian even in relationship to culture, volunteering and work. In the encyclical “Caritas in Veritate” I wished to extend the family model of the logic of gratuity and the gift to a universal dimensions. Justice alone, in fact, is insufficient. To ensure true justice the “more” that only gratuitousness and solidarity can give is necessary: “Solidarity is first and foremost a sense of responsibility on the part of everyone with regard to everyone, and it cannot therefore be merely delegated to the State. While in the past it was possible to argue that justice had to come first and gratuitousness could follow afterwards, as a complement, today it is clear that without gratuitousness, there can be no justice in the first place” (38). Gratuitousness is not acquired on the market, nor can it be prescribed by law. And yet both the economy and politics need gratuitousness and persons capable of mutual self-giving (cf. ibid. 39).

Today’s meeting highlights two elements: your affirmation of the necessity of continuing to follow the way of the Gospel in fidelity to the social doctrine of the Church and to her pastors; and my encouragement, the pope’s encouragement, that invites you to continue with constancy your commitment to our brothers. Revealing injustices and bearing witness to the values on which the dignity of the person is based, promoting forms of solidarity that favor the common good – these are also part of your commitment. The Ecclesial Movement for Cultural Engagement, in light of its history, is called to a renewed service in the world of culture, which is marked by urgent and complex challenges, for the spreading of Christian humanism: reason and faith are allied in the path to the Truth. May the Federation of Christian Organizations of International Voluntary Service continue to have confidence above all in the power of the charity that comes from God, advancing its commitment against every form of poverty and exclusion on behalf of the most disadvantaged populations. May the Christian Workers Movement know how to bring the light of Christian hope into the world of work to achieve ever greater social justice also. Moreover, always look to the young, who today more than ever seek forms of engagement that bring idealism together with the concrete.

Dear friends, I hope that each of you will carry out your personal and group commitments with joy, witnessing to the Gospel of the gift and gratuitousness. I invoke on your behalf the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary and I impart the apostolic benediction, which I extend to all members and families. Thank you for your work, for your steadfastness.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

On Prayer in the Spirit

On Prayer in the Spirit




"The Holy Spirit is, as it were, the interpreter who makes us, and God, understand what it is we wish to say"

VATICAN CITY, MAY 16, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the Italian-language catechesis Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience held in St. Peter’s Square. The Pope continued his reflection on prayer.

* * *

Dear brothers and sisters,

In the last catecheses we reflected on prayer in the Acts of the Apostles. Today I would like to begin to speak about prayer in the Letters of St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. First, I would like to note that it is not by chance that his Letters are introduced and conclude with expressions of prayer: at the beginning, thanksgiving and praise; at the end, the wish that the grace of God guide the journey of the community to whom the writing is addressed. The content of the Apostle’s Letters develops between the opening formula: “I thank my God through Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:8), and the final wishes: “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you” (1 Corinthians 16:23). The prayer of St. Paul manifests a great wealth of forms -- from thanksgiving to benediction, from praise to petition and intercession, from hymns to supplication: a variety of expressions, which demonstrate how prayer involves and penetrates all the situations of life, those which are personal as well as those of the community he is addressing.

A first element that the Apostle wants us to understand is that prayer should not be seen merely as a good work that we carry out for God, an action of ours. First and foremost, it is a gift, the fruit of the living, vivifying presence of the Father of Jesus Christ in us. In the Letter to the Romans he writes: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words” (8:26). And we know how true the Apostle’s saying is: “We do not know how to pray as we ought”. We want to pray, but God is far off, we do not have the words, the language, to speak with God, nor even the thought to do so. We can only open ourselves, place our time at God’s disposition, wait for Him to help us to enter into true dialogue. The Apostle says: this very lack of words, this absence of words, yet this desire to enter into contact with God, is prayer that the Holy Spirit not only understands, but brings and interprets before God. This very weakness of ours becomes -- through the Holy Spirit -- true prayer, true contact with God. The Holy Spirit is, as it were, the interpreter who makes us, and God, understand what it is we wish to say.

