The Weekly Benedict

Introduction

The Weekly Benedict is a compilation of documents, speeches, and other texts brought into an ebook format.

The Weekly Benedict was inspired by Catholic Apologist Jimmy Akin who came up with the idea to create a weekly link page to the words of the Holy Father.

All texts are © Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Considering the increasing prevalence of electronic book readers and their ease in reading textual documents this provides an ideal format in making available the wonderful and insightful words of Pope Benedict XVI. This ebook compilation is provided as a public service with no associated fees.

Jeff Miller The Curt Jester blog

Catholic Apologist Jimmy Akin's blog can be found at JimmyAkin.org

While this ebook publication take it's cue from Jimmy Akin's weekly post with links, it is done without association and any copyright problems or formatting mistakes are entirely my own.

Index of Source Links

List of direct document links on Vatican.va used.

Angelus

- 5 August 2012

General Audiences

- 1 August 2012

Speeches

- 12 August 2012 - Pilgrimage of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising: “Bavarian Evening” in honour of the Holy Father at Castel Gandolfo

Angelus

Angelus, 5 August 2012, Benedict XVI

BENEDICT XVI

ANGELUS

Castel Gandolfo

Sunday, 5 August 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Reading of the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel continues in the Liturgy of the Word of this Sunday. We are in the synagogue of Capharnaum where Jesus was giving his well-known discourse after the multiplication of the loaves. The people had sought to make him king but Jesus had withdrawn, first, to the mountain with God, with the Father, and then to Capharnaum. Since they could not see him, they began to look for him, they boarded the boats in order to cross the lake to the other shore and had found him at last. However, Jesus was well aware of the reason for this great enthusiasm in following him and he says so, even clearly: “you seek me, not because you saw signs, [because you were deeply impressed] but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (v. 26).

Jesus wants to help the people go beyond the immediate satisfaction — albeit important — of their own material needs. He wants to open them to a horizon of existence that does not consist merely of the daily concerns of eating, of being clothed, of a career. Jesus speaks of a food that does not perish, which it is important to seek and to receive. He says: “do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you” (v. 27).

The crowd does not understand, it believes that Jesus is asking for the observance of precepts in order to obtain the continuation of that miracle, and asks: “what must we do, to be dong the works of God?” (v. 28). Jesus’ answer is unequivocal: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (v. 29). The centre of existence — which is what gives meaning and certain hope in the all too often difficult journey of life — is faith in Jesus, it is the encounter with Christ.

We too ask: “what must we do to have eternal life?”. And Jesus says: “believe in me”. Faith is the fundamental thing. It is not a matter here of following an idea or a project, but of encountering Jesus as a living Person, of letting ourselves be totally involved by him and by his Gospel. Jesus invites us not to stop at the purely human horizon and to open ourselves to the horizon of God, to the horizon of faith. He demands a single act: to accept God’s plan, namely, to “believe in him whom he has sent” (v. 29).

Moses had given Israel manna, the bread from heaven with which God himself had nourished his people. Jesus does not give some thing, he gives himself: he is the “true bread that which comes down from heaven”. He is the living Word of the Father; in the encounter with him we meet the living God.

“What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” (v. 28), the crowd asks, ready to act in order to perpetuate the miracle of the loaves. But Jesus, the true bread of life that satisfies our hunger for meaning and for truth, cannot be “earned” with human work; he comes to us only as a gift of God’s love, as a work of God to be asked for and received.

Dear friends, on days that are busy and full of problems, but also on days of rest and relaxation, the Lord asks us not to forget that if it is necessary to be concerned about material bread and to replenish our strength, it is even more fundamental to develop our relationship with him, to reinforce our faith in the One who is the “bread of life” which satisfies our desire for truth and love. May the Virgin Mary, on the day on which we recall the dedication of the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome, sustain us on our journey of faith.

After the Angelus:

I welcome all the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims present today and I pray that your stay in Rome will help you to grow closer to the Lord Jesus. In today’s Gospel he says to the people: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, whoever believes in me will never thirst”. Let us put our faith in him, and let us put our trust in his promises, so that we may have life in abundance. May God bless you all!

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week! Have a good Sunday!

