Pope's Resignation Reveals the Thoughts of Hearts
Dear Family:
In this time of transition for the Church I want to remember with you our beloved Benedict XVI. Also we must seek God's wisdom to interpret the signs of the times and prophecy without being swayed by the currents of the media and public opinion.
At the end is a prayer for the conclave and our next pope.A Sign Spoken Against
Simeon said to Mary: “Behold, this child (Christ) is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against” (Luke 2:34). His prophecy is again fulfilled today. The vicar of Christ is indeed “a sign spoken against”. By their own words each is deciding its own destiny. “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mt 12:34).
The prophecy also involves those who, like Mary, are united with Christ (and His vicar): “And a sword will pierce through your own soul also” (Luke 2:34). This means that the faithful who deeply love the Lord will suffer the Cross with Him. They will suffer for good reason: “That thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34). Those who have suffered with our beloved pope the battles of his pontificate also suffer at this time as we say goodbye. We suffer the piercing from a world that has rejected him and in so doing has rejected Christ. Suffering with Christ and the pope is a blessing because it is purifying and strengthening the faithful remnant, bringing us into the heart of Jesus and thus preparing us for the difficult times ahead.
We have been given us an extraordinary string of holy popes and thus a precious time of grace to be gathered into the safety of the Church, an opportunity to hear the truth, to repent and turn to the gospel.
How have we responded?O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, `Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' -Mt 23:37-39
Opposition against Benedict XVI
All recent popes have suffered greatly due to the growing demands that the Church change her teaching and adapt to the world. What the media dreams of is a pope that would embrace abortion, women priests, gay marriage, married priests, sexual promiscuity and other “reforms”. Many Catholics agree. Thank God that He did not establish the Church as a democracy! Cardinal Ratzinger is particularly hated precisely because of his brilliant exposition and steadfast witness of the truth. At the beginning of his pontificate he described the liberal demands as the “dictatorship of relativism” and at his first mass as pope he said: "Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves."
They widely depicted him as a cold hearted dictator set upon destroying the hopes for the “renewal” of the church. He was called the “Panzer-Cardinal”, a “Rottweiler” and many other things. Once the humble and gentle image of Benedict became well known they could not sustain those insults. His enemies were confounded. Not able to refute his arguments they had to resort to distortion of truth, mockery, ridicule and bitter hostility. At times they had to grind their teeth and plug their ears as did the persecutors of St Steven the first martyr. Still, they continued to seek ways to attack him for his orthodoxy. While at the beginning they accused him of being to strict at the end they accused him of being to soft against the scandals in the Church, scandals that he, more than any other, fought to correct.
In the wake of the pope's resignation, Fr. Lombardi, spokesman for the Holy Father, addressed the “profoundly unjust” media coverage.
In the majority of cases, those who present themselves as judges, making heavy moral judgments, do not, in truth, have any authority to do so. Those who consider money, sex and power before all else and are used to reading diverse realities from these perspectives, are unable to see anything else, even in the Church, because they are unable to gaze toward the heights or descend to the depths in order to grasp the spiritual dimensions and reasons of existence. This results in a description of the Church and of many of its members that is profoundly unjust. (Fr. Lombardi, Feb 23, 2013)
The pope was also opposed by traditionalists within the Church. These are Catholics who, all faithful Catholics, suffer seeing the infiltration of secularism in the Church and the related abuses. The problem is that they blame the II Vatican Council and the post Conciliar popes and thus reject all the authentic reforms. They lost their trust in the Holy Spirit's guidance through the popes and the bishops. Instead they try to re-enact a pre-Vatican Church and entrench themselves for security in a rigid observance of law.
The pope tirelessly reached out to all factions seeking to bring them to the heart of the Church. He exposed the errors of the liberals by teaching that truth cannot change, that truth comes from God and not from the tides of popular opinion. He also addressed the concerns of the traditionalists while reaffirming that the Holy Spirit continues to guide the Church and to develop our understanding doctrine.
He insisted that Vatican II was a point of reference for the authentic “renewal which is always needed in the Church” but it has to be interpreted in continuity with the tradition of the Church.
I believe the pope was very successful in the sense that Jesus is successful. His detractors predicted that his audiences would be empty, they claimed that he had no charism to attract the youth. Soon they were proven wrong. Attendance to papal audiences was greater than ever and World Youth Days were a great success.