In prayer we experience -- more than in other aspects of life -- our weakness, our poverty, our being creatures, for we are placed before the omnipotence and transcendence of God. And the more we advance in listening and in dialogue with God, so that prayer becomes the daily breath of our souls, the more we also perceive the measure of our limitations, not only in the face of the concrete situations of everyday life, but also in our relationship with the Lord. The need to trust, to rely increasingly upon Him then grows in us; we come to understand that “we do not know … how to pray as we ought” (Romans 8:26).

And it is the Holy Spirit who helps our inability, who enlightens our minds and warms our hearts, guiding us as we turn to God. For St. Paul, prayer is above all the work of the Holy Spirit in our humanity, to take our weakness and to transform us from men bound to material realities into spiritual men. In the First Letter to the Corinthians he says: “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths in spiritual terms” (2:12-13). By means of His abiding in our fragile humanity, the Holy Spirit changes us; He intercedes for us; He leads us toward the heights of God (cf. Romans 8:26).

Our union with Christ is realized by this presence of the Holy Spirit, for He is the Spirit of the Son of God, in whom we are made children. St. Paul speaks of the Spirit of Christ (cf. Romans 8:9), and not only of the Spirit of God. It is obvious: if Christ is the Son of God, His Spirit is also the Spirit of God. Thus, if the Spirit of God -- the Spirit of Christ -- already drew near to us in the Son of God and Son of Man, then the Spirit of God also becomes the spirit of man and touches us; we can enter into the communion of the Spirit. It is as if to say that not only God the Father became visible in the Incarnation of the Son, but also that the Spirit of God revealed Himself in the life and action of Jesus, of Jesus Christ, who lived, was crucified, died and was raised.

The Apostles reminds us that “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’, except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). The Spirit, then, directs our hearts toward Jesus Christ, such that “it is not longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us” (cf. Galations 2:20). In his Catecheses on the Sacraments, reflecting on the Eucharist, St. Ambrose affirms: “He who is inebriated with the Holy Spirit is rooted in Christ” (5,3,17: PL 16, 450).

And now I would like to highlight three consequences for our Christian lives when we allow the Spirit of Christ, and not the spirit of the world, to work in us as the interior principle of all our actions.

First, prayer animated by the Spirit enables us to abandon and to overcome every form of fear and slavery, and so to experience the true freedom of the children of God. Without prayer that nourishes our being in Christ each day in a steadily growing intimacy, we find ourselves in the condition described by St. Paul in the Letter to the Romans: we do not do the good we want, but the evil we do not want (cf. Romans 7:19).

And this is the expression of the alienation of the human being, of the destruction of our freedom due to the condition of our being that is brought about by original sin: we want the good that we do not do, and we do what we do not want, evil. The Apostle wants us to understand that it is not our will that first and foremost frees us from this condition, nor is it the Law, but rather the Holy Spirit. And since “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17), through prayer we experience the freedom given by the Spirit: an authentic freedom, which is freedom from evil and from sin for the good and for life, for God. The freedom of the Spirit, St. Paul continues, is never identical with libertinism or with the possibility of choosing evil but rather with the “fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22). This is true freedom: the ability to actually follow the desire for the good, for true joy, for communion with God and not to be oppressed by the circumstances that take us down other roads.

A second consequence that comes about in our lives when we allow the Spirit of Christ to work in us is that our relationship with God becomes so deep that it cannot be affected by any circumstance or situation. We then come to understand that, through prayer, we are not delivered from trials or sufferings, but we are able to live them in union with Christ, with His sufferings, with a view to participating also in His glory (cf. Romans 8:17).

