Verbum Dei UK

As the Pope was here in UK these last days, our suggestion for this week’s email guidelines is to pray about the meaning of the Pope’s life in the Church and to assimilate some of his speeches.

MONDAY: MATTHEW 16:13-20

“Who do you say I am?...”

Jesus chose Peter to be the rock, on which he’d build his church. He chose Peter not because he was perfect but because of his faith:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

The bigger any organisation is, the greater need it has for someone able to lead it and keep all the individual areas and departments together, focused in the same goal.

The Pope is the successor of Peter on earth now, the vicar of Christ. He is called to gather the faith community, the Church in one faith, so that she can express the life and love of Christ in different ways.

Like Peter, he wasn’t called because he is perfect but because of his strong faith above all.

We can see this in the fact that, despite many controversies and protests, we witnessed to the Pope’s confidence in our faith; the serenity of believing and the security in his faith, which his visit confirmed all of us in Christ.

Let’s give thanks to God for the life and faith of Benedict XVI who, despite of his age, is an instrument of God’s Grace. Let’s also ask God to strengthen our faith.

TUESDAY: MATTHEW 9:9-13

“Follow Me”

Today is the Feast Day of St Matthew. And we remember the words of Jesus calling Matthew to follow him. In the gospel, to follow Christ means to imitate the pattern of his life.

While Jesus healed some, he called others, like Matthew to follow him closely. We Christians, are called to follow Christ, to grow in our spiritual life according to Christ. If we find prayer difficult, perhaps we can ask ourselves: who am I following? Am I following Christ? Am I growing in Christ likeness? Sometimes prayer can be difficult because I can be living only according to what others live, seeking the world’s values. Other times, the difficulty in prayer can be caused by the fact that I cannot connect what I live with the image of God I have. Then, today I invite you to ask yourselves, am I following Christ? Do my options in life reflect something of Christ’s life? Am I trying to meet the glorious Christ or Jesus who is friend of sinners, paralytics, blind (those who didn’t feel worth of God and felt distant from God)...?

I was struck by the words of the Pope in his speech in Westminster Hall. He spoke about the importance of the role of religion in public affairs and in society. In Scotland, he had spoken about the importance of evangelisation and inculturalization; he exhorted us not to conform to secularism or live our lives just in private. His speeches weren’t judgmental to other religions but it reinforced the importance of seeking what already unites us all, promoting faith and ethical values in society.

Lord Jesus, help us not to conform with the values of the secular society but to discern what helps us to imitate the pattern of your life.

WEDNESDAY: JOHN 21:15-19

“Simon, son of John, do you love me?... Feed my sheep.”

After the death and resurrection, these were the last words of Jesus to Peter, calling him to feed his sheep not out of obligation/ duty, but out of love. This is the Pope’s mission, to feed all of us, believers, with the light of the gospel.

I still remember when it was the war in Iraq, and my confusion when listening to how the mass media would present us with lots of justifications to go to war. However, the words of Pope John Paul II were very remarkable to me, they were an authority for me to rely in his wisdom more than what the press and others would say. And now, looking back, I can see and believe more in how the Holy Spirit does empower the Pope with the gift of wisdom to pronounce words that are prophetic, words that nourishes us to discern the ways for us to follow Christ.

THURSDAY: MATTHEW 10:26-33

“Do not be afraid of them. Everything now covered up will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight...”

Today, I leave you with the words from Benedict XVI in Westminster Hall, admiring his boldness and openness to speak to politicians, diplomats, academics and business leaders:

“Britain has emerged as a pluralist democracy which places great value on freedom of speech, freedom of political affiliation and respect for the rule of law, with a strong sense of the individual’s rights and duties, and of the equality of all citizens before the law. While couched in different language, Catholic social teaching has much in common with this approach, in its overriding concern to safeguard the unique dignity of every human person, created in the image and likeness of God, and in its emphasis on the duty of civil authority to foster the common good.

And yet the fundamental questions at stake in Thomas More’s trial continue to present themselves in ever-changing terms as new social conditions emerge. Each generation, as it seeks to advance the common good, must ask anew: what are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose upon citizens, and how far do they extend? By appeal to what authority can moral dilemmas be resolved? These questions take us directly to the ethical foundations of civil discourse. If the moral principles underpinning the democratic process are themselves determined by nothing more solid than social consensus, then the fragility of the process becomes all too evident - herein lies the real challenge for democracy...

The central question at issue, then, is this: where is the ethical foundation for political choices to be found? The Catholic tradition maintains that the objective norms governing right action are accessible to reason...

I would suggest that the world of reason and the world of faith – the world of secular rationality and the world of religious belief – need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilization...

I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalization of religion, particularly of Christianity, that is taking place in some quarters, even in nations which place a great emphasis on tolerance. There are those who would advocate that the voice of religion be silenced, or at least relegated to the purely private sphere. There are those who argue that the public celebration of festivals such as Christmas should be discouraged, in the questionable belief that it might somehow offend those of other religions or none. And there are those who argue – paradoxically with the intention of eliminating discrimination – that Christians in public roles should be required at times to act against their conscience. These are worrying signs of a failure to appreciate not only the rights of believers to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, but also the legitimate role of religion in the public square. I would invite all of you, therefore, within your respective spheres of influence, to seek ways of promoting and encouraging dialogue between faith and reason at every level of national life...”

FRIDAY: GENESIS 1:26

Words from the Benedict XVI last Saturday morning, directed to young people:

“In these few moments that we are together I wish to speak to you from my own heart, and I ask to open your hearts to what I have to say.

I ask each of you first and foremost to look into your own heart, think of all the love that your heart was made to receive, and also love it is meant to give, after all we were made for love. This is what the Bible means when it says that we are made in the image and likeness of God. We were made to know the God of love, the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to find our supreme fulfilment in that Divine love that knows no beginning or end.

We were made to receive love, and we have. Every day we should thank God for the love we have already known. For the love that has made us who we are. The love that is shown us what is truly important in life. We need to thank the Lord for the love we have received from our families, our friends, our teachers, and all those people in our lives who have helped us to realise how precious we are in their eyes, and in the eyes of God.

We were also made to give love, to make the inspirational for all we do, and the most enduring thing in our lives. At times it seems so natural, especially when we feel the exhilaration of love, when our hearts brim over with generosity, idealism, the desire to help others to build a better world -- but at other times, we realise it is difficult to love. Our hearts can easily be hardened by selfishness, envy and pride. The Blessed mother Theresa of Calcutta, the great missionary of charity reminded us that giving love, pure and generous love, is the fruit of a daily decision.

Every day we have to choose to love and this requires help. The help that comes from Christ, from the wisdom found in his word. And from the Grace which he bestows us in the sacraments of his church. This is the message I want to share with you today. I ask you to look into your hearts, each day, to find the source of all true love. Jesus is always there. Quietly waiting for us to be still with him and to hear his voice. Deep within your heart, he is calling you to spend time with him in prayer, but this kind of prayer, real prayer, requires discipline.

It requires time for moments of silence every day. Often it means waiting for the Lord to speak.

Even amidst the business and stress of our daily lives we need to make space for silence, because it is in silence that we find God. And in silence that we discover our true self.

And in discovering our true self we discover the particular vocation which God has given us for the building up of his church and the redemption of our world. Heart speaks unto heart. With these words from my heart, dear young friends, this is word’s from my heart. I assure you of my prayers for you.

That our lives will bear fruit of the cross, of the civilisation of the cross, I ask you to pray for me, for my Ministry as the successor of Peter, and for the needs of the church throughout the world. Upon you, your families and friends, I call on you God's blessing of wisdom, joy and peace.”

---

Publish: