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

- 30 September 2012

General Audiences

- 26 September 2012

Homilies

- 4 October 2012 - Celebration of the Mass in Our Lady of Loreto Square

- 7 October 2012 - Holy Mass for the opening of the Synod of Bishops and proclamation of St John of Avila and St Hildegard of Bingen as "Doctors of the Church"

Speeches

- 20 September 2012 - To Bishops taking part in the meeting organized by the Congregation for Bishops

- 21 September 2012 - To a group of Bishops of the Episcopal Conference of France on their ad Limina visit

- 26 September 2012 - At the conclusion of the concert performance of "Augustinus - un mosaico di suoni" offered by the Diocese of Würzburg

- 28 September 2012 - Farewell to the personell of Castel Gandolfo

- 28 September 2012 - Farewell to the community of Castel Gandolfo

Angelus

Angelus, 30 September 2012, Benedict XVI

BENEDICT XVI

ANGELUS

Castel Gandolfo

Sunday, 30 September 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This Sunday's Gospel presents one of those episodes in Christ's life which, even if they are noted, so to speak en passant, contain a profound meaning (cf. Mk 9:38-41). The event involved someone who was not a follower of Jesus but who had expelled demons in his name. The Apostle John, a young man and ardently zealous as he was, wanted to prevent him but Jesus did not permit this; on on the contrary, he drew inspiration from this circumstance to teach his disciples that God could work good and even miraculous things even outside their circle, and that it is possible to cooperate with the cause of the Kingdom of God in different ways, even by simply offering a missionary a glass of water (v. 41). St Augustine wrote in this regard: as, therefore, there is in the Catholic "meaning the Church" something which is not Catholic, so there may be something which is Catholic outside the Catholic Church (cf. On Baptism, Against the Donatists, PL 43, VII, 39, 77).

Therefore if a stranger to the community does good works in Christ's name, so long as he does so with upright intentions and with respect, members of the Church must not feel jealous but must rejoice. Even within the Church, people can find it difficult, in the spirit of deep communion, to value and appreciate good things achieved by the different ecclesial entities. Instead, we must all and always be able to appreciate one another, praising God for the infinite creativity with which he acts in the Church and in the world.

The stream of invective of the Apostle James against the dishonest rich who rely on wealth accumulated by abuse, rings out in today's Liturgy (cf. Jas 5:1-6). St Caesarius of Arles says in this regard in one of his sermons: riches can do no harm to a good man, so long as he gives them compassionately, just as they cannot help a wicked man, so long as he keeps them greedily for himself or wastes them in dissipation (Sermons, 35, 4). While the Apostle James' words put us on guard against the worthless desire for material goods, they are a powerful appeal to use them with a view to solidarity and the common good, always acting with fairness and morality at all levels.

Dear friends, let us pray through the intercession of Mary Most Holy that we may be able to rejoice in every act and initiative for good without envy or jealousy and that we may use earthly goods wisely, in the constant search for heavenly goods.

APPEAL

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am following with care and concern the vicissitudes of the people in the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They have also been the subject of attention in these days at a high-level meeting at the United Nations. I am particularly close to the refugees and to the women and children who, because of persistent armed conflicts, are subjected to suffering, violence and severe hardship. I invoke God that peaceful ways may be found for dialogue and for the protection of so many innocent people. I also pray that as soon as possible peace founded on justice may be reestablished, and that brotherly existence be restored among this most harshly tried people, and throughout the Region.

* * *

After the Angelus

I welcome the English-speaking pilgrims here at Castel Gandolfo and in Rome! Dear friends, in today's Gospel Jesus calls us to be not only open-hearted, but also firm in our opposition to what is dishonest or evil. May God grant us to be both generous to others and steadfast in living a life of purity and integrity. Upon you and your loved ones, I invoke the strength and peace of Christ our Lord!

To all of you, dear friends, I wish you a lovely Sunday and a good week! Goodbye. Have a happy Sunday!

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Homilies

Celebration of the Mass in Our Lady of Loreto Square, Homily of Pope Benedict XVI, 4 October 2012

PASTORAL VISIT TO LORETO

ON THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY

OF THE VISIT OF BLESSED JOHN XXIII

(4 OCTOBER 2012)

HOLY MASS

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI

Our Lady of Loreto Square, Loreto

Thursday, 4 October 2012

Your Eminences,

Dear Brother Bishops,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On 4 October 1962, Blessed John XXIII came as a pilgrim to this Shrine to entrust to the Virgin Mary the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, due to begin a week later. On that occasion, with deep filial devotion to the Mother of God, he addressed her in these words: “Again today, and in the name of the entire episcopate, I ask you, sweetest Mother, as Help of Bishops, to intercede for me as Bishop of Rome and for all the bishops of the world, to obtain for us the grace to enter the Council Hall of Saint Peter’s Basilica, as the Apostles and the first disciples of Jesus entered the Upper Room: with one heart, one heartbeat of love for Christ and for souls, with one purpose only, to live and to sacrifice ourselves for the salvation of individuals and peoples. Thus, by your maternal intercession, in the years and the centuries to come, may it be said that the grace of God prepared, accompanied and crowned the twenty-first Ecumenical Council, filling all the children of the holy Church with a new fervour, a new impulse to generosity, and a renewed firmness of purpose” (AAS 54 [1962], 727).

Fifty years on, having been called by divine Providence to succeed that unforgettable Pope to the See of Peter, I too have come on pilgrimage to entrust to the Mother of God two important ecclesial initiatives: the Year of Faith, which will begin in a week, on 11 October, on the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which I have convened this October with the theme “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith”. Dear friends, to all of you I offer my most cordial greetings. I thank the Most Reverend Giovanni Tonucci, Archbishop of Loreto, for his warm words of welcome. I greet the other bishops present, the priests, the Capuchin Fathers, to whom the pastoral care of this shrine is entrusted, and the religious sisters. I also salute Dr Paolo Niccoletti, Mayor of Loreto, thanking him for his courteous words, and I greet the representatives of the government and the civil and military authorities here present. My thanks also go to those who have generously offered their assistance to make my pilgrimage possible.