Many times, in our prayer, we ask God to be freed from physical or spiritual evil, and we do this with great trust. Yet we often have the impression that we have not been heard, and then we run the risk of becoming discouraged and of not persevering. In reality, there is no human cry that God does not hear, and it is precisely in continual and faithful prayer that we come to understand with St. Paul that “the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). Prayer does not exempt us from trial and suffering; indeed -- St. Paul says -- we “groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23); he says that prayer does not exempt us from suffering, but that prayer allows us to experience it and to face it with new strength, with the same trust as Jesus, who -- according to the Letter to the Hebrews -- “in the days of his flesh offered prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to God who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard on account of his complete abandonment to Him” (5:7). God the Father’s response to the Son, to his loud cries and tears, was not deliverance from suffering, from the Cross, from death; rather, it was a much greater fulfillment, a much deeper response; through the Cross and death, God responded with the Resurrection of the Son, with new life. Prayer animated by the Holy Spirit leads us, too, to live the journey of life with its daily trials and suffering in full hope and trust in God, who responds as he responded to the Son.

And, third, the prayer of the believer opens out to the dimensions of humanity and of the whole creation, by taking on the “eager longing of creation for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19). This means that prayer, sustained by the Spirit of Christ who speaks in our interior depths, never remains closed in upon itself, it is never only prayer for me; rather, it opens out to a sharing in the suffering of our time, of others. It becomes intercession for others, and thus freedom for me; a channel of hope for all creation and the expression of that love of God, which has been poured into our hearts through the Spirit who has been given to us (cf. Romans 5:5). And this is a sign of true prayer, that it does not end in ourselves, but opens out to others and so liberates me, and so helps in the redemption of the world.

Dear brothers and sisters, St. Paul teaches us that in our prayer we must open ourselves to the presence of the Holy Spirit, who prays in us with sighs too deep for words, in order to bring us to adhere to God with all our hearts and with all our being. The Spirit of Christ becomes the strength of our “weak” prayer, the light of our “extinguished” prayer, the fire of our “cold and arid” prayer, by giving us true interior freedom, by teaching us to live facing life’s trials in the certainty that we are not alone, and by opening us to the horizons of humanity and creation “which groans in travail until now” (Romans 8:22). Thank you.

[Translation by Diane Montagna]

[In English, he said:]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In our catechesis on Christian prayer, we now turn to the teaching of the Apostle Paul. Saint Paul’s letters show us the rich variety of his own prayer, which embraces thanksgiving, praise, petition and intercession.For Paul, prayer is above all the work of the Holy Spirit within our hearts, the fruit of God’s presence within us. The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness, teaching us to pray to the Father through the Son. In the eighth chapter of the Letter to the Romans, Paul tells us that the Spirit intercedes for us, unites us to Christ and enables us to call God our Father. In our prayer, the Holy Spirit grants us the glorious freedom of the children of God, the hope and strength to remain faithful to the Lord amid our daily trials and tribulations, and a heart attentive to the working of God’s grace in others and in the world around us. With Saint Paul, let us open our hearts to the presence of the Holy Spirit, who prays with us and leads us to an ever deeper union in love with the Triune God.

* * *

I greet all the English-speaking visitors present at today’s Audience, including those from, Ireland, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Canada and the United States. I welcome in particular the pilgrimage groups from Australia. Upon you and your families I cordially invoke the joy and peace of the Risen Lord.

I am pleased to greet Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, President of Caritas Internationalis, together with Members of the Executive Board and Representative Council. Your presence here today expresses your communion with the Successor of Peter and your readiness to welcome the new juridical framework of your organization. I thank you for this and I am certain that the new structures will support and encourage your important service to those most in need.

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Appeal

Yesterday, Tuesday May 15th, the International World Day of Families was celebrated, which was instituted by the United Nations and was dedicated this year to the balance between two closely connected issues: the family and work. The latter should not hinder the family, but should rather sustain and unite it, and help it be open to life and to enter into relationships with society and with the Church. I hope, moreover, that Sunday, the Lord’s Day and the weekly Easter, will be a day of rest and an occasion to strengthen family bonds.

