Zenit: "Many of Pope Benedict's words show he is not afraid to speak uncomfortable truths to our troubled world. But now his actions also are showing his profound courage. Despite the worries of some of his Vatican advisers, Pope Benedict, has decided to carry out his long-planned September 14-16 visit to Lebanon in order to preach a message of peace and Hope in a region torn by war.
"The pope said in his greeting that he is also looking beyond Lebanon to
the rest of the Middle East and comes to them as “a pilgrim of peace, as
a friend of God and as a friend of all the inhabitants of all the
countries of the region, whatever their origins and beliefs.”
The pope, also said that while he understood that tensions in the region may
sometimes make it seem as if it were to "to snap like a bow which is
overstretched," that such instances are when great wisdom is tested.
Reason, he said, "must overcome one-sided passion in order to promote
the greater good of all."
'I cannot forget the sad and painful events which have affected your
beautiful country along the years. The successful way the Lebanese all
live together surely demonstrates to the whole Middle East and to the
rest of the world that, within a nation, there can exist cooperation
between the various churches, all members of the one Catholic Church in a
fraternal spirit of communion with other Christians, and at the same
time coexistence and respectful dialogue between Christians and their
brethren of other religions,' he said!" Read More
The Fatima Message and the Pope
Did you know that the last Pope who bore the name Benedict was the reigning Pontiff when Our Blessed Mother visited Fatima for the first time in 1917? During World War I, when Pope Benedict XV saw that all human efforts had failed to end the war he adjured Our Lady to show him the way to peace. Eight days later, Our Blessed Mother came to Fatima with Her Message of peace for mankind! We can Hope that our present holy father Pope Benedict XVI will be the pope to help usher in the final triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary!
At the balcony, Benedict XVI first words to the crowd were given in Italian before he gave the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing in Latin, were: “ Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the Cardinals have elected me, a simple, humble laborer in the vineyard of the Lord. The fact that the Lord knows how to work and to act even with insufficient instruments comforts me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers. In the joy of the Risen Lord, confident of his unfailing help, let us move forward. The Lord will help us, and Mary, His Most Holy Mother, will be on our side. Thank you. The crowd responded by chanting “Benedict! Benedict!
Benedict XVI explained his choice of name during his first General Audience in St. Peter's Square, on April 27, 2005: “ Filled with sentiments of awe and thanksgiving, I wish to speak of why I chose the name Benedict. Firstly, I remember Pope Benedict XV, that courageous prophet of peace, who guided the Church through turbulent times of war. In his footsteps I place my ministry in the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples. Additionally, I recall Saint Benedict of Norsia, co-patron of Europe, whose life evokes the Christian roots of Europe. I ask him to help us all to hold firm to the centrality of Christ in our Christian life: May Christ always take first place in our thoughts and actions!
Do not be Afraid!
Open Wide the Doors for Christ!
After referring to John Paul II's well-known words, "Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors for Christ!", Benedict XVI said: “Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to Him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us?...And once again the Pope said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation....When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life.
Friendship with Jesus Christ" is a frequent theme of his preaching stressing that on this intimate friendship, "everything depends." He has also said: "We are all called to open ourselves to this friendship with God... speaking to him as to a friend, the only One who can make the world both good and happy... That is all we have to do put ourselves at his disposal...is an extremely important message. It is a message that helps to overcome what can be considered the great temptation of our time: the claim, that after the Big Bang, God withdrew from history." Thus, in his book Jesus of Nazareth, his main purpose was "to help foster the growth of a living relationship" with Jesus Christ.
He also took up this theme in his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est. In his explanation and summary of the encyclical, he stated: "If friendship with God becomes for us something ever more important and decisive, then we will begin to love those whom God loves and who are in need of us. God wants us to be friends of his friends and we can be so, if we are interior close to them."
The World is Redeemed
by the Patience of God!
by the Patience of God!
It is destroyed by
the Impatience of Man
the Impatience of Man
I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord Psalm 116:13
Towards the end of the papal Homily during the Inauguration Mass the following text seems to dimly foreshadow the present crisis that has spewed over the papacy and the church during his pontificate.
"We Suffer on Account
of God's Patience!"
The symbol of the lamb also has a deeper meaning. In the Ancient Near East, it was customary for kings to style themselves shepherds of their people. This was an image of their power, a cynical image: to them their subjects were like sheep, which the shepherd could dispose of as he wished. When the shepherd of all humanity, the living God, himself became a lamb, he stood on the side of the lambs, with those who are downtrodden and killed. This is how he reveals himself to be the true shepherd: "I am the Good Shepherd... I lay down my life for the sheep", Jesus says of himself (Jn 10:14ff.) It is not power, but love that redeems us! This is God's sign: he himself is love.
