BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR JULY - 2011

VATICAN CITY, 30 JUN 2011 (VIS) - Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for July is: "That Christ may ease the physical and spiritual sufferings of those who are sick with AIDS, especially in the poorest countries".

His mission intention is: "That religious women in mission territories may be witnesses of the joy of the Gospel and living signs of the love of Christ".

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Source: VIS-Vatican Information Service 

THE EUCHARIST, THE BEATING HEART OF THE CHURCH

VATICAN CITY, 26 JUN 2011 (VIS) - Before praying the Angelus today, Benedict XVI made some remarks about the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the "Feast of the Eucharist", which is being celebrated today in many countries around the world and which represents "the Church's most valuable treasure".

The Pope explained how "the Eucharist is like a beating heart giving life to the mystical Body of the Church, which is a social organisation entirely founded on its spiritual yet tangible bond with Christ. ... Without the Eucharist the Church would simply cease to exist. In fact, it is the Eucharist which renders a human community a mystery of communion, capable of bringing God to the world and the world to God. The Holy Spirit, which transforms the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, also transforms those who receive it with faith into limbs of Christ's Body, thus the Church truly is a Sacrament of men's unity, with God and with one another.

"In an increasingly individualistic culture", Benedict XVI added, "such as that in which we live in western societies and which is tending to spread throughout the world, the Eucharist constitutes a kind of 'antidote', working on the hearts and minds of believers and continually infusing them with the logic of communion, service and sharing, the logic of the Gospel. The first Christians in Jerusalem were an evident sign of this new lifestyle because they lived in fraternity and shared all their worldly goods, so that no one should be left in want. ... In later generations too, the Church, despite human limitations and errors, has continued to be a force for communion in the world. We think particularly of the times of greatest difficulty, times of trial: for example, what could the chance of coming together at Sunday Mass have meant in countries ruled by totalitarian regimes? ... Yet the vacuum produced by false freedoms can be equally dangerous; thus communion with the Body of Christ is like a medicine for the mind and the will, helping us rediscover our taste for truth and for the common good".

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Source:

VIS - Vatican Information Service

BUILDING A MORE UNITED, JUST AND FRATERNAL SOCIETY

VATICAN CITY, 23 JUN 2011 (VIS) - At 7 p.m. today, Solemnity of the Blessed Body and Blood of Christ, Benedict XVI celebrated Mass in Rome's basilica of St. John Lateran, then presided at the Eucharistic procession to the basilica of St. Mary Major.

In his homily the Pope recalled how today "the Blessed Sacrament is carried in procession along the streets of towns and villages to show that the risen Christ walks among us and guides us to the kingdom of heaven. What Jesus gave us in the Upper Room we openly display today, because the love of Christ is not reserved for the few but is intended for everyone".

Referring to Eucharistic communion, the Holy Father said that "while bodily food is assimilated by and helps sustain our organism, the Eucharist is a different kind of bread. We do not assimilate it; rather, it assimilates us to itself so that we are conformed to Jesus Christ, become limbs of His Body, a single thing with Him. This is a decisive step: indeed, precisely because it is Christ Who transforms us to Himself in Eucharistic communion, so in this meeting our individuality is opened, freed from ethnocentrism and inserted into the Person of Jesus, Who in turn is immersed in the communion of the Trinity.

"Thus the Eucharist, while uniting us to Christ, also opens us to others, makes us limbs of one another: no longer are we divided but a single being in Him", the Pope added. "Eucharistic communion unites me to my neighbor with whom perhaps I am not even on good terms, but it also unites me to my distant brothers and sisters all over the world".

"Those who recognize Jesus in the consecrated Host recognize Him in their suffering brothers and sisters, in the hungry and thirsty, in the stranger, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned; they are attentive to everyone and take concrete steps to help those in need. From the gift of Christ's love arises our special responsibility as Christians to build a united, just and fraternal society. Particularly in our own time in which glottalization makes us increasingly dependent upon one another, Christianity can and must ensure that unity is not built without God - in other words, without real Love - which would only open the way to confusion and selfishness".

Benedict XVI continued: "The Gospel has always sought the unity of the human family, a unity not imposed from above or by ideological or economic interests, but based on a sense of responsibility towards each other, because we recognize one another as members of the same body, the Body of Christ, because we have learned and continue to learn from the Sacrament of the Altar that sharing and love is the way to true justice".

"Without any illusions or belief in ideological utopias, we advance along the paths of the world, carrying the Body of the Lord with us like the Virgin Mary in the mystery of the Visitation", said Pope Benedict concluding his homily. "With the humility of knowing that we are simple grains of wheat, we remain firm in the conviction that the love of God incarnated in Christ is stronger than evil, violence and death. We know that God is preparing new heaven and new earth for all men, where peace and justice reign; and in the faith we see the new world which is our true homeland".

After Mass, the Pope presided at the Eucharistic procession along Rome's Via Merulana to the basilica of St. Mary Major. Along the route, thousands of faithful prayed and sang accompanying the Blessed Sacrament. A covered vehicle transported the Sacrament in a monstrance, before which the Holy Father knelt in prayer.
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Source:

VIS - Vatican Information Service

THE POWER OF INTERCESSION: THE PROPHET ELIJAH'S PRAYER

VATICAN CITY, 15 JUN 2011 (VIS) - In his general audience, held this morning in St. Peter's Square, the Pope resumed his series of catecheses dedicated to the subject of prayer, focusing today on the Prophet Elijah "whom God sent to bring the people to conversion".

The Holy Father explained how "upon Mount Carmel Elijah revealed himself  in all his power as intercessor when, before the whole of Israel, he prayed to the Lord to show Himself and convert people's hearts. The episode is recounted in chapter 18 of the First Book of Kings".
 