[Translation by Diane Montagna]

[In Italian, he said:]

My thoughts now turn to young people, to the sick and to newlyweds. The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, which we celebrate tomorrow, invites us to look to Jesus who, ascending into heaven, entrusts to the Apostles the mandate to carry His message of salvation to all the world. Dear young people, may you commit yourselves to putting your enthusiasm at the service of the Gospel. May you, dear sick, live your sufferings in union with the Lord, that they may be offered as a precious contribution to the growth of the Kingdom of God. And may you, dear newlyweds, witness to the love of Christ by your married love.

[Translation by Diane Montagna]

On the Vine and the Branches

On the Vine and the Branches




"Remaining always united to Jesus, relying on him, is indispensable"




VATICAN CITY, MAY 7, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave Sunday before and after praying the midday Regina Caeli with those gathered in St. Peter's Square.

* * *

Dear brothers and sisters!

Today’s Gospel, for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, begins with the image of the vine. “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser’” (John 15:1). Often in the Bible, Israel is compared to the fruitful vine when it is faithful to Israel; but if it turns away from God, it becomes sterile, incapable of producing “that wine that gladdens the heart of man,” as Psalm 104 (15) sings. The true vineyard of God, the true vine, is Jesus, who with his sacrifice of love grants us salvation, opens to us the path to becoming part of this vineyard. And as Jesus remains in the love of God the Father, the disciples too, wisely pruned by the word of the Master (cf. John 15:2-4), if they remain profoundly united to him, become fruitful branches that produce an abundant harvest. St. Francis de Sales writes: “The branch united and joined to the trunk bears fruit not by its own virtue, but by virtue of the trunk: now, by charity we have been united to the Redeemer, as members to the head; this is why ... good works, taking their worth from him, merit eternal life” (“Treatise on Divine Love,” XI, 6).

On the day of our baptism the Church grafts us like branches onto the Paschal Mystery of Jesus; we are grafted onto his very Person. From this root we receive the precious lifeblood to participate in divine life. As disciples, we too, with the help of the Pastors of the Church, grow in the Lord’s vineyard, joined together by his love. “If the fruit we are to bear is love, its prerequisite is this ‘remaining,’ which is profoundly connected with the kind of faith that holds on to the Lord and does not let go” (“Jesus of Nazareth,” 262, San Francisco, 2008). Remaining always united to Jesus, relying on him, is indispensable, because without him we can do nothing (cf. 15:5). In a letter written to John the Prophet, a monk who lived in Gaza wilderness in the fifth century, a Christian asks this question: How can man’s freedom and the impossibility of doing anything without God go together? And John answers: If man inclines his heart toward the good and asks God for help, he receives the necessary help to do that which he does. Thus, man’s freedom and God’s power proceed together. This is possible because goodness comes from the Lord, but it is accomplished by his faithful (cf. Ep. 763, SC 468, Paris 2002, 206). The true “remaining” in Christ guarantees the effectiveness of prayer, as the Cistercian Blessed Guerric d’Igny says: “O Lord Jesus ... without you we can do nothing. You in fact are the true gardener, creator, cultivator and protector of your garden, which you sow with your word, water with your spirit, make grow with your power” (Sermo ad excitandam devotionem in psalmodia, SC 202, 1973, 522).

Dear friends, each of us is as a branch that lives only if it is made to grow in its union with the Lord every day by prayer, by participation in the Sacraments, by charity. He who loves Jesus, the true vine, produces fruits of faith for an abundant spiritual harvest. Let us supplicate the Mother of God that we might remain firmly grafted onto Jesus and each of our actions have in him its sole beginning and completion.

[After the Regina Caeli, the Holy Father greeted those present in various languages. In Italian he said:]

Dear brothers and sisters!

I would like first of all to recall that in less than a month the seventh International Meeting of Families will take place in Milan. I thank the Ambrosian diocese and the other Lombard dioceses who are working together for this ecclesial event promoted by the Pontifical Council for the Family, presided over by Cardinal Ennio Antonelli. I will also have the joy to participate, if it pleases God, and so for this I travel to Milan June 1-3.

