Saturday, November 3, 2012

The year of Faith: Introduction (General Audience, 17 October 2012)

Catecheses "Year of Faith" - Introduction

"The 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council is an important opportunity to return to God, to deepen our faith and live it more courageously, and to strengthen our belonging to the Church, “teacher of humanity”. It is through the proclamation of the Word, the celebration of the sacraments and works of charity that she guides us to meeting and knowing Christ, true God and true man. This is not an encounter with an idea or with a project of life, but with a living Person who transforms our innermost selves, revealing to us our true identity as children of God".

Sunday, March 18, 2012

The prayer of Mary, the Mother of God (March 12, 2012)

Audience - School of Prayer (March 12, 2012)

"Venerating the Mother of Jesus in the Church therefore means learning from her to become a community that prays: this is one of the essential marks in the first description of the Christian community as delineated in the Acts of the Apostles (cf. 2:42). Often, prayer is dictated by difficult situations, by personal problems that lead us to turn to the Lord for light, comfort and help"

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Vesper on the occasion of the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury (March 10, 2012)

Homily - Vesper on the occasion of the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury (March 10, 2012)



Sunday, February 19, 2012

Message for His Holiness Benedict XVI for Lent 2012

Message - Lent 2012


“Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works” (Heb 10:24)

"The Lenten season offers us once again an opportunity to reflect upon the very heart of Christian life: charity. This is a favourable time to renew our journey of faith, both as individuals and as a community, with the help of the word of God and the sacraments. This journey is one marked by prayer and sharing, silence and fasting, in anticipation of the joy of Easter".



Wednesday, February 8, 2012

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE PLENARY MEETING OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH

ADDRESS - TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE PLENARY MEETING OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH (January 27, 2012)

"The centre of true ecumenism is, on the contrary, the faith in which the human being finds the truth which is revealed in the Word of God. Without faith the entire ecumenical movement would be reduced to a form of “social contract” to which to adhere out of common interest, a “praxeology”, in order to create a better world. The logic of the Second Vatican Council is quite different: the sincere search for the full unity of all Christians is a dynamic inspired by the Word of God, by the divine Truth who speaks to us in this word".


Sunday, February 5, 2012

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Commentary of Benedict XVI on the Gospel: Mark 1: 29-39

"When we are tried by evil and our prayers seem to be in vain, then doubt besets us and we ask ourselves in anguish: what is God's will? We find the answer to this very question in the Gospel. For example, in today's passage we read that Jesus "healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons" (Mk 1: 34)". 


Angelus, February  8, 2009


Saturday, February 4, 2012

To rectors, proffesors and seminarians (January 26, 2012)

SpeechTo rectors, professors and seminarians of the Pontifical Semiaries of Campania, Calabria and Umbria on the occasion of the centenary of their foundation (January 26, 2012)

"These words still have resonance today because in the whole Church, as well as in the regions from which you come, there is much more than ever the need for workers of the Gospel, credible witnesses and those who promote sanctity with their own lives. May each one of you respond to this call!"

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Angelus, January 30, 2012: For God authority means service, humility, love

Angelus - January 30, 2012

 "Divine authority is not a power of nature. It is the power of God's love that creates the universe and, incarnating itself in the Only Begotten Son, descending into our humanity, it heals the world corrupted by sin."


Saturday, January 28, 2012

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Commentary of Benedict XVI on the Gospel: Mark 1: 21-28

"... this Sunday's Gospel passage (Mk 1: 21-28) tells of a man possessed by the devil who suddenly shouts: "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God". And Jesus commands the spirit: "Quiet! Come out of him!". 


Angelus, 1st February 2009


January 28. St Thomas Aquinas

Texts of Benedict XVI about Saint Thomas Aquinas.

The life and teaching of St Thomas Aquinas could be summed up in an episode passed down by his ancient biographers. While, as was his wont, the Saint was praying before the Crucifix in the early morning in the chapel of St Nicholas in Naples, Domenico da Caserta, the church sacristan, overheard a conversation. Thomas was anxiously asking whether what he had written on the mysteries of the Christian faith was correct. And the Crucified One answered him: "You have spoken well of me, Thomas. What is your reward to be?". And the answer Thomas gave him was what we too, friends and disciples of Jesus, always want to tell him: "Nothing but Yourself, Lord!"

Catechesis:

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

January 25. St Paul's "Conversion"

Texts of Benedict XVI about St Paul's "Conversion" :

"This turning point in his life, this transformation of his whole being was not the fruit of a psychological process, of a maturation or intellectual and moral development. Rather it came from the outside: it was not the fruit of his thought but of his encounter with Jesus Christ. In this sense it was not simply a conversion, a development of his "ego", but rather a death and a resurrection for Paul himself. One existence died and another, new one was born with the Risen Christ. There is no other way in which to explain this renewal of Paul".



More information: Catechesis - St Paul (2006 - 2009)

Monday, January 23, 2012

January 24. Saint Francis de Sales

Texts of Benedict XVI about Saint Francis de Sales:



"St Francis de Sales is an exemplary witness of Christian humanism; with his familiar style, with words which at times have a poetic touch, he reminds us that human beings have planted in their innermost depths the longing for God and that in him alone can they find true joy and the most complete fulfilment."

