Lent 2009: A Message from Pope Benedict XVI

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI FOR LENT 2009

"He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry" (Mt 4,1-2)

Dear Brothers and Sisters!
At the beginning of Lent, which constitutes an itinerary of more intense spiritual training, the Liturgy sets before us again three penitential practices that are very dear to the biblical and Christian tradition – prayer, almsgiving, fasting – to prepare us to better celebrate Easter and thus experience God’s power that, as we shall hear in the Paschal Vigil, “dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy, casts out hatred, brings us peace and humbles earthly pride” (Paschal Præconium). For this year’s Lenten Message, I wish to focus my reflections especially on the value and meaning of fasting. Indeed, Lent recalls the forty days of our Lord’s fasting in the desert, which He undertook before entering into His public ministry. We read in the Gospel: “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry” (Mt 4,1-2). Like Moses, who fasted before receiving the tablets of the Law (cf. Ex 34,28) and Elijah’s fast before meeting the Lord on Mount Horeb (cf. 1 Kings 19,8), Jesus, too, through prayer and fasting, prepared Himself for the mission that lay before Him, marked at the start by a serious battle with the tempter.

We might wonder what value and meaning there is for us Christians in depriving ourselves of something that in itself is good and useful for our bodily sustenance. The Sacred Scriptures and the entire Christian tradition teach that fasting is a great help to avoid sin and all that leads to it. For this reason, the history of salvation is replete with occasions that invite fasting. In the very first pages of Sacred Scripture, the Lord commands man to abstain from partaking of the prohibited fruit: “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Gn 2, 16-17). Commenting on the divine injunction, Saint Basil observes that “fasting was ordained in Paradise,” and “the first commandment in this sense was delivered to Adam.” He thus concludes: “ ‘You shall not eat’ is a law of fasting and abstinence” (cf. Sermo de jejunio: PG 31, 163, 98). Since all of us are weighed down by sin and its consequences, fasting is proposed to us as an instrument to restore friendship with God. Such was the case with Ezra, who, in preparation for the journey from exile back to the Promised Land, calls upon the assembled people to fast so that “we might humble ourselves before our God” (8,21). The Almighty heard their prayer and assured them of His favor and protection. In the same way, the people of Nineveh, responding to Jonah’s call to repentance, proclaimed a fast, as a sign of their sincerity, saying: “Who knows, God may yet repent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we perish not?” (3,9). In this instance, too, God saw their works and spared them.

In the New Testament, Jesus brings to light the profound motive for fasting, condemning the attitude of the Pharisees, who scrupulously observed the prescriptions of the law, but whose hearts were far from God. True fasting, as the divine Master repeats elsewhere, is rather to do the will of the Heavenly Father, who “sees in secret, and will reward you” (Mt 6,18). He Himself sets the example, answering Satan, at the end of the forty days spent in the desert that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt 4,4). The true fast is thus directed to eating the “true food,” which is to do the Father’s will (cf. Jn 4,34). If, therefore, Adam disobeyed the Lord’s command “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,” the believer, through fasting, intends to submit himself humbly to God, trusting in His goodness and mercy.

The practice of fasting is very present in the first Christian community (cf. Acts 13,3; 14,22; 27,21; 2 Cor 6,5). The Church Fathers, too, speak of the force of fasting to bridle sin, especially the lusts of the “old Adam,” and open in the heart of the believer a path to God. Moreover, fasting is a practice that is encountered frequently and recommended by the saints of every age. Saint Peter Chrysologus writes: “Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God’s ear to yourself” (Sermo 43: PL 52, 320. 322).

In our own day, fasting seems to have lost something of its spiritual meaning, and has taken on, in a culture characterized by the search for material well-being, a therapeutic value for the care of one’s body. Fasting certainly bring benefits to physical well-being, but for believers, it is, in the first place, a “therapy” to heal all that prevents them from conformity to the will of God. In the Apostolic Constitution Pænitemini of 1966, the Servant of God Paul VI saw the need to present fasting within the call of every Christian to “no longer live for himself, but for Him who loves him and gave himself for him … he will also have to live for his brethren“ (cf. Ch. I). Lent could be a propitious time to present again the norms contained in the Apostolic Constitution, so that the authentic and perennial significance of this long held practice may be rediscovered, and thus assist us to mortify our egoism and open our heart to love of God and neighbor, the first and greatest Commandment of the new Law and compendium of the entire Gospel (cf. Mt 22, 34-40).