[In English he said:]

I extend warm greetings to the English-speaking visitors present for today’s Regina Caeli, and especially to the large group of pilgrims from Indonesia. In today’s Gospel Jesus speaks of himself as the true vine and he calls us to be fruit-bearing branches. I pray that God’s children all over the world will grow in unity and love, sustained and nourished by the divine life that he has planted deep within us. May God bless all of you!

[Concluding in Italian he said:]

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good month of May, in the spiritual company of Our Lady. Thank you! Have a good Sunday. I wish you all a good week.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

On the Prayer of the First Christian Martyr

On the Prayer of the First Christian Martyr




"Our prayer, too, should be nourished by listening to God's Word"




VATICAN CITY, MAY 2, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the Italian-language catechesis Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience held in St. Peter’s Square. On this first Wednesday in May the Holy Father continued his catecheses on prayer by reflecting on the witness and prayer of the Church’s first martyr, St. Stephen.

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Dear brothers and sisters,

In the most recent catecheses, we have seen how in personal and communal prayer, reading and meditation on Sacred Scripture open us to hear God who speaks to us, and infuse us with light in order that we may understand the present. Today I would like to speak about the witness and prayer of the Church’s first martyr, St. Stephen, one of the seven who were chosen for the service of charity to those in need. At the moment of his martyrdom, as narrated in the Acts of the Apostles, the fruitful relationship between the Word of God and prayer is again revealed.

Stephen is brought into court before the Sanhedrin, where he is accused of having declared that “Jesus … will destroy this place, [the temple], and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us” (Acts 6:14). During his public life, Jesus had in effect foretold the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). Yet, as the Evangelist John notes, “he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken” (John 2:21-22).

Stephen’s address before the tribunal, the longest in the Acts of the Apostles, expands precisely upon this prophecy of Jesus, who is the new temple, who inaugurates a new worship and who replaces the ancient sacrifices with his self-offering on the Cross. Stephen wants to show that the accusation made against him of subverting the law of Moses is unfounded and to illustrate his vision of salvation history, of the covenant between God and man. Thus, he reinterprets the whole biblical narrative, the itinerary contained in Sacred Scripture, in order to show that it leads to the “place” of God’s definitive presence, which is Jesus Christ, particularly His Passion, Death and Resurrection.

Stephen also interprets his discipleship of Jesus within this perspective, following him to the point of martyrdom. Meditation on Sacred Scripture thus allows him to understand his mission, his life, his present circumstances. In this, he is guided by the light of the Holy Spirit, by his intimate relationship with the Lord, so much so that the members of the Sanhedrin saw that his face “was like that of an angel” (Acts 6:15). This sign of divine assistance recalls the radiant face of Moses as he descended from Mount Sinai after having encountered God (cf. Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Corinthians 3:7-8).

In his address, Stephen begins with the call of Abraham, a pilgrim to the land indicated by God, which he possessed only as a promise; he then passes on to Joseph, who was sold by his brothers but was assisted and liberated by God, to finally reach Moses, who becomes God’s instrument to liberate his people but who also meets many times with rejection by the same people. What emerges from these events narrated by Sacred Scripture, which show Stephen’s devout hearing, is God, who never tires of going out to man even though he often meets with obstinate opposition, and this is true in the past, the present and the future. Therefore, he sees in the whole of the Old Testament the prefiguration of the coming of Jesus himself, the Son of God made flesh, who -- like the ancient Fathers -- encounters obstacles, refusal and death. Stephen therefore refers to Joshua, to David and to Solomon, who were brought into relationship with the construction of the temple, and he concludes with the words of the prophet Isaiah (66:1-2): “Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?” (Acts 7:49-50).

In his meditation on God’s action in salvation history, by emphasizing the perennial temptation to reject God and His action, he affirms that Jesus is the Righteous One announced by the prophets; in him, God himself has made himself present in a unique and definitive way: Jesus is the “place” of true worship. Stephen does not deny the importance of the temple for a certain period of time, but he underscores that “God does not dwell in houses made with hands” (Acts 7:48). The new, true temple where God abides is His Son, who put on human flesh; it is the humanity of Christ, the Risen One who gathers the nations and unites them in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.