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Catechesis: St Paul


Paul of Tarsus
Doctrine of St. Paul

To the Neocathecumenal Way (January 20, 2012):


Speech - Address to the Neocathecumenal Way (January 20, 2012)

"The "following of Christ" requires the personal adventure of looking for him, of going with him, and always involves going out of the closed-ness of one's ego, breaking down the individualism that often characterizes the society of our time, to replace selfishness with the community of the new man in Jesus Christ..."

"... A while ago I was reading the decree with which the celebrations which are in the "Catechetical Directory of the Neocatechumenal Way" are approved..."

"...But even during the way it is important not to separate from the parish community, right in the celebration of the Eucharist which is the true place of the unity of all, where the Lord embraces us in the various states of our spiritual maturity and unites us in the one bread that makes us one body (cf. 1 Corinthian 10:16f)..."

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Friday, January 20, 2012

Our longing for the full, visible unity of Christians requires patient and trustful waiting

Speech - To the ecumenical delegation of the Lutheran Church of Finland on the occasion of the Feast of Saint Henrik (January 19, 2012)

"There is a need for Christians to arrive at a profound agreement on matters of anthropology, which can then help society and politicians to make wise and just decisions regarding important questions in the area of human life, family and sexuality".


Thursday, January 19, 2012

Speech to the Bishops of the United States of America - January 19, 2012: in the service of the evangelization of American culture and the building of the civilization of love



Speech - To the Bishops of the United States of America on their ad Limina visit (January 19, 2012)

"The Church in the United States is called, in season and out of season, to proclaim a Gospel which not only proposes unchanging moral truths but proposes them precisely as the key to human happiness and social prospering"

"When a culture attempts to suppress the dimension of ultimate mystery, and to close the doors to transcendent truth, it inevitably becomes impoverished and falls prey, as the late Pope John Paul II so clearly saw, to reductionist and totalitarian readings of the human person and the nature of society".

Audience, 18 january 2012: We will all be changed by the victory of Christ, Our Lord

Audiencie - On the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (18 january 2012)

"This spiritual gathering, which unites Christians of all traditions, increases our awareness of the fact that the unity to which we tend will not be the result of our efforts alone, but will rather be a gift received from above, a gift for which we must constantly pray". 





Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Angelus, 15 january 2012 - The mediator, helping the persons called to recognize the voice of God and follow it

Ángelus - 15 january 2012

"The very Christian faith in itself presupposes proclamation and witness: in fact they consist in adhering to the good news that Jesus of Nazareth is dead and risen, that he is God"

"But this is not to forget the fundamental role of parents, who with their genuine and joyful faith and their marital love show their children that it is beautiful and possible to build a whole life on the love of God". 


Sunday, January 15, 2012

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Angelus, Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (8 January 2012)

Angelus - Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (8 January 2012)

"Being born is never a choice, we are not asked first whether we wish to be born. Yet, in life, we can develop a free attitude with regard to life itself: we can regard it as a gift and, in a certain sense “become” what we are: children. This transition marks a turning point of maturity in our existence and in our relationship with our parents, which is filled with gratitude."

Friday, January 13, 2012

13 january. Saint Hilary of Poitiers

Texts of Benedicto XVI abaut Saint Hilary of Poitiers

"Obtain, O Lord", St Hilary recites with inspiration, "that I may keep ever faithful to what I have professed in the symbol of my regeneration, when I was baptized in the Father, in the Son and in the Holy Spirit. That I may worship you, our Father, and with you, your Son; that I may deserve your Holy Spirit, who proceeds from you through your Only Begotten Son... Amen" (De Trinitate 12, 57). 


General Audience: Catechesis on the Fathers of the Church - Saint Hilary of Poitiers (10 october 2007)

Thursday, January 12, 2012

The Church offers the light of the Gospel to all people of good will (6 January 2012)

Angelus - Solemnity of the Epiphany (Friday, 6 January 2012)

"Nevertheless the Church, thanks to the Word of God, sees through the fog. She has no technical solutions but keeps her gaze fixed on the destination and offers the light of the Gospel to all people of good will, whatever their nation and culture. And this is also the mission of Papal Representatives to States and to International Organizations".


Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Benedict XVI to the Members of the Diplomatic Corps: the crisis can and must be an incentive to reflect on human existence and on the importance of its ethical dimension


Speech - To the Members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See for the traditional exchange of New Year greetings (January 9, 2012)

"Truly the world is gloomy wherever it is not brightened by God’s light! Truly the world is dark wherever men and women no longer acknowledge their bond with the Creator and thereby endanger their relation to other creatures and to creation itself. The present moment is sadly marked by a profound disquiet and the various crises – economic, political and social – are a dramatic expression of this".


Monday, January 9, 2012

Eucharistic celebration on the solemnity of the epiphany the Lord

Homily - Solemnity of the Epiphany (Friday, 6 January 2012)

"The Epiphany is a feast of light. “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you” (Is 60:1). With these words of the prophet Isaiah, the Church describes the content of the feast. He who is the true light, and by whom we too are made to be light, has indeed come into the world".