Pope Benedict: 'The Lord is Calling Me To 'Scale the Mountain''

Hundreds of Thousands Gather in St. Peter's Square for Pontiff's Final Angelus Address.

Vatican City, February 25, 2013 (Zenit.org) Junno Arocho Esteves | 242 hits

An estimated 200,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square for the final Angelus address of Pope Benedict XVI's papacy. Greeted by cheers and songs, the Holy Father thanked the faithful for their affection. Pope Benedict will officially resign from the See of St. Peter this Thursday at 8:00pm.

Speaking on the Sunday gospel regarding the Lord's transfiguration, Pope Benedict XVI emphasized the significance of Jesus' transfiguration while he was praying.

"Jesus’ [prayer] is a profound experience of his relationship with the Father during a kind of spiritual retreat on a high mountain together with Peter, James, and John, the 3 disciples who are always present in the moments of the Master’s divine manifestations," the Holy Father said.

Pope Benedict went on to emphasize the importance of prayer, saying that without it, any work of the "apostolate and charity is reduced to activism."

"Moreover, to pray is not to isolate oneself from the world and its contradictions, as Peter wished to do on Tabor. Prayer, rather, leads us back to the journey, to action. 'The Christian life,' I wrote in my Message for this Lent, 'consists in continuously scaling the mountain to meet God and then coming back down, bearing the love and strength drawn from him, so as to serve our brothers and sisters with God’s own love.'

The Holy Father spoke on his impending retirement, saying that the Word of God addresses him in a particular, to which the faithful responded with applause.

"The Lord is calling me to “scale the mountain,” to dedicate myself still more to prayer and to meditation," the Pope said. "But this does not mean abandoning the Church – on the contrary, if God asks this of me, it is to serve the Church with the same dedication and the same love with which I have tried to do so hitherto, but in a way that is more adapted to my age and my strength. Let us invoke the intercession of the Virgin Mary: may she help us always to follow the Lord Jesus in prayer and in active charity."

Eyes Fixed on Christ

Addressing the English speaking pilgrims who were present, Pope Benedict conveyed his "gratitude, affection and closeness in prayer" since announcing his retirement on February 11th.

"As we continue our Lenten journey towards Easter, may we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus the Redeemer, whose glory was revealed on the mount of the Transfiguration. Upon all of you I invoke God’s abundant blessings!" the Pope said.

Concluding his address, Pope Benedict XVI again thanked the pilgrims, and called on the faithful to continue to pray for him and the Church.

"I thank you for the affection and for sharing, especially in prayer, this important moment for me and for the Church. I wish everyone a good Sunday and a good week. Thank you! We are always close in prayer," the Holy Father said.

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On ZENIT's web page:

For the full text of Pope Benedict's Final Angelus Address, go to: http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/on-the-transfiguration--4

(February 25, 2013) © Innovative Media Inc.

Cardinal Bertone calls for prayer for conclave.

Dear Friends,let us listen to Cardinal Bertone and join with the contemplative Orders, and the world-wide Church, to ask the Holy Spirit to guide the Conclave as they prepare to elect a new Pope. And let us never cease our prayers for the intentions and welfare of our beloved Pope Benedict XIV.  

Vatican City, Feb 25, 2013 / 04:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cardinal-bertone-calls-contemplatives-to-pray-for-conclave/

The Vatican Secretary of State has written to the world’s nuns and monks to ask for their prayers for the conclave to elect his successor.

“The Holy Father is certain that you, in your monasteries and convents throughout the world, will provide the precious resource of that prayerful faith which down the centuries has accompanied and sustained the Church along her pilgrim path,” Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone’s Feb. 21 letter says.

“The coming conclave,” Cardinal Bertone emphasizes, “will thus depend in a special way on the transparent purity of your prayer and worship.”

As secretary of state, Cardinal Bertone will serve as the “Camerlengo.” He will be in charge of seeing that the daily administrative tasks of running the Church are taken care of, as well as the one who oversees the conclave.

The cardinal described the whole Church as “anxiously” following the final days of “the luminous pontificate” of Benedict XVI.

He noted that Pope Benedict “has asked all the faithful to accompany him with their prayers … and to await with trust the arrival of the new Pope.”

“In a particularly urgent way,” he added, “this appeal is addressed to those chosen members of the Church who are contemplatives.” And Cardinal Bertone advised contemplatives to look to the Pope’s example of devoting “himself above all to prayer, contemplation and reflection.”

The Secretary of State finished his letter by saying that Pope Benedict, “with whom I shared the contents of this letter, was deeply appreciative, and asked me to thank you and to assure you of his immense love and esteem.”

Pope Benedict XIV resigns.

The Holy Father

took everybody by surprise when he announced his abdication today:

Dear Brothers, I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.

For this reason,

 

and well aware of the seriousness of this act,

 

with full freedom I declare 

that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome,

 Successor of Saint Peter,

 

entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005,

 

in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours,

 

the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant

 

and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff

 

will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

http://papastronsay.blogspot.co.uk/

Ash Wednesday - 13 February 2013

May we offer a reminder:

According to the canon law Ash Wednesday is a day of fast and abstinence for all Catholics who are between the ages of 18-60.

Those who are bound by this may take only one full meal, and two small meals, that day. Children under 18 do not have to fast, but parents should discuss the importance of fasting with them and encourage them to make a little act of self-sacrifice on this day. 



All baptized Catholics from 14 upwards, are required to abstain from consuming meat (beef and chicken). 


Catholics are required to abstain on Fridays during Lent.

N.B. When health or ability to work would be seriously affected, the law does not oblige. In doubt concerning fast or abstinence, consult the parish priest or a confessor.

Struggling with your Lenten Promise’s?

And an encouraging thought from: http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2012/03/04/st-teresa-prayer-and-reflection-on-mortification#ixzz2KWCCM7Ya

PRAYER OF ST. TERESA ON MORTIFICATION

“Why O Lord, should I be preoccupied with my fears and lose courage in the face of my weakness? You give me to understand that I must fortify myself in humility, and convince myself that I can do very little alone, and that without your help I am nothing. I shall put all my confidence in your mercy, and shall distrust my own strength, convinced that my weakness is caused by my self-reliance. You teach me not to be astonished at my struggle, for when a soul wishes to give itself over to mortification, it encounters difficulties on all sides. Does it wish to give up its ease? What a hardship! To scorn a point of honor? What a torture! To endure harsh words? Intolerable suffering! In short, it becomes filled with extreme sadness, but as soon as it resolved to die to the world, every anguish is at an end.”

Saint Teresa of Avila