Benedict XVI was not afraid to face great dangers such as his visit to Turkey and Lebanon at times when the tension with Islam was so great, or when he was threatened with arrest upon landing in England. All his visits turned out to be amazing displays of the power and wisdom of God. Yet his detractors never had the humility to recognize they have been wrong.
There is a reason for the great hostility against the pope. The minions of the world realize that the Church is the only powerful force blocking their plans to establish a godless society. The pope is the only moral authority that can speak to the world. He knew that his job is not to tell people what they want to hear but to take them to the Lord.
Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. -Mk 12:4
For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. -2 Thessalonians 2:7
Pope Benedict did not change the world - love and truth are never imposed - but he was the good shepherd that we could trust to defend us from the wolves that seek to secularize the Church. He did so by exposing the lies of relativism and courageously teaching the truth of the Gospel though it was unpopular to do so. He healed the wounds caused by sin and scandal, he helped restore our Catholic identity by linking it solidly to Jesus crucified. Benedict did as a pope what he had done all his life. With words and example, with depth and humility, he showed us the path of union to the heart of Christ. He moved the hearts of those who would listen. These are some testimonies:
Orthodox Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow paid tribute to Pope Benedict:
At a time when the ideology of permissiveness and moral relativism is trying to cause people to lose moral values, you boldly raised your voice in defense of evangelical ideals and high human dignity, calling on people to become free from sin.
César Velá
squez, Colombian ambassador to the Holy See said of Pope Benedict:His gaze is serene and transparent. The gaze of someone that loves you and expects much from you with kindness. I believe that his pontificate was marked by this gaze. Firm in doctrine, clear in his arguments, serene in his presentations and kind in his sincere dialogue.
With his life of prayer, simplicity and sound doctrine he made the content of the faith accessible to all. He was not a pope of useless grandstanding... He preferred the direct encounter, one to one. I remember the three times we met and he spoke of respect for life and the defense of the family. He insisted: We must remember that life begins at conception and ends at natural death and reaffirm that the family should be made up of a man, a woman and children.
Theologian Scott Hahn
He has been part of my life since early in my adulthood. I discovered Joseph Ratzinger’s work while I was still a Presbyterian minister. His books were a secret pleasure, and they showed me (and later my wife, Kimberly) the way home to Rome.
As a Catholic, I was profoundly influenced by his biblical theology and his use of “covenant” as an interpretive key to unlock the mysteries of faith and the secrets of Scripture. I’ve written many books, but few authorial moments have pleased me so much as the day I presented the Holy Father with a copy of my book Covenant Communion: Biblical Theology of Benedict XVI
.On the morning of Feb. 11, and well into the evening, I found almost unbearable the thought of this man fading from my life. And I felt this, I believe, in communion with millions of Catholics. He has always been there for us. He has always been present. Pope Benedict has been a presence in the world — a witness, a judge, a counselor. A father. Our Holy Father.
I Wish to Address the Question of the Pope's Resignation.
John Paul II was criticized for not renouncing; Benedict XVI is now criticized for having done so. This reminds me of the gospel:
We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds. -Mt 11:17-18
Both Saint John the Baptist and Jesus were obedient to God who asked each to act in a different way. Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI also obeyed God's will which was different for each. They are two holy popes with two different personal vocations. The first was called to teach us the value of suffering as a father until the end. The second taught us humility to recognize our limitations and frailty and to step down for another to continue the ministry. He will continue to offer his life for the Church dedicated to prayer.
In the book length interview published in 2010 under the title Light World, Pope Benedict speaks, like no other pope ever has, about many controversial and difficult issues affecting the Church. He said:
If a pope realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically, and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign" -Pope Benedict, Light of the World, p. 30.
Benedict's statement contrasts with Pope John Paul II decision not renounce the papacy because, as he saw it, he could not come down from the cross. Some then ask: Did Benedict then choose to come down from the cross? This kind of question betrays a mind that is out of touch with Pope Benedict and the radical fidelity to Christ and the Gospel that has characterized his entire life. He continues to be crucified with Christ but God has called him to a different way of the cross than John Paul II. Who can dare to judge a man of his holiness, wisdom and experience?