The faithful practice of fasting contributes, moreover, to conferring unity to the whole person, body and soul, helping to avoid sin and grow in intimacy with the Lord. Saint Augustine, who knew all too well his own negative impulses, defining them as “twisted and tangled knottiness” (Confessions, II, 10.18), writes: “I will certainly impose privation, but it is so that he will forgive me, to be pleasing in his eyes, that I may enjoy his delightfulness” (Sermo 400, 3, 3: PL 40, 708). Denying material food, which nourishes our body, nurtures an interior disposition to listen to Christ and be fed by His saving word. Through fasting and praying, we allow Him to come and satisfy the deepest hunger that we experience in the depths of our being: the hunger and thirst for God.

At the same time, fasting is an aid to open our eyes to the situation in which so many of our brothers and sisters live. In his First Letter, Saint John admonishes: “If anyone has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, yet shuts up his bowels of compassion from him – how does the love of God abide in him?” (3,17). Voluntary fasting enables us to grow in the spirit of the Good Samaritan, who bends low and goes to the help of his suffering brother (cf. Encyclical Deus caritas est, 15). By freely embracing an act of self-denial for the sake of another, we make a statement that our brother or sister in need is not a stranger. It is precisely to keep alive this welcoming and attentive attitude towards our brothers and sisters that I encourage the parishes and every other community to intensify in Lent the custom of private and communal fasts, joined to the reading of the Word of God, prayer and almsgiving. From the beginning, this has been the hallmark of the Christian community, in which special collections were taken up (cf. 2 Cor 8-9; Rm 15, 25-27), the faithful being invited to give to the poor what had been set aside from their fast (Didascalia Ap., V, 20,18). This practice needs to be rediscovered and encouraged again in our day, especially during the liturgical season of Lent.

From what I have said thus far, it seems abundantly clear that fasting represents an important ascetical practice, a spiritual arm to do battle against every possible disordered attachment to ourselves. Freely chosen detachment from the pleasure of food and other material goods helps the disciple of Christ to control the appetites of nature, weakened by original sin, whose negative effects impact the entire human person. Quite opportunely, an ancient hymn of the Lenten liturgy exhorts: “Utamur ergo parcius, / verbis cibis et potibus, / somno, iocis et arctius / perstemus in custodia – Let us use sparingly words, food and drink, sleep and amusements. May we be more alert in the custody of our senses.”

Dear brothers and sisters, it is good to see how the ultimate goal of fasting is to help each one of us, as the Servant of God Pope John Paul II wrote, to make the complete gift of self to God (cf. Encyclical Veritatis splendor, 21). May every family and Christian community use well this time of Lent, therefore, in order to cast aside all that distracts the spirit and grow in whatever nourishes the soul, moving it to love of God and neighbor. I am thinking especially of a greater commitment to prayer, lectio divina, recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and active participation in the Eucharist, especially the Holy Sunday Mass. With this interior disposition, let us enter the penitential spirit of Lent. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Causa nostrae laetitiae, accompany and support us in the effort to free our heart from slavery to sin, making it evermore a “living tabernacle of God.” With these wishes, while assuring every believer and ecclesial community of my prayer for a fruitful Lenten journey, I cordially impart to all of you my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 11 December 2008.
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

© Copyright 2008 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Ash Wednesday ... 2009

Our First Reading for today’s Mass is from the Prophet Joel. Some insights:
Which trumpet shall we blow for Lent? Joel 2:1 begins with the words, "Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain!" The sound of that trumpet, known as the shofar, historically signaled danger or war. By verse 15, this same trumpet had been transformed into an instrument that would be used to call the people to fasting, repentance, and prayer. "Blow the trumpet in Zion; proclaim a fast; call an assembly." We continually hear sounds that warn of danger and other sounds that call us to war. We even hear an occasional sound that suggests that we should all just ignore what we see around us and go about our way. What kind of trumpet will the church blow for Lent this year?



Rend your hearts and not your garments. Joel called Israel to observe more than ritual in their time of mourning and repentance. He called them to personal reflection, confession, and change. We need the season of Lent each year to move us from head to heart, from shadow to substance, and from ritual to reality in our faith.