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Speeches

Concert offered to the Holy Father by the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Benedict XVI, 3 August 2012

PILGRIMAGE OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF MUNICH AND FREISING:

"BAVARIAN EVENING" IN HONOUR OF THE HOLY FATHER

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI

Castel Gandolfo

Friday, 3 August 2012

Your Eminences,

Dear Confrères,

Dear Friends,

At the end of this Bavarian evening I can only wish you with all my heart a “Vergelt’s Gott” [“May God reward you”]. It was lovely to be here, in Castel Gandolfo at the heart of Lazio and at the same time in Bavaria. I am truly “dahoam” [at home], and I must compliment Cardinal Marx, because he already pronounces this word so well!

We have been able to see that the Bavarian culture is a joyful culture: “not a rowdy culture but one full of fun”. We are not boorish people, it is not merely a question of amusement; rather it is a cheerful culture, imbued with joy. It is born from an inner acceptance of the world, from an inner “yes” to life, which is a “yes” to joy. The joyfulness of the Bavarian culture is based on the fact that we are in tune with Creation, in tune with the Creator himself, and for this reason we know it is good to be a person. It is true, we have to say, that in Bavaria God has facilitated our task: he has given us such a beautiful world, such a beautiful land that it becomes easy to recognize that God is good and to be happy there. Yet, at the same time, he also made it in such a way that the people who live in this land have been able to give it its full beauty by starting, precisely, with their “yes”. Through the culture of the people, through their faith, their joy, their songs, their music and art it has become beautiful, because the Creator did not want to make it beautiful by himself, but also with the help of men and women.

Now, someone might ask: is it legitimate to be so happy when the world is so full of suffering, when so much darkness and such great evil exist? Is it legitimate to be so arrogant and joyful? The answer cannot but be “yes”! Because in saying “no” to joy we render no service to anyone, we would only make the world darker. And anyone who does not love himself is unable to give anything to his neighbour, he cannot help him, he cannot be a messenger of peace. We know this from faith and we see it every day: the world is beautiful and God is good. And because he became man and came to dwell among us, because he suffered and lived with us, we know once and for all, and every day: yes, God is good and it is good to be a person. We live from this joy and starting from this joy we also try to bring joy to others, to repel evil and to be servants of peace and reconciliation.

Now, of course, I ought to thank everyone, one by one, but the memory of an old man is not reliable. I therefore prefer to refrain from doing so. However, I would like to thank dear Cardinal Marx for planning this evening, for having brought Bavaria to Rome and thereby making the inner unity of the Christian culture tangible. I would like to thank him for having brought together the Bavarians of our Archdiocese, from Lower Bavaria as far as the Oberland, from the Rupertigau Region to the Werdenfelser Land. I would like to thank the announcer, who made us the gift of speaking Bavarian so beautifully. I do not think I could speak Bavarian and at the same be so “uplifting”, but she has been able to. I thank all the groups, the wind-instruments... but no, I do not even want to begin. You know it. Everything has deeply moved me and I am grateful and happy for it all. Of course, the Gebirgsschützen, whom I was only able to hear in the distance, deserve special thanks, because I am an honorary “Schütze”, even though I was once a mediocre Schütze. I am then particularly grateful to you, dear Cardinal Wetter, for having come: you are my direct successor in the See of St Corbinian. For a quarter of a century you have governed the archdiocese as a good Pastor. Thank you for coming!

(in Italian)

Cardinal Bertello, thank you for being here. I hope you also felt that Bavaria is beautiful and that the Bavarian culture is beautiful.

(in German)

Now, as my ‘thank you’ I can only impart my blessing to you, but let us first sing the Angelus together, and if we can the “Andachtsjodler” [a hymn in the form of a yodel]. A heartfelt “Vergelt’s Gott”!

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

General Audiences

General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, 1st August 2012

BENEDICT XVI

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Piazza della Libertà, Castel Gandolfo

Wednesday, 1st August 2012

St Alphonsus Mary Liguori

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today is the Liturgical Memorial of St Alphonsus Mary Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer — the Redemptorists — and patron saint of moral theology scholars and confessors. St Alphonsus is one of the most popular saints of the 18th century because of his simple, immediate style and his teaching on the sacrament of Penance. In a period of great rigorism, a product of the Jansenist influence, he recommended that confessors administer this sacrament expressing the joyful embrace of God the Father, who in his infinite mercy never tires of welcoming the repentant son.