The expression of the temple as “not made by hands” is also found in the theology of St. Paul and in the Letter to the Hebrews; the body of Jesus, which he assumed in order to offer himself as a sacrificial victim for the expiation of sins, the body of Jesus is the new temple of God, the place of the presence of the living God; in Him, God and man, God and the world are really in contact: Jesus takes upon himself all the sin of humanity in order to cast it into God’s love and to “burn it” in this love. To approach the Cross, to enter into communion with Christ, means entering into this transformation. This is what it is to enter into contact with God, to enter into the true temple.

Stephen’s life and words are interrupted suddenly when he is stoned, but his martyrdom is the fulfillment of his life and of his message: he becomes one thing with Christ. Thus, his meditation on God’s action in history, on the divine Word, which in Jesus finds its complete fulfillment, becomes a participation in the same prayer of the Cross. Before dying, in fact, he exclaims: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59), taking as his own the words of Psalm 31 (verse 6) and following the last words of Jesus on Calvary: “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). Lastly, like Jesus, he cries out in a loud voice before those who are stoning him: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60). Let us note that, if on the one hand the prayer of Stephen harkens back to Jesus’, it is addressed to someone different, because the invocation is addressed to the Lord; that is to Jesus, whom he contemplates glorified at the right hand of the Father: “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God” (verse 55).

Dear brothers and sisters, St. Stephen’s witness offers us several pointers for our prayer and for our lives. We may ask ourselves: where did this first Christian martyr find the strength to face his persecutors and in the end to attain to the gift of himself? The answer is simple: from his relationship with God, from his communion with Christ, from meditation on the history of salvation, from seeing God’s action, which in Jesus Christ reached its summit. Our prayer, too, should be nourished by listening to God’s Word, in communion with Jesus and his Church.

A second element: St. Stephen sees the figure and mission of Jesus prefigured in the story of the relationship of love between God and man. He -- the Son of God -- is the temple “not made by hands” where the presence of God the Father becomes so close that it enters into our human flesh, in order to lead us to God -- in order to open to us the gates of Heaven. Our prayer, then, should be a contemplation of Jesus at the right hand of God, of Jesus as Lord of our, or my, daily life. In him, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we too can address God, we can make real contact with God, with the faith and abandonment of children who turn to a Father who loves them infinitely. Thank you.

[Translation by Diane Montagna]

[In English, he said:]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In our catechesis on Christian prayer, we now consider the speech which Saint Stephen, the first martyr, delivered before his death. Stephen’s words are clearly grounded in a prayerful re-reading of the Christ event in the light of God’s word. Accused of saying that Jesus would destroy the Temple and the customs handed down by Moses, Stephen responds by presenting Jesus as the Righteous One proclaimed by the prophets, in whom God has become present to humanity in a unique and definitive way. As the Son of God made man, Jesus is himself the true temple of God in the world; by his death for our sins and his rising to new life, he has now become the definitive “place” where true worship is offered to God. Stephen’s witness to Christ, nourished by prayer, culminates in his martyrdom. By his intercession and example may we learn daily to unite prayer, contemplation of Christ and reflection on God’s word. In this way we will appreciate more deeply God’s saving plan, and make Christ truly the Lord of our lives.

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I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s Audience, including those from England, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Nigeria, Australia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Canada and the United States. I offer a cordial welcome to the delegation from the Christian Council of Norway and to the ecumenical groups from Sweden. I also thank the traditional choir from Indonesia for their song. Upon you and your families I cordially invoke God’s abundant blessings.

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

[In Italian, he said:]

Lastly, a thought goes to young people, to the sick and to newlyweds. May the joy of Easter continue to enliven your lives; dear young people, do not extinguish the aspiration to happiness characteristic of your age, by knowing how to find true joy, which only the Risen one can give; dear sick, may you courageously face the trial of your suffering through the awareness that life should always be lived as God’s gift; and may you, dear newlyweds, know how to draw from the teachings of the Gospel all that is necessary for building an authentic community of love.

[Translation by Diane Montagna]