God is good all the time. Joel reminded the people that it was God's good nature that would bring about change in their lives and in their community. He told them that change was possible because God is good. If this is true, then why the ashes and other works of piety for us? The answer is simple: we need them! The commitment to observing a season of reflection and sacrifice is one way we call ourselves back into alignment with the promises made at our baptism -- to be the people of God and the body of Christ.

Our Gospel today is from Matthew:
For your eyes only. The Pharisees were guilty of attempting to impress others with their excessive acts of piety. They called attention to their offerings, prayed on the street corners at the hour appointed for prayer, and feigned suffering on their fast days.
By contrast, Jesus calls us to practice forms of piety that are reserved for God's eyes only. Why? While corporate/community prayer is an important part of worship, individual prayer is private conversation with God. When and how a person observes a fast is between the individual and God. Who is able to value or evaluate your Lenten observance? That honor is reserved for God, who knows the secrets of each heart, appreciates the value of each sacrifice you make, and treasures even your brief hurried prayers.

What’s the reason for ashes on Ash Wednesday?

As you know, Jesus retreated into the wilderness and fasted for forty days to prepare for his ministry. It was for Him a time of contemplation, reflection, and preparation. By observing Lent, most Christians join Jesus on His retreat.

Lent consists of the forty days before Easter. In the western Church, we skip over the Sundays when we count the days of Lent, because Sunday is always the joyful celebration of the Resurrection. Therefore, the first day of Lent in the western Church is always a Wednesday.
Biblical societies relied very heavily on wood fires for heating and cooking, which meant that keeping ashes under control was a major housekeeping task. Then as now, if a person was preoccupied with something serious, they didn’t always tend to the housekeeping—it’s the least of their concerns. Imagine that there is a death in the family. A friend stopping by to pay their respects might gently say, “Did you know you have ashes on your face?”
So ashes became a sign of remorse, repentance, and mourning.

You can find biblical examples of this in 2 Samuel 13:19, Esther 4:1-3, Job 42:6, and Jeremiah 6:26. During Lent, ancient Christians mourned their sins and repented of them, so it was appropriate for them to show their sincerity by having ashes on their foreheads. The custom has persisted in the Church as secular society has changed around us.
It is most appropriate on Ash Wednesday, when we begin a period of sober reflection, self-examination, and spiritual redirection.

Traditionally, the ashes for the Ash Wednesday service come from burning the palm fronds from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration. I did that again this year!
Some people only celebrate the happy times in Jesus’ life: Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday, and Christmas. But I think as true friends, we should also watch and pray with Him, stand by Him in the desert, retreat with Him into the wilderness during Lent.

The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay, the central character puts it this way:
‘I do not really want to be saved from my sins, not for the time being, it would make things too difficult and too sad. I am getting to a stage when I am not quite sure what sin is, I’m in a kind of fog, drifting about without clues, and this is liable to happen when you go on and on doing something, it makes a confused sort of twilight in which everything is blurred, and the next thing you know you may be stealing or anything, because right and wrong have become things you do not look at, you are afraid to, and it seems better to live in a blur. Then come the times when you suddenly wake up, and the fog breaks, and right and wrong loom up through it, sharp and clear like peaks of rock, and you are on the wrong peak and know that, unless you can manage to leave it now, you may be marooned there for life and ever hereafter.’

The question that confronts us on Ash Wednesday is whether we have what it takes to journey, both as individuals and collectively as communities of faith, into the ‘whole knowledge’ that Good Friday confronts us with. Clement of Alexandria says, ‘We may not be taken up and transported to our journey’s end, but must travel thither on foot, traversing the whole distance of the narrow way.’

‘Yet even now’, says the Lord, ‘rend your hearts, return to me with all your heart.’ (Joel 2:12). From the ashes of last year’s palm cross, the ashes of our heartbreak and defeat, our unmet expectations and broken dreams, the ashes of our knowledge that we fall short - from the ashes God’s voice calls us to turn, and travel the painful journey to the cross. We do not travel alone; we travel with Jesus who has what it takes to enter into truth. He teaches us his secret, namely, you cannot enter into truth except through love (Non intratur in veritatem nisi per caritatem). That is the key. That is why we dare to follow Jesus as H sets Hs face like flint and sets out on the road to Jerusalem. And that is how, when we arrive at Good Friday, we find the courage to face Jesus on the cross without running away.

