Grazie Mille Papa Ratzinger!

“Luke the Evangelist, places particular attention on the fact that Jesus was transfigured as He prayed. His is a profound experience of relationship with the Father during a type of spiritual retreat that Jesus undergoes on a high mountain in the company of Peter, James, and John, the three disciples who are always present at the moments of the Master's divine manifestation. The Lord, who had foretold His death and resurrection shortly before, offers His disciples an anticipation of His glory. Again at the Transfiguration, as at His Baptism, we hear the voice of the Heavenly Father: 'This is my chosen Son; listen to Him.' The presence of Moses and Elijah, who represent the Law and the Prophets of the Old Covenant, is very important. The entire history of the Covenant is directed toward Him, the Christ, who brings about a new 'exodus', not to the promised land, as in the time of Moses, but to heaven. Peter's exclamation, 'Master, it is good that we are here', represents the impossible attempt to stop this mystical experience. St. Augustine comments: “Peter … on the mountain ... had Christ as the Bread of his soul. Should he then depart from there to return to struggles and sorrows, while up above he was full of the holy love for God that inspired him to saintly behaviour?”

“Meditating on this Gospel passage, we can draw a very important teaching from it. First of all, the primacy of prayer, without which the entire commitment of ministry and charity is reduced to activism. During Lent we learn to give the proper time to the prayer, both personal and communal, which gives breath to our spiritual life. In addition, prayer is not an isolation from the world and its contradictions, as Peter would have wanted on Mt. Tabor. Instead, prayer leads to a path of action. 'The Christian life—I wrote in this year's Lenten Message—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.'”

“I hear this Word of God addressed to me in a special way at this moment of my life. The Lord has called me to 'scale the mountain', to dedicate myself still more to prayer and meditation. But this does not mean abandoning the Church. If God asks me this it is precisely so that I might continue to serve her with the same dedication and the same love with which I have tried to give up to now, but in a way more suitable to my age and my strength. Let us call upon the intercession of the Virgin Mary: May she help all of us to always follow the Lord Jesus, in prayer and in works of charity.”

Pope Benedict XVI last Angelus

misericordias domini in aeternum cantabo

PSALMUS 121 (120)

1 Canticum ascensionum.
Levabo oculos meos in montes:
unde veniet auxilium mihi?
2 Auxilium meum a Domino,
qui fecit caelum et terram.
3 Non dabit in commotionem pedem tuum
neque dormitabit, qui custodit te.
4 Ecce non dormitabit neque dormiet,
qui custodit Israel.
5 Dominus custodit te,
Dominus umbraculum tuum
ad manum dexteram tuam.
6 Per diem sol non percutiet te,
neque luna per noctem.
7 Dominus custodiet te ab omni malo;
custodiet animam tuam Dominus.
8 Dominus custodiet introitum tuum et exitum tuum
ex hoc nunc et usque in saeculum.


Et Iesus dicebat: “ Sic est regnum Dei, quemadmodum si homo iaciat sementem in terram
27 et dormiat et exsurgat nocte ac die, et semen germinet et increscat, dum nescit ille.
28 Ultro terra fructificat primum herbam, deinde spicam, deinde plenum frumentum in spica.
29 Et cum se produxerit fructus, statim mittit falcem, quoniam adest messis ”. (Mk 4, 27)

Solo la volontà di Dio... questa è libertà

San Rafael Arnaiz Baron (1911-1938), monaco trappista spagnolo
Scritti spirituali, 15/12/1936

Il Figlio di Dio rifiuta la tentazione di altre strade e obbedisce alla volontà del Padre.
    Anch'io, quando ero nel mondo, correvo a volte sulle strade della Spagna, felice di far salire la velocità dell'automobile fino a 90 km all'ora: che sciocchezza! Quando mi sono accorto che non c'erano altri orizzonti, ho provato la delusione di chi possiede la libertà di questo mondo, perché la terra è piccina e se ne fa presto il giro. Sono piccoli e limitati gli orizzonti intorno all'uomo. Per chi ha l'anima assetata di orizzonti infiniti,  quelli della terra non gli bastano: lo soffocano, non c'è un mondo abbastanza grande per lui, e trova ciò che cerca solo nella grandezza e immensità di Dio. Uomini liberi che andate girando tutto il pianeta, non invidio la vostra vita in questo mondo; chiuso in convento e ai piedi del crocifisso, ho una libertà infinita, ho un cielo, ho Dio. Non c'è più grande fortuna di avere un cuore innamorato di lui!...