Pope Benedict's physical ailments, at 86 years of age, were beyond what we knew. He was a year older than Pope John Paul II was at his death. He had been over 30 years serving the Church at the Vatican, carrying an extremely heavy load. If John Paul II could stay in the papacy until his death it was in large part possible by increasingly relying upon Cardinal Ratzinger.
On Feb 11, the feast of the first apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes and World Day of the Sick, the pope departed humbly admitting that his own frailty. Though he still had the mental acuity and did not have a terminal illness, he realized that he lacked the strength to keep up with the exhausting schedule and with the battles that lie ahead.
Benedict XVI uses a pacemaker. Peter Seewald, the German journalist who has collaborated closely with the pope, has said that the Pontiff’s health is worsening rapidly. Recently he found him exhausted and said that the pope is losing his hearing. He also said that the pope has lost a great deal of weight. The Journalist Marco Tossatti has said that the pope has experienced dangerous spikes in his blood pressure and has been advised by his doctor to avoid air travel. In addition Pope Benedict suffered from insomnia, has almost completely lost vision in his left eye and has fallen out of bed several times. >>>
The picture on the left was taken the day of his election; the on the right at the end of his pontificate. Look what these eight years have done to our beloved father!
I believe the pope's renunciation announcement
>>> is indeed for reasons of health but it also carries a very strongly prophetic message.Benedict XVI said: “I am well aware that this ministry (papacy), due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering” This part of his statement coincides with John Paul II's position. But Benedict XVI then adds new considerations that pertain to the times we are living:
In today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary.
The pope, referring to “today's world”, alludes to a new period in world history characterized by “rapid changes”. The Church has always faced “questions of deep relevance for the life of faith”, but Pope Benedict saw that the Church is now so powerfully “shaken” by them as to warrant greater demands and thus adjustments in the papal office. This is not life as usual. The pope must be strong both physically and mentally to face these times. This confirms the urgent appeals throughout his papacy and the increasing prophetic sense that we are entering critical times. We all must prepare for the new trials and attacks upon our faith.
The Power of Prayer and the Hidden Force
The pope has given us another important teaching: The power of prayer. He will live in prayer at the Vatican in a cloistered monastery called Mater Ecclesiae. Like Moses, he will go up the mountain to dedicate himself to prayer while the new pope, like Joshua, fights the battle below (Cf. Ex 17:9).
The Lord is calling me “to scale the mountain”, to devote myself even more to prayer and meditation. But this does not mean abandoning the Church; indeed, if God asks me this it is precisely so that I may continue to serve her with the same dedication and the same love with which I have tried to do so until now, but in a way more suited to my age and strength. -Angelus, Feb. 24, 2013.
Perhaps Pope Benedict was revealing the secret of his own heart when, in 2008, he spoke about Pope Gregory the Great:Gregory remained a simple monk in his heart and therefore was decidedly opposed to great titles. He wanted to be—and this is his expression—servus servorum Dei. Coined by him, this phrase was not just a pious formula on his lips but a true manifestation of his way of living and acting. He was intimately struck by the humility of God, who in Christ made himself our servant. He washed and washes our dirty feet. Therefore, he was convinced that a Bishop, above all, should imitate this humility of God and follow Christ in this way. His desire was to live truly as a monk, in permanent contact with the Word of God, but for love of God he knew how to make himself the servant of all in a time full of tribulation and suffering. He knew how to make himself the “servant of the servants.” Precisely because he was this, he is great and also shows us the measure of true greatness. -Audience, 2008
It is interesting that the same Pope Gregory the Great wrote in his Rule of Shepherds: "He must be a man whose aims are not thwarted by the frailty of his body."
Now Pope Benedict XVI is becoming a member of the hidden force. He is now more powerful than ever! He knows this is the way to conquer the enemy! At the Vatican we will have a pope emeritus dedicated to prayer and a new pope in charge of governing the Church! What better way to prepare for battle?
"Why could we not cast it out?" And he said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting." Mk 9:28-29
The Importance of Prophecy
Prophecy has always been an important channel by which God speaks to man and God continues to speak to us through the saints, specially through the Blessed Mother. They have been preparing us for times of of trial and tribulation.