Today’s Memorial offers us the opportunity to reflect on St Alphonsus’ teaching on prayer which is particularly valuable and full of spiritual inspiration. His Treatise on The Great Means of Prayer, which he considered the most useful of all his writings, dates back to the year 1759. Indeed, he describes prayer as “a necessary and certain means of obtaining salvation, and all the graces that we require for that object ” (Introduction). This sentence sums up the way St Alphonsus understood prayer.

First of all, by saying that it is a means, he reminds us of the goal to be reached. God created us out of love in order to be able to give us life in its fullness; but this goal, this life in fullness, has as it were become distant because of sin — we all know it — and only God’s grace can make it accessible. To explain this basic truth and to make people understand with immediacy how real the risk of “being lost” is for human beings, St Alphonsus coined a famous, very elementary maxim which says: “Those who pray will be saved and those who do not will be damned!”. Commenting on this lapidary sentence, he added, “In conclusion, to save one’s soul without prayer is most difficult, and even (as we have seen) impossible... But by praying our salvation is made secure, and very easy” (II, Conclusion). And he says further: “if we do not pray, we have no excuse, because the grace of prayer is given to everyone... if we are not saved, the whole fault will be ours; and we shall have our own failure to answer for, because we did not pray” (ibid.).

By saying, then, that prayer is a necessary means, St Alphonsus wanted us to understand that in no situation of life can we do without prayer, especially in times of trial and difficulty. We must always knock at the door of the Lord confidently, knowing that he cares for all his children, for us. For this reason we are asked not to be afraid to turn to him and to present our requests to him with trust, in the certainty of receiving what we need.

Dear friends, this is the main question: what is really necessary in my life? I answer with St Alphonsus: “Health and all the graces that we need” (ibid.). He means of course not only the health of the body, but first of all that of the soul, which Jesus gives us. More than anything else we need his liberating presence which makes us truly fully human and hence fills our existence with joy. And it is only through prayer that we can receive him and his grace, which, by enlightening us in every situation, helps us to discern true good and by strengthening us also makes our will effective, that is, renders it capable of doing what we know is good. We often recognize what is good but are unable to do it. With prayer we succeed in doing it. The disciple of the Lord knows he is always exposed to temptation and does not fail to ask God’s help in prayer in order to resist it.

St Alphonsus very interestingly cites the example of St Philip Neri who “the very moment when he awoke in the morning, said to God: ‘Lord, keep Thy hands over Philip this day; for if not, Philip will betray Thee’” (III, 3). What a great realist! He asks God to keep his hands upon him. We too, aware of our weakness, must humbly seek God’s help, relying on his boundless mercy. St Alphonsus says in another passage: “We are so poor that we have nothing; but if we pray we are no longer poor. If we are poor, God is rich” (II, 4). And, following in St Augustine’s wake, he invites all Christians not to be afraid to obtain from God, through prayer, the power they do not possess that is necessary in order to do good, in the certainty that the Lord will not refuse his help to whoever prays to him with humility (cf. III, 3).

Dear friends, St Alphonsus reminds us that the relationship with God is essential in our life. Without the relationship with God, the fundamental relationship is absent. The relationship with God is brought into being in conversation with God, in daily personal prayer and with participation in the sacraments. This relationship is thus able to grow within us, as can the divine presence that directs us on our way, illuminates it and makes it safe and peaceful even amidst difficulties and perils. Many thanks.

To special groups:

I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims, especially those from England and the United States. Today the Church celebrates the Feast of St Alphonsus Liguori, the Founder of the Redemptorists, a great moral theologian and a master of prayer. St Alphonsus teaches us the beauty of daily prayer, in which we open our minds and hearts to the Lord’s presence and receive the grace to live wisely and well. By his example and intercession, may you and your families come to know God’s saving love and experience his abundant blessings!

Lastly, I greet the young people, the sick and the newlyweds. I urge you all to bear a joyful Gospel witness everywhere.

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Table of Contents

Introduction

Index of Source Links

Angelus

Speeches

Concert offered to the Holy Father by the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Benedict XVI, 3 August 2012

General Audiences

General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, 1st August 2012