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Pope Benedict XVI- Angelus |
Angelus Message
On the Year for Priests
"Love Triumphs Over Death"
H.H. Benedict XVI
August 09, 2009
Courtyard of the Papal Summer Residence, Castel Gandolfo
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
Like last Sunday, today
too in the context of the Year for Priests that we are celebrating
we shall pause to meditate on some of the men and women Saints that
the liturgy commemorates in these days. Except for the Virgin Clare
of Assisi, who was consumed with divine love in her daily sacrifice
of prayer and community life, the others are martyrs, two of whom
were killed in the concentration camp at Auschwitz: St Teresa
Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein, who, born into the Jewish faith
and won over by Christ as an adult, became a Carmelite nun and
sealed her existence with martyrdom; and St Maximilian Kolbe, a son
of Poland and of St Francis of Assisi, a great apostle of Mary
Immaculate. We shall then encounter other splendid figures, martyrs
of the Church of Rome, such as Pope St Pontianus, St Hippolytus, a
priest, and St Lawrence the Deacon. What marvellous models of
holiness the Church presents to us! These saints are witnesses of
that charity which loves "to the end", which does not take into
account a wrong suffered but instead combats it with good (cf. 1 Cor
13: 4-8). From them we can learn especially we priests the
evangelical heroism that impels us to give our life fearlessly for
the salvation of souls. Love triumphs over death!
All the saints, but especially martyrs, are witnesses of God, who is
Love: Deus Caritas est. The Nazi concentration camps, like all
extermination camps, can be considered extreme symbols of evil, of
hell that opens on earth when man forgets God and supplants him,
usurping his right to decide what is good and what is evil, to give
life and death. However, this sad phenomenon is unfortunately not
limited to concentration camps. Rather, they are the culmination of
an extensive and widespread reality, often with shifting boundaries.
The Saints whom I have briefly recalled lead us to reflect on the
profound divergences that exist between atheistic humanism and
Christian humanism. This antithesis permeates the whole of history
but with the contemporary nihilism, at the end of the second
millennium, it has reached a crucial point, as great literary
figures and thinkers have perceived and as events have amply
demonstrated. On the one hand, there are philosophies and
ideologies, but there are also always more ways of thinking and
acting that exalt freedom as the unique principle of the human
being, as an alternative to God, and which in this way transform the
human being into a god, but an erroneous god who makes arbitrariness
his own system of behaviour. On the other hand, we have the Saints
who, in practising the Gospel of charity, account for their hope.
They show the true Face of God who is Love and, at the same time,
the authentic face of man, created in the divine image and likeness.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us pray the Virgin Mary to help all
of us and in the first place priests to be holy like these heroic
witnesses of faith and of self-dedication to the point of martyrdom.
And charity in truth is the only credible and exhaustive response
one can offer to the profound human and spiritual crisis of the
contemporary world.
After the Angelus:
I am pleased to greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors
gathered for this Angelus prayer. The readings from today's Mass
invite us to put our faith in Jesus, the "bread of life" who offers
himself to us in the Eucharist and promises us eternal joy in the
house of the Father. During these summer holidays, may you and your
families respond to the Lord's invitation by actively participating
in the Eucharistic sacrifice and through generous acts of charity.
Upon all of you I invoke his blessings of joy and peace!
A good Sunday to you all!
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