To be prophets is part of being a Christian. In baptism we were all anointed to be prophets, that is, to speak and witness the truth of God. Some have a special gift of prophecy and are well known, such Benedict XVI. Others are known only to a few.
When the Lord speaks a prophetic word to a person it is called a "private revelation". I believe that in our community we have received very clear prophetic messages that are in line with what the Lord is saying to the Church.
The Catechism teaches about private revelation:
Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private" revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church. (#67).
Notice that private revelations do not belong to the deposit of faith. They cannot improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation. The catechism, however, teaches that they have a role: “to help live more fully by it (revelation) in a certain period of history”. This is indeed a very important role, especially in times like ours when living the true faith is greatly opposed. Christ and his saints are present to help us. St. Paul teaches us to be open to the Spirit and at the same time to be careful not to be fooled by the enemy.
Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything; hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil -1 Th 5:19–22.
The greatest prophet of our times is the Blessed Mother, who came to us in La Salette, Lourdes, Fatima, Akita-Japan and many other places. In many of the approved apparitions our Mothers calls urgently to repentance to avoid severe punishments upon the world. These warnings have been repeatedly confirmed by the popes. Pope John Paul II made it a point to visit Marian apparition sites in all his apostolic journeys. Benedict visited Fatima and approved the apparitions at Akita. This is part of the message there:
Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair by their suffering and their poverty for the sinners and ingrates.
In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father's anger. I desire this also from your community...that it love poverty, that it sanctify itself and pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men.
>>>Discernment of prophecy requires several things:
1 - Our hearts and our gaze need to be in Christ crucified so that we are not tempted to follow any other way but the way of the cross. We need to pray to the Holy Spirit and live our faith. The success of false prophecy is linked to wickedness and coldness of heart (Cf. Mt 24:12).
2- We must be humble and discern all messages in light of divine revelation which comes to us through Scripture and Tradition, properly interpreted by the Church's magisterium.
3- Prophecies must to be understood in line with what the Lord is speaking to the Church as a whole.
4- Prophecies are at times in symbolic language. Their purpose in God's plan is essentially to reminds us of the gravity of sin and the love of God and thus to call us to repentance and to live the Gospel. The events they announce may be mitigated or avoided by our response to the call for repentance.
We should not take prophecy lightly. The history of the world is full of great upheavals which affected millions of people. It would be very foolish to presume that nothing of the sort can happen to us. Many prophecies actually warn us that we need to prepare for imminent trials.
We need to navigate carefully between two dangerous waters
One is the fascination with prophecies, conspiracies and fantasies which we find in the media and emails. Matthew 24:11 warns us: “Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people”. The enemy uses false prophets to confuse us, to discourage and to discredit the true prophecies. These prophets sound false alarms so that we ignore the true warnings. "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Mt 7:13-19. We must beware of false prophecies and false interpretation of the true ones.
What does the devil want to do at this time of transition? The devil wants to plant suspicion around Benedict's resignation. To have us believe that the pope has been forced to resign, that there is some kind of conspiracy (from the cardinals, communists, masons, etc). The pope told us clearly in his announcement: “with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter”. The devil wants to discredit the new pope so that we do not recognize him. He thus wants to separate us from the Vicar of Christ and cause division in the Body of Christ. For example, beware of the prophecies alleged to be from St. Malachy. It is widely believed that those prophecies do not come from the saint or were later manipulated.
The other danger is the tendency to reject or ignore all prophecy. Often this is done on the pretense that we do not need them. Some argue: Why listen to prophecies if we have the teaching of the Church? The answer is that the Church, through her saints and popes, encourages us to be attentive to the prophets because they help us to apply God's word to the present. God's Word itself teaches us the importance of prophecy. Prophecy awakens us to truths that we tend to forget because they are contrary to our own tendencies and the ways of the world. In this way prophecies helps us find and enter by the narrow gate.
But how can we tell when the prophecies will be fulfilled? The answer is that we do not need to know. We are to live always ready, not based on fear but fully aware of the importance of the present. We must remember that prophecy cannot be understood unless our hearts are humbly seeking to be guided by God and nothing more. If instead we have our own agenda, if we are seeking information for other reasons such as for curiosity, then we will be confused.
Cardinal Ratzinger illustrated the importance of prophecies and how to respond to them during an interviewed with Vittorio Messori (Published as "The Ratzinger Report", 1985) >>>.
When asked in reference to the Fatima Secret: “Then there is "something terrible" in Sister Lucia’s manuscript?”, he replied:
"If that were so, that after all would only confirm the part of the message of Fatima already known. A stern warning has been launched from that place that is directed against the prevailing frivolity, a summons to the seriousness of life, of history, to the perils that threaten humanity. It is that which Jesus himself recalls very frequently: ’... Unless you repent you will all perish...’ (Lk 13:3). Conversion--and Fatima fully recalls it to mind--is a constant demand of Christian life. We should already know that from the whole of sacred Scripture."
We can see that the correct approach to prophecy is only found on the narrow path which is more difficult than believing all or rejecting all prophecy. It requires discernment as explained above.
Benedict XVI is a prophet who repeatedly warned us about the grave dangers we face and prepared us for the battle. This are two messages at the end of his pontificate:
During the Angelus prayer of Sunday, Feb 17, he said: “let us not be afraid either of facing the battle against the spirit of evil: the important thing is to fight it with him, with Christ, the Conqueror. And to be with him let us turn to his Mother, Mary; let us call on her with filial trust in the hour of trial and she will make us feel the powerful presence of her divine Son, so that we can reject temptations with Christ's word and thus put God back at the centre of our life.”
At his last general audience >>> the pope spoke of the bark in the storm. This gospel story is encouragement for those who think that the bark is sinking so that they do not despair. But it is also a wake up call for those who do not realize that the bark is floundering in such a terrific storm that even the seasoned sailors on board were afraid that the bark was about to sink. In such a situation, to despair is lack of faith but to pretend all is well is foolishness. The pope is teaching us that we cannot save the Church from the present danger with our man made efforts. He saved the bark that day by the power of His word, but He saved the Church by the power of His love at the Cross. This is the power we need today. To have it we must be crucified with Him.
One way to alert us has been to draw attention to other prophets
On the feast of the Triumph of the Cross of 2011 the pope beatified Blessed Elena Aiello. This is part of the message she received from the Lord on Good Friday, April 8, 1955: >>>‘LAUNCH FORTH INTO THE WORLD A MESSAGE TO MAKE KNOWN TO ALL THAT THE SCOURGE IS NEAR AT HAND, The justice of God is weighing upon the world. Mankind, defiled in the mire, soon will be washed in its own blood, by disease; by famine; by earthquakes; by cloudbursts, tornadoes, floods, and terrible storms; and by war. But men ignore all these warnings, and are unwilling to be convinced that my tears (Weeping Madonna of Sicily?), are plain signs to serve notice that tragic events are hanging over the world, and that the hours of great trials are at hand’.
‘If men do not amend their ways, a terrifying scourge of fire will come down from Heaven upon all the nations of the world, and men will be punished according to the debts contracted with Divine justice. There will be frightful moments for all, because Heaven will be joined with the earth, and all the un-Godly people will be destroyed, SOME NATIONS WILL BE PURIFIED, WHILE OTHERS WILL DISAPPEAR ENTIRELY’.
You are to transmit these warnings to all, in order that the new generation will know that men had been warned in time to turn to God by doing penance, and thus could have avoided these punishments’.
But when will all this come about?’ I asked Our Lady." ‘My daughter,’ answered the Blessed Mother, ‘the time is not far off. When men least expect it, the course of Divine Justice will be accomplished’.
Preparing the Church for Calvary.
Pope Benedict has been the great proclaimer of the power of the Cross. He has exposed the reality of the battle and the dangers we face. He has encouraged us to gaze with Mary upon the cross and to embrace it. This is our true hope. Our web site is full of his teachings on this theme.