Pensacola Celebration

The King and Queen of Spain

The South: Most Religious Area of the U.S.?

As part of a series titled "State of the States," a new Gallup Poll ranked the top religious states in the United States and found Southern states ranked highest on the list, while several states in the Northeast ranked the lowest. After more than 350,000 interviews, the survey found that Southern states had the highest percentage of respondents who said they considered religion to be an important part of their daily lives. Mississippi topped the list with 85 percent of those surveyed claiming that religion was important. Vermont was named the least religious state, with just 42 percent of respondents there who said they were religious. The data for the poll was collected throughout 2008 via telephone interviews of 355,334 U.S. residents over the age of 18. According to the Princeton-based polling organization, the poll accounted for varying demographics within each state to ensure the accurate representation of the state's population. Overall, Gallup found that the U.S. is generally a religious country. Sixty-five percent of the total population said religion was an important part of their lives.

Pope Benedict encourages regular Confession

At his midday public audience on Sunday, February 15, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged Catholics to make more regular use of the sacrament of Penance.

Speaking on the day's Gospel reading from St. Mark, which recounted how Jesus healed a leper, the Holy Father remarked that in the Hebrew tradition leprosy was regarded not merely as a disease but as "the most serious form of impurity." The priests of Israel, from the time of Aaron, were given the job of identifying lepers, who were then set apart from the community unless the priests subsequently certified them as having been cleansed. "Leprosy, then, constituted a kind of religious and civil death, and its cure a sort of resurrection," the Pope said.

Leprosy can easily be seen, then, as a symbol of sin, the Pope continued. "The sins we commit distance us from God and, if not humbly confessed with trust in divine mercy, they go so far as to produce the death of the soul." But Jesus restores sinners just as he restored the leper. By his Sacrifice on the Cross, the Pope explained, Jesus took on the burden of human sin, becoming in effect a leper himself-- someone despised by the community, an outcast-- and brought the healing power of redemption to all of us who are stained by impurity.

Through sacramental Confession, Pope Benedict said, the sinner is cleansed of impurity and restored to the community, in a sort of resurrection that is foreshadowed by Christ's healing of the leper. Therefore, the Pope concluded, the faithful should "make frequent use of the sacrament of Confession, the sacrament of forgiveness." He urged Catholics to "rediscover" the importance of the sacrament.

Blessed Damien to be Canonized

The Vatican announced that final approval would be given Feb. 21 for the canonization of Blessed Damien de Veuster, a Belgian-born missionary priest who served patients with Hansen's disease on the Hawaiian island of Molokai more than a century ago. Pope Benedict XVI authorized the publication of a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Damien last July, clearing the way for his canonization. The Vatican said Feb. 16 that an "ordinary public consistory" -- a meeting of the pope with cardinals resident in Rome and invited bishops and other dignitaries -- would be held Feb. 21 to finalize the approval of 10 canonizations, including Blessed Damien's. The dates for the canonization ceremonies are expected to be announced shortly after the consistory. Blessed Damien was a 19th-century missionary, a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Born in 1840, he spent the last 16 years of his life caring for patients with Hansen's disease, or leprosy, on Molokai. He died in 1889 and was beatified in 1995.

An Interesting "Interview"

BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN

(The following is an interview I didn’t have, but can imagine having, with President Obama.)


BISHOP TOBIN: First of all, Mr. President, congratulations on your election and inauguration. They were certainly historic events that inspired a renewed sense of unity and hope for many Americans.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you, Bishop Tobin. Yes, the goal of my campaign and election was to bring people together, to heal the divisions of the recent past and to inspire new hope for all the citizens of our great country.

TOBIN: I think we’d all agree that your goals of unity and hope are very worthwhile. But for that very reason, many of us were surprised, and even disappointed, that you signed an executive order overturning the so-called “Mexico City Policy” within the first few days of your administration. As you know, your action directs that American tax dollars be used to fund abortions overseas. Why did you have to act so quickly on such a controversial policy?
OBAMA: Well, I believe it was important for me to fulfill the campaign promises I made to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. After all, they’re among my biggest supporters and I don’t want to disappoint them.

