Pope urges trust in God’s loving providence in dark times

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Christians should trust in the loving providence of God, even when going through dark periods in life, Pope Benedict XVI said in his Feb. 1 general audience.

“In prayer we must be able to bring before God our fatigue, the suffering of certain situations and of certain days, our daily struggle to follow him and to be Christians, and even the weight of evil we see within us and around us, because he gives us hope, makes us aware of his nearness and gives us a little light on the path of life,” he said.

For the rest of the article go to:  http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-urges-trust-in-gods-loving-providence-in-dark-times

Pope Reflects On Jesus’ Prayer at Last Supper: “That All May Be One”

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At today’s general audience that was dedicated to prayer, specifically Jesus’ priestly prayer at the Last Supper that “all may be one,” Pope Benedict said, “The unity of the future disciples, being a unity with Jesus that the Father sent into the world, is also the original source of the effectiveness of the Christian mission in the world.” He told the faithful in the Paul VI Hall that, “Jesus prays that His disciples may be one” and it is precisely “because of such welcome and cherished unity that “the Church may walk ‘in the world’, without being ‘of the world’, and live the mission it has been entrusted with, so that the world may believe in the Son and in the Father who sent Him.”

Wednesday, the feast of the conversion of St. Paul, marked the final day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, a week that ends with evening vespers with the Holy Father in St. Paul’s Basilica.

During the audience, in off-the-cuff remarks, the Pope said that “Jesus prays for the Church of all times, He prays for us too.”

Benedict XVI ended the catechesis with an invitation to the faithful to “read and meditate on the great wealth of Jesus’ priestly prayer, that He may guide us in our dialogue with the Lord. “And let us,” he concluded, “ask God for His help in fulfilling his plan, in being consecrated to him, in loving people everywhere, in being open to the world; let’s ask Him to help us to be always able to open our prayers to the dimensions of the world.”
And, stressed Pope Benedict, “Let’s ask Him for the gift of a visible unity among all those who believe in Christ and to be always ready to respond to whoever calls us to account for the hope that is in us.”

Joan’s Rome blog at ewtn.com 1/25/12

POPE ADDRESSES U.S. BISHOPS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

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This morning Benedict XVI received a group of bishops from the United States from Regions 4, 5 and 6 who are in Rome on their “ad limina” visit, and focused his remarks to them on religious freedom.

He said the U. S. was founded on a consensus “on certain ethical principles” that “is enshrined in the nation’s founding documents, … a consensus that has eroded significantly in the face of powerful new cultural currents which are not only directly opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but increasingly hostile to Christianity as such.”

The Pope said the Catholic community must “come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres.” He said separation of Church and State is legitimate but “cannot be taken to mean that the Church must be silent on certain issues.”
“It is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.”

The Holy Father highlighted “the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-a-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would de-legitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society.”

The Pope said he appreciated the bishops’ efforts “to maintain contacts with Catholics involved in political life and to help them understand their personal responsibility to offer public witness to their faith, especially with regard to the great moral issues of our time: respect for God’s gift of life, the protection of human dignity and the promotion of authentic human rights.

“No one who looks at these issues,” concluded Pope Benedict, “realistically can ignore the genuine difficulties which the Church encounters at the present moment.”

A must-read for American Catholics, click here for the Pope’s entire address in English: http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/28665.php?index=28665〈=en

Joan’s Rome blog: http://www.ewtn.com/news/blog.asp?blog_ID=1
1/19/2012

An Important Point People Keep Getting Wrong About The New Mass

2011 09 andwithyourspirit An Important Point People Keep Getting Wrong About The New MassOver the last couple days, as reaction has trickled in to the new translation of the Mass, there seems to be a common theme: we the people haven’t been affected as much, because it’s the priest who has all the newfangled words and prayers to worry about. “Our parts,” people in the pews seem to be saying, “aren’t all that different.”

But to think that way misses an important point — and it gets something about the Mass fundamentally wrong.

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DESTRUCTION OF ONE HUMAN LIFE TO BENEFIT ANOTHER CAN NEVER BE JUSTIFIED

Joan’s Rome blog:

“As you know I spent some time last week at a Vatican-sponsored international conference entitled “Adult Stem Cells: Science and the Future of Man and Culture” and I interviewed two of the participants for “Vatican Insider.” The three-day conference, promoted by the Pontifical Council for Culture in collaboration with the U.S. Stem for Life Foundation, examined the use of adult stem cells in medicine, both from the perspective of science, and from that of its cultural, ethical and anthropological implications.

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Is Russia converting?

Moscow, October 31, Interfax – The Russian Orthodox Church has made colossal achievements in its revival over the past 20 years, the Moscow Patriarchate said:

“In 1991, the Russian Orthodox Church had 12,000 parishes, 117 monasteries and convents, two theologian academies, seven theologian seminaries, 16 theologian colleges and four schools. In 2011, we have 30,675 parishes, 29,324 priests, 3,850 deacons and 805 monasteries and convents. The number of theologian educational establishments has increased, too,” Vladimir Legoida, the head of the Synodal Information Department, said at a news conference at Interfax on Monday.

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Pope Benedict, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011

In the face of death,” said the Pope in his homily, “we cannot but experience feelings and thoughts dictated by our human condition. And we are always surprised and overwhelmed by a God Who came so close to us as not to pause even before the abyss of death. He crossed that abyss and remained in the grave for two days. But here the mystery of the ‘third day’ arises. Christ assumed our mortal flesh unto its ultimate consequences, that it might be invested with the glorious power of God by the vent of the life-giving Spirit which transforms and regenerates.” ‘If we have died with Christ,” St. Paul says, ‘we believe that we will also live with Him’.”

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