"How often We wish that God
Would Show Himself Stronger,
that He Would Strike Decisively,
Defeating Evil and Creating
A better World!"
"All ideologies of power justify themselves in exactly this way: they justify the destruction of whatever would stand in the way of progress and the liberation of humanity. We suffer on account of God's patience. And yet, we need his patience. God, who became a lamb, tells us that the world is saved by the Crucified One, not by those who crucified him. The world is redeemed by the patience of God; it is destroyed by the impatience of man.."
"Feeding means Loving
and Loving also means
Being Ready to Suffer!"
"One of the basic characteristics of a shepherd must be to love the people entrusted to him, even as he loves Christ whom he serves. "Feed my sheep", says Christ to Peter, and now, at this moment, he says it to me as well. Feeding means loving, and loving also means being ready to suffer. Loving means giving the sheep what is truly good, the nourishment of God's truth, of God's Word, the nourishment of his presence, which he gives us in the Blessed Sacrament."
"My dear friends, at this moment I can only say: pray for me, that I may learn to love the Lord more and more. Pray for me that I may learn to love more and more his flock: you, the holy Church, each one of you and all of you together. Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. Let us pray for one another, that the Lord will carry us and that we will learn to carry one another."
We can hope that Pope Benedict XVI will be the Pope who will have the grace and strength from the Holy Spirit to reveal the wolves clothed as sheep hiding within the church itself. And help pave the way for the church to usher in the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our Lady's Heart will triumph, she said it would! But the enemy of God has planted itself within the church before we receive such a grace a purification awaits us as God cleans his temple once more.
Unmasking the wolves
in Sheep's Clothing
in Sheep's Clothing
A Blessing to Pave the Way
for the Triumph of
The Immaculate Heart of Mary
for the Triumph of
The Immaculate Heart of Mary
In a sense this current scandal although deeply humiliating is a blessing for the church because it exposed some of the wolves within. My hope is for the church to enact new legislative laws to prevent such scandals from ever happening again as well as laws governing the discipline of the individuals involved and those who covered up. Care must also be taken to secure justice and protection to the accused from false accusations.
"It is time to Reaffirm the importance of Prayer in the Face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in Charitable Work."
Pope Benedict XVI
We need to pray more!
The Message Fatima revolves around and is concerned for the welfare of the papacy. Those who follow Our Lady of Fatima join with the shepherd children Bls. Jacinta and Francisco and Sr. Lucia in praying and sacrificing for the the Holy Father. The eruption of the scandals in the priesthood and the scourge it has released upon the church and the papacy is undoubtedly a source of grief to the Holy Father.
The final triumph of Our Lady will come
if we continue to pray for one another
and fulfill the requests made at Fatima.
Fulfilling the Fatima message the means given by God for the Final Triumph of Good over Evil! It is a spiritual war and it is beyond the capability of men to rectify on our own. A Divine intervention is needed! We need to do all we can help the Pope at this time with our prayers and sacrifices to keep the wolves at bay till God intervenes! In order to do this the pope himself has said more than once prayer is "urgently needed...It is time to reaffirm the importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work."
Is Benedict XVI the pope in the Vision of Bl. Jacinta at the well in the summer! The Holy Father was was alone suffering insults. He was persecuted and was weeping! Is it this pope? Jacinta cried out to Lucia Did you see the Holy Father. Lucia replied No and Jacinta said: "I saw the Holy Father! He was in a very big house, kneeling by a table, with his head buried in his hands, and he was weeping. Outside the house, there were many people. Some of them were throwing stones, others were cursing him and using bad language. Poor Holy Father, we must pray very much for him."
It is God's Church and he will help her if we humbly admit our need for his help as Benedict XV did in 1917. He prayed and God sent his mother to Fatima. Let us do what we can to beg pardon for the wrongs we have done and do penance. All of us have contributed by our own personal sins and our omissions for the state of the church and the world today! Pray very much for the Pope and the church uniting your prayers with the prayers of the shepherds of Fatima. With God there is no time and all prayers past, present and future are before him in eternity. The consequences for humanity if we do nothing are depicted in the Miracle of the Sun! I can’t wait until the Triumph of Our Lady comes!
Pray for me!
"He who is not with the Pope
Is not with God!
He that wants to be with God,
must be with Pope." Sr.Lucia of Fatima