TOBIN: But the use of tax dollars to pay for abortions is very controversial. It’s a divisive policy. It violates the conscience of millions of Americans who respect life and oppose abortion. Isn’t that completely contrary to your goal of fostering unity in the nation?
OBAMA: Bishop Tobin, let’s be clear. I said in my inauguration speech that with all the problems our nation is facing we have to overcome narrow ideological positions and move beyond childish behaviors.

TOBIN: But, Mr. President, providing tax money to support abortion – isn’t that in itself an ideological position?
OBAMA: No, not in my view.

TOBIN: But do you consider the heartfelt convictions of pro-lifers to be “childish behaviors?”
OBAMA: Well, not exactly, but let’s move on . . .

TOBIN: Is it safe to assume that you consider the use of tax dollars to pay for abortions overseas to be good foreign policy?
OBAMA: I believe that people overseas should have the same rights we Americans have – the right to kill their children and use abortion as a form of birth control.

TOBIN: But shouldn’t we be using foreign aid for more positive reasons – for example, to provide food, clothing, shelter and medicine to impoverished children?
OBAMA: Bishop, obviously you’re missing the point. If you control the population and eliminate the children, you don’t have to worry about giving them food, clothing, shelter and medicine now do you?

TOBIN: Mr. President, during the campaign you said that you wanted to reduce the number of abortions. And yet now you’re providing American tax dollars to encourage abortions overseas. Isn’t that a contradiction?
OBAMA Let me be clear. During the campaign, I was talking about American babies. People in other countries have to make their own decisions about killing their children, and if that’s what they want to do, I’m willing to help them. But let’s move on . . .

TOBIN: Sir, you’ve taken a very strong stance against the use of torture, a decision that’s been widely applauded. But at the same time, some scientific studies have shown that the procedures used in abortion cause terrible pain and suffering for the unborn child. Isn’t that a form of torture too?
OBAMA: Um . . . let me get back to you on that.

TOBIN: Mr. President, there’s a very good chance that during your term in office you’ll have the opportunity to appoint new justices to the Supreme Court. When that opportunity comes, will you use the support of abortion as a litmus test for their appointment?
OBAMA: I don’t believe in litmus tests for court appointments. But you can rest assured that no one who respects the right to life for unborn children will get anywhere near the Supreme Court.
TOBIN: Mr. President, don’t you see the contradiction in what you just said?
OBAMA: No I don’t, but please . . . can’t we just move on?

TOBIN: Alright, then let’s get to the heart of the question. Mr. President, when does life begin?
OBAMA: That question, Bishop, is way above my pay grade.

TOBIN: Mr. President, you have a consistent record of supporting abortion, and you’ve been called the most pro-abortion president ever. In light of your radical pro-abortion stance, can you and your administration give any hope at all to pro-life Americans?
OBAMA: To quote my favorite campaign slogan, “Yes we can.”

TOBIN: Can you be more specific?
OBAMA: No I can’t. But, Bishop Tobin I see that the clock is ticking away and our time is up. Unfortunately we’ll have to wrap-up our interview.

TOBIN: Thank you for your time Mr. President, and happy Presidents Day.
OBAMA: Thank-you, Bishop Tobin. And please extend my appreciation to all my friends in Rhode Island who voted for me.

Vatican Confirms: Pelosi will meet with Pope Benedict

The Vatican has confirmed that US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic lawmaker who has been an outspoken defender of unrestricted legal abortion, will meet with Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday after the Pontiff's regular weekly public audience. Pelosi, who is traveling in Italy this week, provoked the ire of Church leaders last August when, during the American political campaign, she claimed that the Church has not always opposed legal abortion. After the Speaker told a nationwide television audience that Catholic theologians have been divided on that issue, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco, her home town, said that he would like to meet with her to discuss the issue.

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

"Lord,

if You wish

You can make me clean."

"I do will it,

be made clean."

February 14, 2009

Enjoy this special day.

An Irish Blessing

On this Friday, the 13th, perhaps an Irish Blessing would be helpful!

An interesting read taken from:

Published:
02.12.09, 13:36 / Israel Jewish



Pope Benedict, trying to defuse a controversy over a bishop who denies the Holocaust, on Thursday said that "any denial or minimization of this terrible crime is intolerable", especially if it comes from a clergyman.

