Cardinals Gather in Conclave, Church Gathers in Prayer, Come Holy Spirit - International - Catholic Online

"O Lord Jesus Christ, Supreme Pastor of Your Church, we thank you for the ministry of Pope Benedict XVI and the selfless care with which he has led us as Successor of Peter, and Your Vicar on earth. Good Shepherd, Who founded Your Church on the rock of Peter's faith and have never left Your flock untended, look with love upon us now, and sustain Your Church in faith, hope, and charity. Grant, Lord Jesus, in Your boundless love for us, a new Pope for Your Church who will please You by his holiness and lead us faithfully to You, who are the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen."


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Cardinals Gather in Conclave, Church Gathers in Prayer, Come Holy Spirit - International - Catholic Online

God bless, and thank you for sharing your gifts with us.

Pope Benedict XVI Resignation: Pontiff Says He's Resigning For The 'Good Of The Church' (PHOTOS) - The Huffington Post

The World Day for Consecrated Life

(Vatican Radio) The World Day for Consecrated Life invites all Catholics to recognize the valuable contribution of consecrated men and women and to pray that “this gift may flourish in the Church,” said a Carmelite prior in an interview with Vatican Radio. 

The day of prayer is observed each year on 2 February, which is also the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. But parishes and religious communities worldwide have organized diverse activities, masses and prayer events throughout the weekend.

The World Day for Consecrated Life, instituted by Pope John Paul II in 1997, is a time of prayer for those in the Church who have committed to witness to their love for God through the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Father Míċaél O’Neill, prior of the Carmelite Centre in Rome, explained the significance of marking the day of prayer on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

He referred to Mary’s offering of Jesus to God in the Temple. In the same way, consecrated men and women are called to offer their whole selves to God, he said. In addition, the presence of Simeon and Anna at the Temple indicate how consecrated people are also called to be sentinels by celebrating the ways in which God is present in the world. Finally, the feast day’s association with light is a reminder to consecrated people of how they should be “light of the world”.

Fr. O’Neill noted how the World Day for Consecrated Life is intended to engage all Catholic faithful, and not just consecrated men and women as a select group in the Church.

Consecrated life is a gift of God and this day is “a time when all the members of the Church can recognize the presence of this gift (and)… the practical implications and contributions of consecrated life over the centuries,” he said.

While the Church encourages all the faithful to pray for consecrated men and women and to thank them for their witness and service, the day is also intended to encourage consecrated people in their lifelong commitment. 

“It’s great to have a day like this,” he said. “Whatever helps us to renew our spirit, to renew our commitment is always of tremendous importance.”

“Certainly here in the western world there may be many reasons for discouragement, but all the more so to have this day to recognize that things are not too bad at all and that our contribution to the Church is still very valuable,” he said. 

Pope Benedict XVI presided the mass held in St. Peter’s Basilica Saturday evening to celebrate the liturgical feast and to mark the World Day for Consecrated Life.

"Blessed are the peacemakers"

Pope Benedict XVI has chosen "Blessed are the peacemakers" as the theme for the 46th World Day of Peace,

1 January 2013,

 the Vatican announced today. In a statement, the Vatican said that the message will embrace "the fullness and diversity of the concept of peace" including religious freedom and an ethical reflection on how the world is to handle crises affecting the economy, education, and democracy. The aim of the message, it said, is to "encourage everyone to take responsibility with regard to peacebuilding." 
Whereas past messages have tended to focus on a single issue - the family, education, truth - next year's promises to be more comprehensive, examining also the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and Pope John XXIII's encyclical, Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth).
The Vatican statement reads:

"For the celebration of the 46th World Day of Peace of 1st January 2013, the Holy Father Benedict XVI has chosen the following theme: "Blessed are the peacemakers".
The annual Message of the Pope, in the complexity of the present time, will encourage everyone to take responsibility with regard to peacebuilding.
The Message will embrace, therefore, the fullness and diversity of the concept of peace, starting from the human being: inner peace and outer peace; then, highlighting the anthropological emergency, the nature and incidence of nihilism; and, at the same time, fundamental rights, in the first place freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, freedom of religion.
The Message will offer, as well, an ethical reflection on some measures the world is going to take to contain the financial and economic crisis, the educational crisis, the crisis of the institutions and politics, which is also - in many cases - a worrying crisis of democracy.
The Message will also look at the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and of the encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, according to which the primacy is always for the human dignity and its freedom, for the building of an earthly city to the service of every person, without any discrimination, and directed to the common good which is based on justice and true peace.
"Blessed are the peacemakers" will be the eighth Message of Pope Benedict XVI for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace. Following are the titles of the previous ones: "In Truth, Peace" (2006), "The Human Person, Heart of Peace" (2007), "The Human Family, a Community of Peace" (2008), "Fighting Poverty to Build peace" (2009), "If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation" (2010), "Religious Freedom, the path to peace" (2011), "Educating young people in justice and peace" (2012)."

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/world-day-of-peace-message-2013-blessed-are-the-peacemakers#ixzz2GfJ8XQQu

God's love planted in each of us...

If the love of God has planted deep roots in a person, then he is able to love even those who do not deserve it, as God does us. Fathers and mothers do not love their children only when they deserve love; they always love them, though of course, they make them understand when they are wrong. We learn from God to seek only what is good and never what is evil. We learn to look at each other not only with our eyes, but with the eyes of God, which is the gaze of Jesus Christ. A gaze that begins in the heart and does not stop at the surface, that goes beyond appearances and manages to capture the deepest aspirations of the other: waiting to be heard, for caring attention, in a word: love. But the opposite is also true: that by opening myself to another, just as he or she is, by reaching out, by making myself available, I am also opening myself to know God, to feel that he is there and is good. Love of God and love of neighbour are inseparable and are mutually related. Jesus did not invent one or the other but revealed that they are essentially a single commandment and did so not only through the Word, but especially with his testimony: the person of Jesus and his whole Mystery embody the unity of love of God and neighbour, like the two arms of the Cross, vertical and horizontal. In the Eucharist he gives us this two-fold love, giving himself, because, nourished by this Bread, we love one another as he has loved us.

~ Pope Benedict XVI

Angelus, November 4, 2012

Christ the Grain of Wheat

Dear friends, let us once again be filled with wonder by Christ’s words. He, a grain of wheat scattered in the furrows of history, is the first fruits of the new humanity, freed from the corruption of sin and death. And let us rediscover the beauty of the Sacrament of the Eucharist which expresses all God’s humility and holiness. His making himself small, God makes himself small, a fragment of the universe to reconcile all in his love. May the Virgin Mary, who gave the world the Bread of Life, teach us to live in ever deeper union with him.

~ Pope Benedict XVI

Angelus

19 August 2012

Prayer as the Key

In prayer, we see that Christ’s final victory over sin and death is the key to all history.  While giving thanks for this victory, we continue to beg God’s grace for our earthly journey.  Amid life’s evils, the Lord hears our prayers, strengthens our weakness, and enables us to trust in his sovereign power.  In our own prayer, and especially in our celebration of the Eucharist, may we grow in the hope of Christ’s coming in glory, experience the transforming power of his grace, and learn to discern all things in the light of faith.

~ Pope Benedict XVI

General Audience

September 12, 2012