At the conclusion of his lenten spiritual exercises 2/24/13 the pope said:
The “very beautiful” of the sixth day – spoken by the Creator – is permanently contradicted, in this world, by evil, by suffering, by corruption. It seems that the evil one wants permanently to stain creation, to contradict God and to make his truth and beauty unrecognizable. In a world so characterized also by evil, the “Logos,” the eternal Beauty and the eternal “Art,” must appear as a “caput cruentatum” (bloody head). The incarnate Son, the incarnate “Logos,” is crowned with a crown of thorns; and nevertheless, precisely in this way, in this suffering figure of the Son of God, we begin to see the most profound beauty of our Creator and Redeemer; and yet we can, in the silence of the “dark night,” hear the Word. Believing is nothing other than touching the hand of God in the darkness of the world and thus, in silence, to hear the Word, to see Love. >>>
He knows the power of the enemy but he also knows that the Lord has triumphed and that a faithful remnant will be stronger that ever. Through this remnant the Church will see a powerful era of evangelization in the power of the Holy Spirit. On the last days of his pontificate we saw beautiful manifestations of love for the pope. The remnant is surging!
In this time of transition I am reflecting on the vocation of our Love Crucified community. How are we responding to this momentous time of transition? Have we been truly united with the pope, ready to continue in the spirit he has taught us? Are we responding with all our hearts? He has been preparing us for a long time to be victims of love so that we can be one with Him and continue His mission. We read in our mission statement:
Our mission is to raise up God's army of victim souls that united to Jesus Crucified will hasten a new Pentecost which will bring about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary as promised by our Blessed Mother in Fatima.>>>
The Lord has called us to be victims of love, one with Him, Love Crucified (Cf. Gal 2:20), by entering the simple path to holiness He has given us. In this path Mary guides us to kiss the Lord's feet at the Cross; to enter His Crucified love, into His Sacred Heart which is ablaze with the fire of the Holy Spirit; unto union with the Trinity. This is the wisdom of the Cross which is love. Our vocation is summed up in His call: "Suffer all with Me, no longer two but one, in My sacrifice of love" (Cf. Eph 2:13-14).
Since 2008 the Lord raised Love Crucified, bringing us to be a covenanted family of victim souls, to live what He was teaching through this beloved pope. We found in him the inspiration and guidance to develop our charism. His teaching has been a constant assurance that we were in the right path with the Simple Path to Union and with the way of life that the Lord was giving us. We have lived in amazement and joy as we constantly discovered in his words a confirmation to what the Lord was placing in our hearts.
In a personal level, the news of his resignation has made me realize that I have come to love Benedict XVI truly as the father he is. He became a father through ordination only a few days after I was born. Since I received my vocation at a time of great confusion in the Church, he has been the father that helped me to understand my experience of God and to ground it on sound theology. He was more than what chose for his humble motto: "Fellow Worker in the Truth". I can compare his departure to the death of my mother just three months ago. I have a sense of loss and sorrow and yet at the same time joy and a greater communion with them. I think we all share in some way this great love for him, this experience of being ONE, of seeing the same and desiring to live the same in Christ!
As a community we are profoundly grateful to the Lord and to Benedict XVI. The best way to show it is by responding to the fullest to his paternal love and to his legacy, not just for sentimental reasons but, most importantly, to allow the Lord fulfill his plan in us.
PRAY FOR THE CONCLAVE AND THE NEW POPE
Cardinal Bertone: “The coming conclave will thus depend in a special way on the transparent purity of your prayer and worship. As the conclave for the next Holy Father soon approaches, it is the joyful responsibility of every Catholic to pray for the election process, to ensure the choice of the best possible successor to Pope Benedict XVI. We must be on guard against all complacency which concludes, The Holy Spirit elects the pope. I don’t need to pray for the conclave"
You can adopt a cardinal to pray for here: adoptacardinal.org
PRAYER
for the conclaveHeavenly Father, your Love Crucified Community unites with all the faithful disciples as in the Upper Room, to pray for the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the cardinals who will be in conclave for the election of the next Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ. May their hearts be pure so they can listen and respond only to the Holy Spirit, beyond any human judgment, to elect the one you have chosen to guide the Church at this momentous time in history.
Holy Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, we entrust this conclave to your maternal and Immaculate Heart, and offer these prayers for your guidance and protection over the choosing of the next Vicar of your Son: 1 Our Father;1 Hail Mary;1 Glory Be.
"The Holy See's website has a 62 page homage to Pope Benedict XVI (now His Holiness Benedict XVI Pope Emeritus / Roman Pontiff Emeritus) containing photos paired with brief quotations from his homilies, addresses, messages, general audiences during his pontificate."
:omaggio