The pope made the comments in his first meeting with Jews since the controversy over traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson began in late January. Williamson denies the full extent of the Holocaust and says there were no gas chambers.

The German-born Benedict issued his strongest condemnation yet of Holocaust denial during the meeting.

He told about 60 American Jewish leaders, "The hatred and contempt for men, women and children that was manifested in the Shoah (Holocaust) was a crime against humanity. This should be clear to everyone, especially to those standing in the tradition of the Holy Scriptures ..."

He went on to affirm that the Catholic Church was "profoundly and irrevocably committed to reject all anti-Semitism."

The pope also confirmed that he was planning to visit Israel. Vatican sources say the trip is expected for May.

Benedict's trip, which had been planned before the Williamson affair surfaced, would be the second official visit by a pope to Israel.

Rabbi David Rosen, who represented the American Jewish Committee at the meeting in Rome, said that "the Pope made it unequivocally clear to us that he will not tolerate anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in the Catholic Church. This was an important reaffirmation of the Holy See's commitment to advancing Catholic-Jewish relations on the historic foundations laid by Pope Benedict's predecessors."

Benedict recalled his own visit to the death camp at Auschwitz in 2006 and, in some of the strongest words he has ever spoken about the Holocaust and relations with Jews, said, "It is my fervent prayer that the memory of this appalling crime will strengthen our determination to heal the wounds that for too long have sullied relations between Christians and Jews."

He repeated the prayer that the late Pope John Paul used when he visited Jerusalem's Western Wall in 2000 and asked forgiveness from Jews for Christians who had persecuted them in past centuries. "I now make his prayer my own," he added in his own words.

"This terrible chapter in our history (the Holocaust) must never be forgotten," the pope told the Jewish delegation from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations, adding that he hoped relations between Catholics and Jews can now grow stronger.

Wednesday, February 11: The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Wednesday, February 11: World Day of Prayer for the Sick

Pope Benedict's Address on World Day of the Sick:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The World Day of the Sick, which will be celebrated on 11 February of this year, the liturgical memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes, will see the diocesan communities meet with their bishops in moments of prayer, in order to reflect and to decide upon initiatives of sensitisation connected with the reality of suffering. The Pauline Year that we are celebrating offers a propitious opportunity to stop and reflect with the apostle Paul on the fact that “just as the sufferings of Christ overflow into our lives; so too does the encouragement we receive through Christ” (2 Cor 1:5). The spiritual link with Lourdes, in addition, calls to mind the maternal solicitude of the Mother of Jesus for the brethren of her Son “who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into the happiness of their true home” (Lumen gentium, n. 62).

This year we direct our attention particularly to children, the weakest and most defenceless creatures, and, amongst them, to the sick and suffering children. There are little human beings who carry in their bodies the consequences of illnesses which have made them invalids and others who fight against diseases that are now incurable despite the progress of medicine and the care of qualified researchers and health-care professionals. There are children wounded in their bodies and souls as a consequence of conflicts and wars, and other innocent victims of the hatred of senseless adults. There are ‘street’ children, deprived of the warmth of a family and abandoned to themselves, and minors profaned by abject people who violate their innocence, provoking in them a psychological wound that will mark them for the rest of their lives. And we cannot forget the incalculable number of young people who die because of thirst, hunger, lack of health care, and the little exiles and refugees from their own lands, with their parents, who are in search of better conditions of life. From all these children arises a silent cry of pain that calls on our conscience as men and believers.

The Christian community, which cannot remain indifferent to such dramatic situations, perceives the impelling duty to intervene. The Church, indeed, as I wrote in the encyclical Deus caritas est, “is God’s family in the world. In this family no one ought to go without the necessities of life” (n. 25, b). I thus hope that the World Day of the Sick will also offer an opportunity to parish and diocesan communities to become increasingly aware that they are “God’s family”, and will encourage them to make the love of the Lord, who asks that “within the ecclesial family no member should suffer through being in need” (ibid.), perceivable in villages, neighbourhoods and cities. Witness to charity is a part of the life itself of every Christian community. And from the outset the Church translated Gospel principles into concrete actions, as we can read in the Acts of the Apostles. Today, given the changed conditions of health care, the need is perceived for closer cooperation between health-care workers who work in various health-care institutions and the ecclesial communities present in local areas. From this perspective, all the value is demonstrated of an institution that is connected with the Holy See, the “Bambino Gesù” Children’s Hospital, which this year celebrates its 140 years of existence.