As I said in my Apostolic Letter announcing the Year of Faith, “I wish to invite my brother bishops from all over the world to join the Successor of Peter, during this time of spiritual grace that the Lord offers us, in recalling the precious gift of faith” (Porta Fidei, 8). It is precisely here at Loreto that we have the opportunity to attend the school of Mary who was called “blessed” because she “believed” (Lk 1:45). This Shrine, built around her earthly home, preserves the memory of the moment when the angel of Lord came to Mary with the great announcement of the Incarnation, and she gave her reply. This humble home is a physical, tangible witness to the greatest event in our history, the Incarnation; the Word became flesh and Mary, the handmaid of the Lord, is the privileged channel through which God came to dwell among us (cf. Jn 1:14). Mary offered her very body; she placed her entire being at the disposal of God’s will, becoming the “place” of his presence, a “place” of dwelling for the Son of God. We are reminded here of the words of the Psalm with which, according to the Letter to the Hebrews, Christ began his earthly life, saying to the Father, “Sacrifices and offering you have not desired, but you have prepared a body for me… Behold, I have come to do your will, O God” (10:5,7). To the Angel who reveals God’s plan for her, Mary replies in similar words: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). The will of Mary coincides with the will of the Son in the Father’s unique project of love and, in her, heaven and earth are united, God the Creator is united to his creature. God becomes man, and Mary becomes a “living house” for the Lord, a temple where the Most High dwells. Here at Loreto fifty years ago, Blessed John XXIII issued an invitation to contemplate this mystery, to “reflect on that union of heaven and earth, which is the purpose of the Incarnation and Redemption”, and he went on to affirm that the aim of the Council itself was to spread ever wider the beneficent impact of the Incarnation and Redemption on all spheres of life (cf. AAS 54 [1962], 724). This invitation resounds today with particular urgency. In the present crisis affecting not only the economy but also many sectors of society, the Incarnation of the Son of God speaks to us of how important man is to God, and God to man. Without God, man ultimately chooses selfishness over solidarity and love, material things over values, having over being. We must return to God, so that man may return to being man. With God, even in difficult times or moments of crisis, there is always a horizon of hope: the Incarnation tells us that we are never alone, that God has come to humanity and that he accompanies us.

The idea of the Son of God dwelling in the “living house”, the temple which is Mary, leads us to another thought: we must recognize that where God dwells, all are “at home”; wherever Christ dwells, his brothers and sisters are no longer strangers. Mary, who is the Mother of Christ, is also our mother, and she open to us the door to her home, she helps us enter into the will of her Son. So it is faith which gives us a home in this world, which brings us together in one family and which makes all of us brothers and sisters. As we contemplate Mary, we must ask if we too wish to be open to the Lord, if we wish to offer our life as his dwelling place; or if we are afraid that the presence of God may somehow place limits on our freedom, if we wish to set aside a part of our life in such a way that it belongs only to us. Yet it is precisely God who liberates our liberty, he frees it from being closed in on itself, from the thirst for power, possessions, and domination; he opens it up to the dimension which completely fulfils it: the gift of self, of love, which in turn becomes service and sharing.

Faith lets us reside, or dwell, but it also lets us walk on the path of life. The Holy House of Loreto contains an important teaching in this respect as well. Its location on a street is well known. At first this might seem strange: after all, a house and a street appear mutually exclusive. In reality, it is precisely here that an unusual message about this House has been preserved. It is not a private house, nor does it belong to a single person or a single family, rather it is an abode open to everyone placed, as it were, on our street. So here in Loreto we find a house which lets us stay, or dwell, and which at the same time lets us continue, or journey, and reminds us that we are pilgrims, that we must always be on the way to another dwelling, towards our final home, the Eternal City, the dwelling place of God and the people he has redeemed (cf. Rev 21:3).

There is one more important point in the Gospel account of the Annunciation which I would like to underline, one which never fails to strike us: God asks for mankind’s “yes”; he has created a free partner in dialogue, from whom he requests a reply in complete liberty. In one of his most celebrated sermons, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux “recreates”, as it were, the scene where God and humanity wait for Mary to say “yes”. Turning to her he begs: “The angel awaits your response, as he must now return to the One who sent him… O Lady, give that reply which the earth, the underworld and the very heavens await. Just as the King and Lord of all wished to behold your beauty, in the same way he earnestly desires your word of consent… Arise, run, open up! Arise with faith, run with your devotion, open up with your consent!” (In laudibus Virginis Matris, Hom. IV,8: Opera omnia, Edit. Cisterc. 4, 1966, p.53f). God asks for Mary’s free consent that he may become man. To be sure, the “yes” of the Virgin is the fruit of divine grace. But grace does not eliminate freedom; on the contrary it creates and sustains it. Faith removes nothing from the human creature, rather it permits his full and final realization.

Dear brothers and sisters, on this pilgrimage in the footsteps of Blessed John XXIII – and which comes, providentially, on the day in which the Church remembers Saint Francis of Assisi, a veritable “living Gospel” – I wish to entrust to the Most Holy Mother of God all the difficulties affecting our world as it seeks serenity and peace, the problems of the many families who look anxiously to the future, the aspirations of young people at the start of their lives, the suffering of those awaiting signs or decisions of solidarity and love. I also wish to place in the hands of the Mother of God this special time of grace for the Church, now opening up before us. Mother of the “yes”, you who heard Jesus, speak to us of him; tell us of your journey, that we may follow him on the path of faith; help us to proclaim him, that each person may welcome him and become the dwelling place of God. Amen!

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Holy Mass for the opening of the Synod of Bishops, Homily of Benedict XVI, 7 October 2012

HOLY MASS FOR THE OPENING OF THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS AND

PROCLAMATION OF ST JOHN OF AVILA AND OF ST HILDEGARD OF BINGEN

AS "DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH"

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI

Saint Peter's Square

Sunday, 7 October 2012

Dear Brother Bishops,

Dear brothers and sisters,

With this solemn concelebration we open the thirteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith.  This theme reflects a programmatic direction for the life of the Church, its members, families, its communities and institutions.  And this outline is reinforced by the fact that it coincides with the beginning of the Year of Faith, starting on 11 October, on the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council.  I give a cordial and grateful welcome to you who have come to be part of the Synodal Assembly, in particular to the Secretary-General of the Synod of Bishops, and to his colleagues.  I salute the fraternal delegates of the other churches and ecclesial communities as well as all present, inviting them to accompany in daily prayer the deliberations which will take place over the next three weeks.