"The contest between Elijah and the followers of Baal (which was, in fact, a contest between the Lord of Israel, God of salvation and life, and a mute and ineffective idol which can do nothing for either good or evil) also marked the beginning of a confrontation between two completely different ways to address God and to pray". The oblations of the prophets of Baal
"revealed only the illusory reality of the idol ... which closed people in the confines of a desperate search for self".

 On the other hand, Elijah "called on the people to come closer, involving them in his actions and his prayer. ... The prophet built an alter using 'twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob', ... to represent all Israel. ... Elijah then addressed the Lord calling Him Lord of the fathers, thus implicitly recalling the divine promises and the history of choice and alliance which had indissolubly united the Lord to His people".

The prophet's request "was that the people might finally and fully come to know and understand Who their God is, and make the decisive decision to follow only Him. Only in this way could God be recognised as Absolute and Transcendent". Only in this way would it be clear that "no other gods could be placed at His side, as this would deny His absoluteness and relativize Him".

Benedict XVI highlighted how "believers must respond to the absoluteness of God with absolute and total love, a love involving all their lives, their energies, their hearts. ... In his intercession, Elijah asked of God what God Himself wished to do: to show Himself in all His mercy, faithful to His nature as Lord of life Who forgives, converts and transforms".

"The Lord responded unequivocally, not only burning the offering but even consuming all the water that had been poured around the altar. Israel could no longer doubt: divine mercy had responded to its weakness, to its doubts, to its lack of faith. Now Baal, the vain idol, was beaten and the people, who seemed lost, had rediscovered the way of truth, they had rediscovered themselves".

The Holy Father concluded by asking himself what this story has to tell us today. "Firstly", he said, "is the priority of the first commandment of God's Law: having no god but God. When God disappears man falls into slavery, into idolatry, as has happened in our time under totalitarian regimes and with the various forms of nihilism which make man dependent on
idols and idolatry, which enslave". Secondly, he continued, "the main objective of prayer is conversion: the fire of God which transforms our hearts and makes us capable of seeing God and living for Him and for others". Thirdly, "the Church Fathers tell us that this story is ... a
foretaste of the future, which is Christ. It is a step on the journey towards Christ".

AG/ VIS

Source: VIS - Vatican Information Service 

Our Order will request the Holy See to declare 2015 as “A Year of Prayer”

Rome- Italy, 23 May 2011 (Communicationes).- Because of the celebration of the 5th Centenary of the birth of St. Teresa, the Order hopes to request that the Holy See officially declare 2015 “A Year of Prayer” and that it would be a Jubilee Year in the city of Avila. It is also hoped, with the collaboration of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, that the Holy Father might visit Avila during the year.

Fr. Emilio J. Martinez Gonzalez, Vicar General and Responsible for the Centenary Organization, writes this in a letter sent to all members of the Order.

In his letter, Fr. Emilio refers to many projects already underway in preparation for the Centenary:- annual International Congresses programmed by CITes in Avila; the preparation of special documents on St. Teresa; the website www.iwasbornforyou.com a theatrical production and new translations of Teresa’s works in French and English, among others. 

Yet another project is for “the restoration of the convent-church on the site of the birth-place of St. Teresa, particularly of the chapel commemorating the actual birth-room”. “This will be a lasting and fitting tribute to the Saint on her 5th Centenary”. 

The letter goes on to ask the different Conferences of Major Superiors to set up their respective promotion Commissions for the Centenary and to coordinate their efforts with the General Curia with a view to establishing an international working network.

Finally,. Fr. Emilio writes that a special Bank Account has been opened for financial contributions towards covering the expenses of all these projects (and many others) in preparation for the Centenary. An account is also available under the headi “donations” on the www.iwasbornforyou.com website.

Pope invites the faithful to read “The Story of a Soul”

Rome‐Italy,  6  April  2011  (Communicationes).‐    In  his  Papal  audience  today  in  St.  Peter’s Square, the Pope invited the faithful to read “The Story of a Soul” of St. Therese of the Child Jesus  and  the  Holy  Face.    In  this  Wednesday’s  weekly  audience  he  spoke  of  the  life  and teaching  of  the  French  Carmelite  who  had  been  declared  a  Doctor  of  the  Church  in  1997  by Pope  John  Paul  II.    The  same  Pope  defined  her  as  “an  expert  in  the  Science  of  Love”  in  his Apostolic Letter “On entering a New Millennium”.  

“Little Therese”, said Pope Benedict, “has never ceased to help simple souls, the little ones, the poor,  those  who  suffer  and  those  who  pray  to  her,  but  she  has  also  illuminated  the  whole Church  with  her  profound  spiritual teaching”.    “I  want  to  invite  you  to  rediscover  this  small ‐ great treasure, this enlightened Gospel commentary, lived out to the full! ‘The Story of a Soul’
is, in fact, a marvelous story of love, told with such authenticity, simplicity and freshness that it cannot but fascinate its readers”, continued His Holiness.  

“Therese is one of the ‘little ones’ of the Gospel who allow themselves to be borne by God into the Depths of His Mystery” the Pope went on, while proposing the Patroness of the Missions “as a guide for everyone, but especially for those who engage in the ministry of theologians”.

 
He underlined Trust and Love as being the key notes of the message of Therese.  These two words  were  like  lighthouses  that  illumined  her  whole  path  of  sanctity  and  that  could  serve others in following the same “little way of trust and love” of spiritual childhood.

The Pope invited all the faithful to repeat with St. Therese “that we wish to live for love of God and of our neighbors”.  “Therese shows us that Christian life means living fully our Baptismal grace in a total gift of Yes to the love of the Father, in order to express in union with Christ, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, His own love for others” concluded Pope Benedict.

Source:

Communicationes N.175
6/4/11