But there is more. Since a sick child belongs to a family that shares his or her suffering often with great hardship and difficulties, Christian communities cannot but also make themselves responsible for helping family units that are afflicted by the illness of a son or daughter. Following the example of the “Good Samaritan”, one should bend down in front of people who are so sorely troubled and offer them the support of practical solidarity. In this way, the acceptance and sharing of suffering is translated into a useful support to the families of sick children, creating within them a climate of serenity and hope, and making them feel surrounded by a wider family of brothers and sisters in Christ. The compassion of Jesus for the weeping of the widow of Nain (cf. Lk 7:12-17) and for the imploring prayer of Jairus (cf. Lk 8:41-56) constitute, amongst others, certain useful points of reference by which to learn to share in the moments of physical and moral tribulation of so many afflicted families. All of this presupposes a disinterested and generous love, a reflection and sign of the merciful love of God who never abandons his children in affliction, but always provides them with admirable resources of the heart and intelligence, so that they can adequately address the difficulties of life.

The daily dedication and tireless commitment to the service of sick children constitute an eloquent testimony of love for human life, in particular for the life of those who are weak and who are in everything and for everything dependent on others. It is, indeed, necessary to affirm with vigour the absolute and supreme dignity of every human life. The teaching that the Church proclaims incessantly does not change with the passing of time: human life is beautiful and should be lived in fullness even when it is weak and shrouded by the mystery of suffering. It is to Jesus that we must direct our gaze: in dying on the cross he wanted to share the pain of all humanity. In his suffering for love we see a supreme co-participation in the sufferings of sick children and their parents. My venerable predecessor John Paul II, who offered a shining example of the patient acceptance of suffering, especially at the sunset of his life, wrote: “on this Cross is the ‘Redeemer of man’, the Man of Sorrows, who has taken upon himself the physical and moral sufferings of the people of all times, so that in love they may find the salvific meaning of their sorrow and valid answers to all of their questions” (Salvifici doloris, n. 31) .

I wish here to express my appreciation and encouragement of the international and national organisations that provide care to sick children, especially in poor countries, and with generosity and self-denial offer their contribution to assure that such children have adequate and loving care. At the same time I address a sorrowful appeal to the leaders of nations to strengthen laws and measures in favour of sick children and their families. Always, but even more when the lives of children are at stake, the Church, for her part, makes herself ready to offer her cordial cooperation, with the intention of transforming the whole of human civilisation into a “civilisation of love” (cf. Salvifici doloris, n. 30).

To end, I would like to express my spiritual nearness to all of you, dear brothers and sisters, who suffer from an illness. I address an affectionate greeting to those who help you: to bishops, to priests, to consecrated men and women, to health-care workers, to volunteers and to all those who dedicate themselves with love to treating and alleviating the sufferings of those who have to face up to illness. A special greeting for you, dear sick and suffering children: the Pope embraces you with fatherly love, together with your parents and relatives; he assures you that you are especially remembered in his prayers, inviting you to trust in the maternal help of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, who last Christmas we once again contemplated while she held in her arms the Son of God made child. Invoking upon you and every sick person the protection of the Holy Virgin, Health of the Sick, to all of you from my heart I impart a special Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 2 February 2009

Benedictus P.P. XVI

The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The spiritual dynamic here is that when we are healed, brought from disease to wellness, our desire to serve is naturally activated. Work that otherwise might seem a chore or drudgery becomes a creative outlet for our freed-up energies.

The Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

"To believe in the relevance of God is to believe in the presence of prophets among us who show the relevance of His word. To believe in the faithfulness of God and in His Church is to believe that He will not let it fall asleep, be overwhelmed, lose its vigor and the dynamism of its hope"
Jesus-MariaAsurmendi



His word reminds us that we all go through periods in our lives when we wonder about our life choices. There are times when we need to change course or follow a dream in a different direction. We need God's help then. Other times we remain content with who we are. God is with us then, too.

The worst scenario, of course, is when we feel trapped with no way out. That's when we really need God. And we need each other, too. We need the community of the Church to help us to make the right choices on our life's journey. We must speak for one another with the same courageous authority with which Jesus speaks in our Scripture today.