The readings for this Sunday’s Liturgy of the Word propose to us two principal points of reflection: the first on matrimony, which I will touch shortly; and the second on Jesus Christ, which I will discuss now.  We do not have time to comment upon the passage from the Letter to the Hebrews but, at the beginning of this Synodal Assembly, we ought to welcome the invitation to fix our gaze upon the Lord Jesus, “crowned with glory and honour, because of the suffering of death (2:9).  The word of God places us before the glorious One who was crucified, so that our whole lives, and in particular the commitment of this Synodal session, will take place in the sight of him and in the light of his mystery.  In every time and place, evangelization always has as its starting and finishing points Jesus Christ, the Son of God (cf. Mk 1:1); and the Crucifix is the supremely distinctive sign of him who announces the Gospel: a sign of love and peace, a call to conversion and reconciliation.  My dear Brother Bishops, starting with ourselves, let us fix our gaze upon him and let us be purified by his grace.

I would now like briefly to examine the new evangelization, and its relation to ordinary evangelization and the mission ad Gentes.  The Church exists to evangelize.  Faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ’s command, his disciples went out to the whole world to announce the Good News, spreading Christian communities everywhere.  With time, these became well-organized churches with many faithful.  At various times in history, divine providence has given birth to a renewed dynamism in Church’s evangelizing activity.  We need only think of the evangelization of the Anglo-Saxon peoples or the Slavs, or the transmission of the faith on the continent of America, or the missionary undertakings among the peoples of Africa, Asia and Oceania.  It is against this dynamic background that I like to look at the two radiant figures that I have just proclaimed Doctors of the Church, Saint John of Avila and Saint Hildegard of Bingen.  Even in our own times, the Holy Spirit has nurtured in the Church a new effort to announce the Good News, a pastoral and spiritual dynamism which found a more universal expression and its most authoritative impulse in the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. Such renewed evangelical dynamism produces a beneficent influence on the two specific “branches” developed by it, that is, on the one hand the Missio ad Gentes or announcement of the Gospel to those who do not yet know Jesus Christ and his message of salvation, and on the other the New Evangelization,  directed principally at those who, though baptized, have drifted away from the Church and live without reference to the Christian life.  The Synodal Assembly which opens today is dedicated to this new evangelization, to help these people encounter the Lord, who alone who fills our existence with deep meaning and peace; and to favour the rediscovery of the faith, that source of grace which brings joy and hope to personal, family and social life.  Obviously, such a special focus must not diminish either missionary efforts in the strict sense or the ordinary activity of evangelization in our Christian communities, as these are three aspects of the one reality of evangelization which complement and enrich each other.

The theme of marriage, found in the Gospel and the first reading, deserves special attention.  The message of the word of God may be summed up in the expression found in the Book of Genesis and taken up by Jesus himself: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Gen 2:24; Mk 10:7-8).  What does this word say to us today?  It seems to me that it invites us to be more aware of a reality, already well known but not fully appreciated: that matrimony is a Gospel in itself, a Good News for the world of today, especially the dechristianized world.  The union of a man and a woman, their becoming “one flesh” in charity, in fruitful and indissoluble love, is a sign that speaks of God with a force and an eloquence which in our days has become greater because unfortunately, for various reasons, marriage, in precisely the oldest regions evangelized, is going through a profound crisis.  And it is not by chance.  Marriage is linked to faith, but not in a general way.  Marriage, as a union of faithful and indissoluble love, is based upon the grace that comes from the triune God, who in Christ loved us with a faithful love, even to the Cross.  Today we ought to grasp the full truth of this statement, in contrast to the painful reality of many marriages which, unhappily, end badly.  There is a clear link between the crisis in faith and the crisis in marriage.  And, as the Church has said and witnessed for a long time now, marriage is called to be not only an object but a subject of the new evangelization.  This is already being seen in the many experiences of communities and movements, but its realization is also growing in dioceses and parishes, as shown in the recent World Meeting of Families.

One of the important ideas of the renewed impulse that the Second Vatican Council gave to evangelization is that of the universal call to holiness, which in itself concerns all Christians (cf. Lumen Gentium, 39-42).  The saints are the true actors in evangelization in all its expressions.  In a special way they are even pioneers and bringers of the new evangelization: with their intercession and the example of lives attentive to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they show the beauty of the Gospel to those who are indifferent or even hostile, and they invite, as it were tepid believers, to live with the joy of faith, hope and charity, to rediscover the taste for the word of God and for the sacraments, especially for the bread of life, the Eucharist.  Holy men and women bloom among the generous missionaries who announce the Good News to non-Christians, in the past in mission countries and now in any place where there are non-Christians.  Holiness is not confined by cultural, social, political or religious barriers.  Its language, that of love and truth, is understandable to all people of good will and it draws them to Jesus Christ, the inexhaustible source of new life.

At this point, let us pause for a moment to appreciate the two saints who today have been added to the elect number of Doctors of the Church.  Saint John of Avila lived in the sixteenth century.  A profound expert on the sacred Scriptures, he was gifted with an ardent missionary spirit.  He knew how to penetrate in a uniquely profound way the mysteries of the redemption worked by Christ for humanity.  A man of God, he united constant prayer to apostolic action.  He dedicated himself to preaching and to the more frequent practice of the sacraments, concentrating his commitment on improving the formation of candidates for the priesthood, of religious and of lay people, with a view to a fruitful reform of the Church.

Saint Hildegard of Bingen, an important female figure of the twelfth century, offered her precious contribution to the growth of the Church of her time, employing the gifts received from God and showing herself to be a woman of brilliant intelligence, deep sensitivity and recognized spiritual authority.  The Lord granted her a prophetic spirit and fervent capacity to discern the signs of the times.  Hildegard nurtured an evident love of creation, and was learned in medicine, poetry and music.  Above all, she maintained a great and faithful love for Christ and his Church.

