Pope Benedict XIV speaks:
Saturday 5 June:
NICOSIA, Cyprus, JUNE 5, 2010 (Zenit.org).- While the cross is an instrument of torture and suffering, it also represents the triumph of God's love over evil, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this today during a homily at the Latin parish Church of the Holy Cross, attended by priests, religious, deacons, catechists and representatives of Cyprian ecclesial movements, in which he addressed the question of "why we Christians celebrate an instrument of torture, a sign of suffering, defeat and failure."
"It is true," he answered, "that the Cross expresses all these things. And yet, because of him who was lifted up on the Cross for our salvation, it also represents the definitive triumph of God's love over all the evil in the world."The Pontiff said the cross is "something far greater and more mysterious than it at first appears." It's not just an instrument of torture, suffering and defeat," he explained, because it also " expresses the complete transformation, the definitive reversal of these evils."
"That is what makes it the most eloquent symbol of hope that the world has ever seen," he affirmed. "It speaks to all who suffer -- the oppressed, the sick, the poor, the outcast, the victims of violence -- and it offers them hope that God can transform their suffering into joy, their isolation into communion, their death into life.
"It offers unlimited hope to our fallen world."
Benedict XVI affirmed that "the world needs the cross":
"The Cross is not just a private symbol of devotion, it is not just a badge of membership of a certain group within society, and in its deepest meaning it has nothing to do with the imposition of a creed or a philosophy by force."A world without the Cross would be a world without hope," he continued, "a world in which torture and brutality would go unchecked, the weak would be exploited and greed would have the final word. Man’s inhumanity to man would be manifested in ever more horrific ways, and there would be no end to the vicious cycle of violence.
"It speaks of hope, it speaks of love, it speaks of the victory of non-violence over oppression, it speaks of God raising up the lowly, empowering the weak, conquering division, and overcoming hatred with love."
"Only the Cross puts an end to it. While no earthly power can save us from the consequences of our sins, and no earthly power can defeat injustice at its source, nevertheless the saving intervention of our loving God has transformed the reality of sin and death into its opposite."
Article from ZENIT's Web page:
Full text: www.zenit.org/article-29488?l=english
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From ZENIT's Web page:
Full text: http://zenit.org/article-29496?l=english
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Sunday 6 June:
NICOSIA, Cyprus, JUNE 6, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a Vatican translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today before praying the midday Angelus with the faithful gathered at the Eleftheria Sports Centre in Nicosia.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
At the midday hour it is the Church's tradition to turn in prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary, joyfully recalling her ready acceptance of the Lord's invitation to become the mother of God. It was an invitation that filled her with trepidation, one which she could scarcely even comprehend. It was a sign that God had chosen her, his lowly handmaid, to cooperate with him in his saving work. How we rejoice at the generosity of her response! Through her "yes", the hope of the ages became a reality, the One whom Israel had long awaited came into the world, into our history. Of him the angel promised that his kingdom would have no end (cf. Lk 1:33).
Some thirty years later, as Mary stood weeping at the foot of the cross, it must have been hard to keep that hope alive.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
At the midday hour it is the Church's tradition to turn in prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary, joyfully recalling her ready acceptance of the Lord's invitation to become the mother of God. It was an invitation that filled her with trepidation, one which she could scarcely even comprehend. It was a sign that God had chosen her, his lowly handmaid, to cooperate with him in his saving work. How we rejoice at the generosity of her response! Through her "yes", the hope of the ages became a reality, the One whom Israel had long awaited came into the world, into our history. Of him the angel promised that his kingdom would have no end (cf. Lk 1:33).
Some thirty years later, as Mary stood weeping at the foot of the cross, it must have been hard to keep that hope alive.
The forces of darkness seemed to have gained the upper hand. And yet, deep down, she would have remembered the angel's words.
Even amid the desolation of Holy Saturday the certitude of hope carried her forward into the joy of Easter morning. And so we, her children, live in the same confident hope that the Word made flesh in Mary's womb will never abandon us. He, the Son of God and Son of Mary, strengthens the communion that binds us together, so that we can bear witness to him and to the power of his healing and reconciling love.
I would now like to say a few words in Polish on the happy occasion of the beatification today of Jerzy Popiełuszko, priest and martyr.
I send cordial greetings to the Church in Poland which today rejoices at the elevation to the altars of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko. His zealous service and his martyrdom are a special sign of the victory of good over evil. May his example and his intercession nourish the zeal of priests and enkindle the faithful with love.
Let us now implore Mary our Mother to intercede for all of us, for the people of
Cyprus, and for the Church throughout the Middle East with Christ, her Son, the
Prince of Peace.
© Copyright 2010 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
I send cordial greetings to the Church in Poland which today rejoices at the elevation to the altars of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko. His zealous service and his martyrdom are a special sign of the victory of good over evil. May his example and his intercession nourish the zeal of priests and enkindle the faithful with love.
Let us now implore Mary our Mother to intercede for all of us, for the people of
Cyprus, and for the Church throughout the Middle East with Christ, her Son, the
Prince of Peace.
© Copyright 2010 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
From ZENIT's Web page:
Full text: http://zenit.org/article-29496?l=english
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