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Pope Benedict XVI- Angelus |
Angelus Message
In Praise of Cloistered Religious
"Silently Witness That God Is the Only Support That Never Falters"
H.H. Benedict XVI
November 19, 2006
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
The day after tomorrow, November 21, on the occasion of the
liturgical memorial of the Presentation of Mary Most Holy in the
Temple, we celebrate "pro Orantibus" Day, dedicated to remembering
cloistered religious communities. It is a particularly appropriate
occasion to thank the Lord for the gift of so many persons who, in
monasteries and hermitages, are totally dedicated to God in prayer,
silence and hiddenness.
Some wonder about the meaning and value of their presence in our
time, in which many urgent situations of poverty and need must be
addressed. Why "shut oneself" forever behind the walls of a
monastery and deprive others of the contribution of one's talents
and experiences? What efficacy can prayer have to resolve the
numerous concrete problems that continue to afflict humanity?
In fact, also today numerous persons often surprise friends and
acquaintances when they abandon professional careers, often
promising careers, to embrace the austere rule of a cloistered
monastery. What leads them to take such a committed step if not
their having understood, as the Gospel teaches, that the Kingdom of
heaven is "a treasure" for which it is worth abandoning everything
(cf. Matthew 13:44)?
These brothers and sisters silently witness that in the midst of
daily vicissitudes, at times extremely convulsive, God is the only
support that never falters, the unbreakable rock of fidelity and
love. "Todo se pasa, Dios no se muda" [Everything passes, God is
unchanging], wrote the great spiritual teacher Teresa of Avila in
her famous text. And, given the widespread need that many experience
to leave the daily routine of the great urban agglomerations in
search of appropriate spaces for silence and meditation, monasteries
of contemplative life appear as "oases" in which man, a pilgrim on
earth, can go to the sources of the Spirit and slake his thirst
along the way.
These places, apparently useless, are, on the contrary,
indispensable, like the green "lungs" of a city: They are beneficial
for all, including for those who do not visit them or perhaps do not
know that they exist.
Dear brothers and sisters: Let us thank the Lord, who in his
providence, has willed that there be cloistered communities,
masculine and feminine. May they not lack our spiritual and also
material support so that they will be able to fulfill their mission
of keeping alive in the Church the ardent expectation of Christ's
return. Let us invoke, for this reason, the intercession of Mary,
whom, in the memorial of the Presentation in the Temple, we will
contemplate as mother and model of the Church, who unites in herself
both vocations: to virginity and to marriage, to the contemplative
and to the active life.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[After the Angelus, the Pope greeted pilgrims in several languages.
In English, he said:]
I greet all the English-speaking visitors present at today's
"Angelus," including pilgrims from Papua New Guinea, international
participants in "Bike for Peace Norway," and benefactors of the
Fondazione Pro Musica e Arte Sacra. Today is a special day of
remembrance for those who have died on the roads this year. We pray
for them and ask God for his gifts of consolation and peace for
their families. Upon all of you and your loved ones I invoke God's
blessing of peace and joy!
[Text released by the Vatican]
Look at the One they
Pierced!
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