This summary of the ideal in Christian life, expressed in the call to holiness, draws us to look with humility at the fragility, even sin, of many Christians, as individuals and communities, which is a great obstacle to evangelization and to recognizing the force of God that, in faith, meets human weakness.  Thus, we cannot speak about the new evangelization without a sincere desire for conversion.  The best path to the new evangelization is to let ourselves be reconciled with God and with each other (cf. 2 Cor 5:20).  Solemnly purified, Christians can regain a legitimate pride in their dignity as children of God, created in his image and redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, and they can experience his joy in order to share it with everyone, both near and far.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us entrust the work of the Synod meeting to God, sustained by the communion of saints, invoking in particular the intercession of great evangelizers, among whom, with much affection, we ought to number Blessed Pope John Paul II, whose long pontificate was an example of the new evangelization.  Let us place ourselves under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of the New Evangelization.  With her let us invoke a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that from on high he may illumine the Synodal assembly and make it fruitful for the Church’s journey today, in our time. Amen.

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Speeches

To Bishops taking part in the meeting organized by the Congregations for Bishops and for the Eastern Churches, Benedict XVI, 20 September 2012

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO BISHOPS TAKING PART IN THE MEETING

ORGANIZED BY THE CONGREGATIONS

FOR BISHOPS AND FOR THE EASTERN CHURCHES

Hall of the Swiss, Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo

Thursday, 20 September 2012

Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,

The pilgrimage to the Tomb of St Peter which you have made during these days of reflection on your episcopal ministry is of particular importance this year. We are, in fact, on the eve of the Year of Faith, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and of the 13th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme: “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian faith”. These events, to which we must add the 20th anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, are an opportunity to reinforce the faith, of which, dear Confrères, you are teachers and heralds (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 25). I greet each one of you and I express my sincere gratitude for their courteous words to Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and to Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches.

This gathering in Rome at the start of your episcopal ministry is a good opportunity to experience in a practical way communication and communion among you and, in the encounter with the Successor of Peter, to foster a sense of responsibility for the entire Church. As members of the College of Bishops, you must always have a special concern for the universal Church, in the first place by promoting and defending the unity of the faith. Jesus Christ desired to entrust the mission of proclaiming the Gospel first of all to the body of Pastors who must work together and with the Successor of Peter (cf. ibid., n. 23), so that it may reach all people. This is particularly urgent in our time which requires you to be bold in inviting people of every state to encounter Christ and to consolidate their faith (cf. Christus Dominus, n. 12).

Your main concern should be to promote and sustain a “stronger ecclesial commitment to new evangelization in order to rediscover the joy of believing and the enthusiasm for communicating the faith” (Apostolic Letter Porta Fidei, n. 7). In this too you are called to foster and nourish communion and collaboration among the different situations in your dioceses. Evangelization, indeed, is not a work of specialists, but of the entire People of God under the guidance of their Pastors. Every member of the faithful, in and with the ecclesial community, must feel responsible for proclaiming and witnessing to the Gospel. Blessed John XXIII, opening the great assembly of Vatican II foresaw: “a step forward toward a doctrinal penetration and a formation of the conscience” and for this, he added, “it is necessary that this doctrine be certain and immutable, which must be faithful respected, that it must be deepened and presented in a way that responds to the needs of our time” (Discourse at the Opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, 11 October 1962). We can say that the new evangelization started precisely with the Council, which Blessed John XXIII saw as a new Pentecost that would make the Church flourish in her interior richness and in the extension of her motherly mantle over every field of human activity (cf. Address at the Close of the First Session of the Council, 8 December 1962). The effects of this new Pentecost, despite the difficulties of the times, were extended reaching the life of the Church in every expression: from the institutional to the spiritual, from the participation of the lay faithful in the Church to the blossoming of charisms and holiness. In this regard we cannot but think of Blessed John XXIII himself and of Blessed John Paul II, of so many bishops, priests, consecrated persons and lay people, who have made the face of the Church beautiful in our time.

This legacy has also been entrusted to your pastoral care. Draw from this patrimony of doctrine, of spirituality and of holiness to form your faithful in the faith, that their testimony may be more credible. At the same time, your episcopal service asks you to “account for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet 3:15) to those in search of faith or of the ultimate meaning of life, in whom “grace works in an unseen way. Christ died for all men and the ultimate vocation of man is in fact one, and divine” (cf. Gaudium et Spes, n. 22). I encourage you, therefore, to commit yourselves so that all, according to their different ages and conditions of life, may be presented systematically and organically with the essentials of the faith, in order to respond to the questions posed by our globalized and technological world. The words of the Servant of God Paul VI are still relevant. He affirms: “to evangelize man's culture and cultures (not in a purely decorative way, as it were, by applying a thin veneer, but in a vital way, in depth and right to their very roots)... always taking the person as one’s starting-point and always coming back to the relationships of people among themselves and with God” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, n. 20). Fundamental for this purpose is the Catechism of the Catholic Church — reliable norms for the teaching of the faith and the communion in the one creed. The reality in which we live demands that Christian have a solid formation!

The faith calls for credible witnesses, who trust in the Lord and entrust themselves to him to be “a living sign of the presence of the Risen Lord in the world” (Apostolic Letter Porta Fidei, n. 15). The bishop, as the first witness of the faith, accompanies believers on their way, offering them the example of a life lived in trusting abandonment to God. Therefore, in order to be an authoritative teacher and herald of the faith, he must live in the presence of the Lord, as a man of God. Indeed he cannot be at the service of men without first being a servant of God. Your personal commitment to holiness sees that you absorb the Word of God in prayer every day and nourishes you with the Eucharist, to draw from these two tables the life-line of your ministry. May love urge you to be close to your priests, with that fatherly love which knows how to sustain, encourage and forgive; they are your primary and invaluable collaborators in carrying God to people and people to God. Likewise, the love of the Good Shepherd will make you attentive to the poor and the suffering, supporting and consoling them, and guiding those who have lost the meaning of life. Be particularly close to families: to parents, helping them to be the first educators of the faith for their children; to children and young people, that they may build their life on the solid rock of friendship with Christ. Take special care of seminarians, be concerned for their human, spiritual and pastoral formation so that communities may have mature and joyous Pastors and reliable leaders in the faith.

Dear Brothers, the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy: “aim at righteousness, faith, love, and peace... the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, forbearing, correcting his opponents with gentleness” (2 Tim 2:22-25). As I recall these words for me and for you, I warmly impart to each one of you my Apostolic Blessing, so that the Churches entrusted to you, impelled by the breath of the Holy Spirit, may grow in faith and proclaim it with new zeal on the paths of history.

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Bishops of the Episcopal Conference France on their ad Limina visit, Benedict XVI, 21 September 2012

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO A GROUP OF BISHOPS OF

THE EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE OF FRANCE

ON THEIR "AD LIMINA" VISIT

Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo, Hall of the Swiss

Friday, 21 September 2012

Your Eminence,

Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,

I thank you, Your Eminence, for your words. It is the first time we have met since my Apostolic Visit in 2008 to your beautiful country that is dear to my heart. At that time I chose to emphasize the Christian roots of France which welcomed the Gospel message from the very outset. This ancient heritage is a firm foundation. On it you can base your efforts to continue tirelessly to proclaim the word of God in the spirit that enlivens the new evangelization, which is the theme of the upcoming Synod Assembly. France has such a long spiritual and missionary tradition that Blessed John Paul II described as an “educator of peoples” (Homily, Le Bourget, 30 June 1980). Today the challenges of a broadly secularized society serve as an invitation to seek a response with courage and optimism by proposing the incorruptible newness of the Gospel with boldness and creativity.

It is in this perspective that I proposed the Year of Faith as an incentive to the faithful around the world in honour of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. “The Year of Faith is a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Saviour of the world” (Porta Fidei, n. 6). The figure of the Good Shepherd, who knows his sheep, goes in search of the one that is lost and loves them so much that he lays down his life for them is one of the most evocative scenes in the Gospel (cf. Jn 10). It applies in the first place to bishops, in their concern for all the Christian faithful, but equally to priests, their assistants. The mountain of work that burdens your priests constitutes a greater obligation “to take the greatest interest you are capable of in their welfare both temporal and spiritual” (Presbyterorum Ordinis, n. 7). For you have been made responsible for the sanctification of your priests, knowing well, as I said to you in Lourdes, that “their spiritual life is the foundation of their apostolic life” and, subsequently, the guarantee of the fruitfulness of their entire ministry. The diocesan bishop is therefore required to show special solicitude to his priests (cf. CIC, can. 384) and especially to those who have recently been ordained or are in need or elderly.

I cannot but encourage you in your efforts never to tire of making them feel welcome, to have a father and mother’s heart for them and to “treat [them] as... sons and friends” (Lumen Gentium, n. 28). You will take care to make available to them the means they need to keep up their spiritual and intellectual life and also to find support in fraternal life. I acknowledge the steps you have taken in this regard, which are, as it were, an extension of the Year for Priests, placed under the patronage of the Holy Curé d’Ars. The Year afforded an excellent opportunity to contribute to developing this spiritual aspect of the priest’s life. Persevering in this direction cannot but be of great benefit to the sanctification of the entire People of God. There is no doubt that in our day, the Gospel workers are few. Hence it is urgent to ask the Father to send more labourers to his harvest (cf. Lk 10:2). It is necessary to pray and to have prayers said for this intention and I encourage you to pay the greatest attention to the training of seminarians.

You wish that the regrouping you have set up in the parishes will guarantee the quality of celebrations and a rich community experience, while calling for a re-evaluation of Sunday. You pointed this out in your note on “Lay People in the Church’s Mission in France”. On various occasions I myself have had the opportunity to stress this essential point for all the baptized. Yet the solution of the pastoral problems that arise in the diocese must not be limited to organizational matters, however important these may be. There is a risk of putting the accent on the quest for efficiency, with a sort of “bureaucracy of pastoral work”, focusing on structures, organization and programmes. These can become “self-referential” for the exclusive use of the members of these structures and will then have little impact on the life of Christians who have drifted away from regular practice. Evangelization, on the contrary, needs to start from the encounter with the Lord in a dialogue founded on prayer. It must then focus on the witness we must bear in order to help our contemporaries to recognize and rediscover signs of God’s presence.

I also know that times for adoration are proposed to the faithful, more or less everywhere in your country. I rejoice deeply at this and I encourage you to make Christ’s presence in the Eucharist the source and summit of Christian life (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 11). Thus it is always necessary in pastoral reorganization to confirm the role of priests. “Because it is joined with the episcopal order the office of priests shares in the authority by which Christ himself builds up and sanctifies and rules his Body (Presbyterorum Ordinis, n. 2).

I applaud the generosity of lay people who qualify for admittance to ecclesial offices and functions (cf. CIC can. 228 § 1), thereby demonstrating an availability for which the Church is deeply grateful. It is nevertheless right to remember that the specific task of the lay faithful is the Christian animation of the temporal situations in which they act on their own initiative and autonomously, in the light of faith and of the Church’s teaching (cf. Gaudium et Spes, n. 43). It is therefore necessary to ensure respect for the difference between the common priesthood of all the faithful and the ministerial priesthood of those who have been ordained for the service of the community. This difference is not only in degree but also in nature (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 10). Moreover, it is necessary to preserve fidelity to the integral deposit of the faith as it is taught by the authentic Magisterium and professed by the whole Church. In fact, “profession of faith is an act both personal and communitarian. It is the Church that is the primary subject of faith” (Porta Fidei, n. 10). The loftiest expression of this profession of faith is in the liturgy. It is important that this cooperation always take place in the context of ecclesial communion around the bishop, who is its guarantor. It is a communion for which the Church shows herself as one, holy, catholic and apostolic.

This year you will be celebrating the sixth centenary of the birth of Joan of Arc. In speaking of her I emphasized that “one of the most original aspects of this young woman’s holiness was precisely this link between mystical experience and political mission. The years of her hidden life and her interior development were followed by the brief but intense two years of her public life: a year of action and a year of passion” (General Audience, 26 January 2011). In St Joan you have a model of secular holiness at the service of the common good.

I should also like to emphasize the interdependence that exists between “the progress of the human person and the advance of society itself” (Gaudium et Spes, n. 25), since “the family... is the foundation of society” (ibid., n. 52). It is threatened in many areas, consequent on a conception of human nature that has proved defective. To defend life and the family in society is in no way old-fashioned; rather, it is prophetic, because it means promoting values that make possible the complete fulfilment of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26). Here we have a real challenge to take up. Indeed, “the good that the Church and society as a whole expect from marriage and from the family founded upon marriage is so great as to call for full pastoral commitment to this particular area. Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself” (Sacramentum Caritatis, n. 29).

Besides, the diocesan bishop “must protect the unity of the universal Church” (CIC, can. 392 § 1) in the portion of the People of God entrusted to his care, even though different ways of understanding are legitimately expressed within it, which deserve to be the object of the same pastoral solicitude. The special expectations of each new generation need to be offered an appropriate catechesis so that they may find their proper place in the believing community. I was glad to meet a large number of young French men and women during the World Youth Day in Madrid, together with many of their Pastors, a sign of a new impetus of faith which opens the door to hope. I encourage you to continue in your commitment which is so promising, despite the difficulties.

To conclude, I would like once again to address my encouragement to you for the Diaconia 2013 initiative, through which you wish to stimulate your diocesan and local communities, as well as every member of the faithful to restore to the heart of ecclesial dynamism their service to their brethren, particularly the frailest. May the service of their brothers and sisters, rooted in the love of God, inspire in all the members of your dioceses the concern to contribute, each one in accordance with his/her own capacity, to making humanity one brotherly and supportive family in Christ!

Dear Brothers in the Episcopate, I know of your love and of your service to the Church and I thank God for the effort you make every day to proclaim the word of life of the Gospel and make it effective in your communities. Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Patroness of your beloved country, and of the Holy Co-Patronnesses, St Joan of Arc and St Thérèse of Lisieux, may God bless you and bless France!

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Augustinus - A Mosaic of Sound Concert offered by the Diocese of Würzburg, Benedict XVI, 26 September 2012

CONCERT PERFORMANCE OF "AUGUSTINUS - A MOSAIC OF SOUND"

OFFERED BY THE DIOCESE OF WÜRZBURG

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, Castel Gandolfo

Wednesday, 26 September 2012

Dear Cardinals,

Dear Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,

Dear Bishop Hofmann,

Dear Bishop Scheele,

Distinguished Musicians,

Dear Guests from Würzburg and Franconia,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The performance of a work on St Augustine at Castel Gandolfo is without any doubt a unique event. I warmly thank all those who have made this event possible this evening. My thanks go in particular to you, dear Bishop Hofmann, to the Augustinus-Institut and to the Diocese of Würzburg for the gift you have made me of this concert in the context of the International Symposium on Augustine that is being held at the Augustinianum in Rome. I thank in particular the musicians — the choirmaster, Prof. Martin Berger; the soloists; the Würzburg Cathedral Chamber Choir; and all the musicians — for their masterful performance. To all of you, a heartfelt “Vergelt’s Gott” [may God reward you].

The title of this work on Augustine describes it as “a mosaic of sounds”. In seven musical images, composed in turn of various voices, songs and melodies, an impressive portrait of St Augustine is painted in sounds. It is a mosaic. Several pieces sparkle depending on where the light falls and where the spectator stands, but only in the whole is his image revealed. This mosaic symbolizes the greatness and complexity of Augustine the man and theologian that escapes any classification or arrangement which tends to give excessive prominence to individual aspects. This composition, therefore, tells us that if we really want to know Augustine we must never lose sight of his thought as a whole, of his opus and of his personality.

The great Latin Father of the Church has never ceased to be up to date. Once again, the work on Augustine [that we have just heard] has also shown us this. The seven images have acquainted us with the Bishop of Hippo in the language of contemporary music. It must be pointed out that they did so without making the protagonist appear. Yet it is through his “absence” that Augustine makes himself present and is “timeless”. The struggle of human beings, their search for what is closest to them, for the truth, for God, is valid in every era. It does not only concern a rhetorician and a grammar master in the turmoil and upheaval of late antiquity, but also of every person in every age. And thus we find at the end of the work the famous words introducing the Confessions that rang out, fading into several languages: “Magnus es, Domine, et laudibilis valde: magna virtus tua et sapientiae tuae non est numerous.... Quaerentes enim inveniunt eum et invenientes laudabunt eum” — Great are you, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is your power, and of your wisdom there is no end.... And those who seek the Lord shall praise him. For those who seek shall find him, and those who find him shall praise him” (I, 1, 1).

I extend my gratitude once again to the organizers of this evening dedicated to St Augustine and to the musicians and to everyone who contributed to this concert. Thank you for your generous offering and for the precious gift. I also greet all those who are taking part in the International Symposium on St Augustine which is being held in these days at the Augustinianum, the headquarters of the Patristic Institute in Rome. May your congress on the relationship between cultures in De Civitate Dei make a fruitful contribution to acquiring a deeper knowledge of the thought of the holy Bishop of Hippo and to recognizing his timeliness for the issues and challenges we face today. I warmly impart my Apostolic Blessing to you all.

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Farewell to the Communtiy of Castel Gandolfo, Benedict XVI, 29 September 2012

MEETING WITH A DELEGATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CASTEL GANDOLFO,

CIVIL AND MILITARY AUTHORITIES, RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES

AND EMPLOYEES OF THE PONTIFICAL VILLAS

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Hall of the Swiss, Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo

Saturday, 29 September 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am pleased to welcome you at the end of my summer stay in Castel Gandolfo. It has enabled me to enjoy a period for study, prayer and rest, during which I have noted with admiration the solicitude and care of all the staff engaged in guaranteeing assistance and hospitality to me and to my co-workers, as well as to the guests and pilgrims who have come here to meet the Successor of Peter. I express my deep gratitude to each and every one for your dedication during these months. In the summer period Castel Gandolfo is like a “second See” of the Bishop of Rome, which vies with the “former” one in its capacity to welcome the visitors and pilgrims who come to pray the Sunday Angelus or to take part in the Wednesday General Audiences.

I first of all greet with affection and gratitude Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano. I greet the Parish Priest of Castel Gandolfo and his co-workers, together with the religious and lay communities resident in the area, both male and female. I ask you all to continue to make me feel your spiritual closeness even after my departure, as you have done during this period of my stay here. I thank to you for this, while I encourage you to persevere with trust and joy in your service to Christ and to his Gospel.

I address a cordial greeting, through the Mayor, to the civil authorities of Castel Gandolfo. As I thank you for the willingness and concern you have shown, I assure you of my remembrance in prayer for your community as a whole, and in particular for the families in difficulty and for the sick.

I would then like to extend my greeting to those in charge of the various Services of the Governorate: the Police Force, the Garden Services, the Technical and Health-Care Services, as well as the other corps which guaranteed the smooth course of all the events: the Pontifical Swiss Guard, the Staff and Officers of the Italian Security Forces and the Officers and Airmen of the 31st Squadron of the Air Force. May the Lord reward you all with abundant heavenly gifts and keep and bless you and your families.

Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you for coming to this meeting today. The best way to remember each other is in prayer: I will not fail to pray for you and for your intentions, and I am confident that you will do likewise. I entrust each one of you and your relatives and friends to the Virgin Mary, whom we venerate in the month of October as Queen of the Holy Rosary. May she always, with her loving gaze, accompany and sustain our footsteps on the road of justice and truth. With these sentiments I impart a heartfelt Apostolic Blessing to each one of you present here and to all your loved ones.

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Farewell to the Personnel of the Pontifical Villas, Benedict XVI, 28 September 2012

FAREWELL TO THE PERSONNEL OF THE PONTIFICAL VILLAS

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo

Friday, 28 September 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Everything in this world passes! Every thing that begins, even the most positive and beautiful thing, inevitably brings with it its own conclusion. So it is for the calm and peaceful period that I have spent here with you in the beautiful setting of Castel Gandolfo, where I was once again able to breath a family atmosphere of great warmth. Our meeting, that has now become a pleasant custom, gives me the opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your generous service in this Papal Residence.

I address a special and affectionate greeting first of all to Dr Saverio Petrillo, General Director of the Pontifical Villas, with my gratitude for his courteous words to me also on behalf of you who are present here. A fond greeting to all the employees and to their families. May the Lord, full of goodness, bless you and keep you in his love!

The month of September, now almost behind us, is always a positive period of revitalization after the summer holidays: for your children and young people school has begun again; for all of you work has resumed, busier and more demanding than ever. In the Church, too, for many Christian communities scattered throughout the world, what God the Father is giving us is the season of a new pastoral year that is beginning. Moreover we also see certain very important events at hand: I am thinking of my upcoming visit to Loreto, with which I wish to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the pilgrimage Blessed John XXIII made to this Marian Shrine to entrust to Mary the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council; I am thinking of the Synod of Bishops which will reflect on the New Evangelization today in the Church and in the world; and lastly — on the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of the Council — of the opening of the Year of Faith, which I have proclaimed to help every human being open his or her heart and life to the Lord Jesus and to his word of salvation.

I thus entrust to your prayers, dear friends, these important moments in the Church we are called to live out. May the Lord help us, that they may be a means to our growth in faith, to our rediscovering Jesus as the true and precious pearl, the treasure of our life. May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church and our Mother, whom we shall confidently invoke during this coming month of October with the daily recitation of the Holy Rosary, always protect you and sustain you in carrying out all the good intentions you carry in your heart.

May my Blessing also be with you, which I impart with affection to each one of you, to your families and to all your loved ones, especially the sick and the suffering. [Blessing] Goodbye!

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

General Audiences

General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, 26 September 2012

BENEDICT XVI

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Saint Peter's Square

Wednesday, 26 September 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In these months we have journeyed in the light of the word of God so as to learn to pray ever more authentically, looking at several important Old Testament figures, at the Psalms, at the Letters of St Paul and at the Book of Revelation, but, especially, at the unique and fundamental experience of Jesus in his relationship with the heavenly Father. In fact, only in Christ can a person be united to God with the depth and intimacy of a child in his relationship with a father who loves him, only in Christ can we address God in all truth, calling him affectionately, “Abba! Father!”. Like the Apostles, we too have repeated in these past few weeks and repeat to Jesus today: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk 11:1).

Furthermore, to learn to live more intensely our personal relationship with God, we have learned to invoke the Holy Spirit, the first gift of the Risen One to believers, because it is he who “helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought” (Rom 8:26), St Paul says, and we know how right he is.

At this point, after a long series of Catecheses on prayer in Scripture, we can ask ourselves; how can I let myself be formed by the Holy Spirit and thereby become able to enter into the atmosphere of God, of prayer with God? What is this school in which he teaches me to pray, comes to help me in my attempts to speak to God correctly? The first school of prayer — as we have seen in these weeks — is the Word of God, Sacred Scripture. Sacred Scripture is an ongoing dialogue between God and man, a progressive dialogue in which God shows himself ever closer, in which we can become ever better acquainted with his face, his voice, his being; and man learns to accept to know God and to talk to God. Therefore, in these weeks, in reading Sacred Scripture we have sought to learn from Scripture, from this ongoing dialogue, how we may enter into contact with God.

However there is yet another precious “place”, another precious “source” for developing in prayer, a source of living water that is very closely related to the previous one. I am referring to the liturgy, which is a privileged context in which God speaks to each one of us, here and now, and awaits our answer.

What is the liturgy? If we open the Catechism of the Catholic Church — ever an invaluable and, I would say, indispensable aid — we can read that the word “liturgy” originally meant: a “service in the name of/on behalf of the people” (n. 1069). If Christian theology made use of this word of the Greek world, it obviously did so thinking of the new People of God born from Christ who opened his arms on the Cross to unite human beings in the peace of the one God. A “service on behalf of the people”, a people which did not exist on its own, but was formed through the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ. Indeed, the People of God does not exist through ties of kinship, place or country. Rather it is always born from the action of the Son of God and from the communion with the Father that he obtains for us.

The Catechism also indicates that “in Christian tradition (the word ‘liturgy’) means the participation of the People of God ‘in the work of God’” (n. 1069), because the People of God as such exists only through God’s action.

The actual development of the Second Vatican Council reminds us of this. It began its work 50 years ago with the discussion of the draft on the Sacred Liturgy, which was then solemnly promulgated on 4 December 1963, the first text that the Council approved. That the Document on the Liturgy was the first document to be promulgated by the conciliar assembly was considered by some to have happened by chance.

Among the many projects, the text on the Sacred Liturgy seems to have been the least controversial. For this very reason it could serve as a sort of exercise in learning conciliar methodology. However, there is no doubt that what at first sight might seem a coincidence, also turned out to be the best decision, on the basis of the hierarchy of the subjects and of the most important duties of the Church. In fact, by starting with the theme of the “liturgy”, the Council shed very clear light on the primacy of God and his indisputable priority. God in the very first place: this itself explains to us the Council’s decision to start with the liturgy. Wherever the gaze on God is not conclusive, everything else loses its orientation. The fundamental criterion for the liturgy is its orientation to God, enabling us to take part in his action itself.

However, we might ask ourselves: what is this work of God in which we are called to take part? The answer that the Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy gives us is apparently twofold. In n. 5 it points out, in fact, that the works of God are his actions in history which bring us salvation and which culminated in the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ; but in n. 7, the same Constitution defines the celebration of the liturgy as an “action of Christ”. In fact these two meanings are inseparably linked. If we ask ourselves who saves the world and man, the only answer is: Jesus of Nazareth, Lord and Christ, the Crucified and Risen One. And where does the Mystery of the death and Resurrection of Christ that brings salvation become real for us, for me, today? The answer is: in Christ’s action through the Church, in the liturgy, and, especially, in the sacrament of the Eucharist, which makes present the sacrificial offering of the Son of God who has redeemed us; in the sacrament of Reconciliation, in which one moves from the death of sin to new life; and in the other sacramental acts that sanctify us (cf. Presbyterorum Ordinis, n. 5). Thus the Paschal Mystery of the death and Resurrection of Christ is the centre of the liturgical theology of the Council.

Let us take another step forward and ask ourselves: how does the enactment of Christ’s Paschal Mystery become possible? Twenty-five years after the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium Blessed Pope John Paul II, wrote: “In order to reenact his Paschal Mystery, Christ is ever present in his Church, especially in liturgical celebrations. Hence the Liturgy is the privileged place for the encounter of Christians with God and the One whom he has sent, Jesus Christ (cf. Jn 17:3)” (Vicesimus quintus annus, n. 7). Along the same lines we read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “sacramental celebration is a meeting of God's children with their Father, in Christ and the Holy Spirit; this meeting takes the form of a dialogue, through actions and words” (n. 1153). Therefore the first requirement for a good liturgical celebration is that there should be prayer and a conversation with God, first of all listening and consequently a response. St Benedict, speaking in his Rule of prayer in the Psalms, pointed out to his monks: mens concordet voci, “the mind must be in accord with the voice”. The Saint teaches that in the prayers of the Psalms words must precede our thought. It does not usually happen like this because we have to think and then what we have thought is converted into words. Here, instead, in the liturgy, the opposite is true, words come first. God has given us the word and the sacred liturgy offers us words; we must enter into the words, into their meaning and receive them within us, we must attune ourselves to these words; in this way we become children of God, we become like God. As Sacrosanctum Concilium recalls, “in order that the liturgy may be able to produce its full effects it is necessary that the faithful come to it with proper dispositions, that their minds be attuned to their voices, and that they cooperate with heavenly grace lest they receive it in vain” (n. 11). A fundamental, primary element of the dialogue with God in the liturgy is the agreement between what we say with our lips and what we carry in our hearts. By entering into the words of the great history of prayer, we ourselves are conformed to the spirit of these words and are enabled to speak to God.

In line with this I would just like to mention one of the moments during the liturgy itself; it calls us and helps us to find this harmonization, this conformation of ourselves to what we hear, say and do in the celebration of the liturgy. I am referring to the invitation that the celebrant expresses before the Eucharistic Prayer: “Sursum corda”, let us lift up our hearts above the confusion of our apprehensions, our desires, our narrowness, our distraction. Our hearts, our innermost selves, must open in docility to the word of God and must be recollected in the Church’s prayer, to receive her guidance to God from the very words that we hear and say. The eyes of the heart must be turned to the Lord, who is in our midst: this is a fundamental disposition.

Whenever we live out the liturgy with this basic approach, our hearts are, as it were, removed from the force of gravity which has pulled them downwards and are inwardly uplifted, towards the truth, towards love, towards God. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “in the sacramental liturgy of the Church, the mission of Christ and of the Holy Spirit proclaims, makes present, and communicates the mystery of salvation, which is continued in the heart that prays. The spiritual writers sometimes compare the heart to an altar” (n. 2655): altare Dei est cor nostrum.

Dear friends, we celebrate and live the liturgy well only if we remain in a prayerful attitude, and not if we want “to do something”, to make ourselves seen or to act, but if we direct our hearts to God and remain in a prayerful attitude, uniting ourselves with the Mystery of Christ and with his conversation as Son with the Father. God himself teaches us to pray, St Paul says (cf. Rom 8:26). He himself gave us the appropriate words with which to address him, words that we find in the Psalter, in the great orations of the sacred liturgy and in the Eucharistic celebration itself. Let us pray the Lord to be every day more aware of the fact that the liturgy is an action of God and of man; prayer that wells up from the Holy Spirit and from us, wholly directed to the Father, in union with the Son of God made man (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2564). Many thanks.

To special groups:

I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims present, especially those from England, Scotland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Canada and the United States. Upon all of you, I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace.

Lastly, a thought for the young people, the sick and the newlyweds. Today we are celebrating the Memorial of the Holy Doctors, Sts Cosmas and Damian. Dear young people, learn to heal every suffering of your brethren with affection and acceptance; dear sick people, the best treatment for every sickness is trust in God to whom we speak in prayer; and you, dear newlyweds, take care of each other on your journey in marriage.

© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Table of Contents

Introduction

Index of Source Links

Angelus

Angelus, 30 September 2012, Benedict XVI

Homilies

Celebration of the Mass in Our Lady of Loreto Square, Homily of Pope Benedict XVI, 4 October 2012

Holy Mass for the opening of the Synod of Bishops, Homily of Benedict XVI, 7 October 2012

Speeches

To Bishops taking part in the meeting organized by the Congregations for Bishops and for the Eastern Churches, Benedict XVI, 20 September 2012

Bishops of the Episcopal Conference France on their ad Limina visit, Benedict XVI, 21 September 2012

Farewell to the Communtiy of Castel Gandolfo, Benedict XVI, 29 September 2012

Farewell to the Personnel of the Pontifical Villas, Benedict XVI, 28 September 2012

General Audiences

General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, 26 September 2012