    Povero fratello Rafael!... Continua ad attendere, continua a sperare con la dolce serenità che viene dalla sicura speranza; resta immobile, inchiodato, prigioniero del tuo Dio ai piedi del suo tabernacolo. Ascolta da lontano il chiasso degli uomini che godono i brevi giorni della loro libertà nel mondo; ascolta di lontano le loro voci, le risa, i pianti, le guerre. Ascolta e medita un momento; medita un Dio infinito, Dio che ha fatto il cielo e la terra e gli uomini, il Signore assoluto dei cieli e della terra, dei fiumi e dei mari; colui che in un attimo, solo perché l'ha voluto, ha fatto venire dal nulla tutto ciò che esiste.

    Medita un momento la vita di Cristo, e vedrai che non ci sono in essa libertà, né rumore, né fragore di voci; vedrai il Figlio dell'uomo sottomesso all'uomo; vedrai Gesù obbediente, sottomesso e che ha come legge della sua vita, in una pace serena, solo quella di compiere la volontà del Padre. E infine, contempla Cristo inchiodato sulla croce. A che serve parlare di libertà?

Very Beautiful reflection about Pope's resignation

http://laikos.org/BXVI-Sejha-Gdida.htm

Beautiful

Emotional Cardinal Bertone to Pope: you brought God to man and man to God

Emotional Cardinal Bertone to Pope: you brought God to man and man to God

O noche amada mas que el alborada!

Dove andare lontano dal tuo spirito,
    dove fuggire dalla tua presenza?
Se salgo in cielo, là tu sei,
    se scendo negli inferi, eccoti.

Se prendo le ali dell'aurora
    per abitare al'estremità del mare,
anche là mi guida la tua mano
    e mi afferra la tua destra.

Se dico: «Almeno l'oscurità mi copra
    e intorno a me sia la notte»;

nemmeno le tenebre per te sono oscure,
    e la notte è chiara come il giorno;
    per te le tenebre sono come luce.

   ...Tu mi conosci fino in fondo.

Non ti erano nascoste le mie ossa 
    quando venivo formato nel segreto, 
    intessuto nelle profondità della terra.

Ancora informe mi hanno visto i tuoi occhi...

Quanto profondi per me i tuoi pensieri,
    quanto grande il loro numero, o Dio;
Se li conto sono più della sabbia,
    se li credo finiti, con te sono ancora.

Scrutami, Dio, e conosci il mio cuore, 
    provami e conosci i miei pensieri:
vedi se percorro una via di menzogna 
    e guidami sulla via della vita.

Archbishop Nichols on Pope's "courage, humility, integrity"

2013-02-12 Vatican Radio
(Vatican Radio) The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has paid tribute to Pope Benedict’s courage, humility and integrity in deciding to step down from the papacy at the end of this month. Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster says he’s asked Catholics and all people of faith in Britain to pray for the Pope and for the guidance of the Holy Spirit within the Holy See over the coming weeks.
Speaking to Philippa Hitchen, the president of the bishops conference of England and Wales also shared his favourite moments of this past papacy and spoke of the challenges ahead for the man who will take over from Benedict XVI

“Well my first reaction was to seek clarification because it was startling and really quite surprising….but reflecting on it, you could see it was a very courageous decision which bears the characteristics of Pope Benedict XVI, courage, humility and great integrity……
I’ve asked people of all faiths to pray for Pope Benedict as he faces an exceptional course of action and secondly to pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit on all that has to take place within the Holy See now to ensure continuity on ministry in the See of Peter….
I think the Holy Father understood the needs of the church very clearly and I personally would go back to two of his recent statements, his address to the Curia in December and that to the diplomatic corps in January, in which he sketches quite clearly the challenges facing the Church. They don’t change, so I think he’s given, in those two speeches, a kind of sketch of what he sees as necessary for the next phase in the life of the church…
Clearly, most importantly for me was the visit of the Holy Father here in September 2010. I had the privilege of travelling with him in the pope mobile throughout his journeys across London and entering Westminster Hall when he received that quite astonishing and profoundly respectful acclamation from the leading people of Britain. I will never every forget those moments and I will never forget the grace and the clarity with which he spoke to the heart of British society, both acknowledging the achievements of Britain, but also challenging us to engage substantially in the dialogue between the world of religious faith and the world of secularism. That remains our challenge, but it was his astonishing witness and confidence in faith that the leaders of this country responded to so well… So his visit to Britain, his speech in Westminster Hall, his mass in Westminster Cathedral, the beatification of Cardinal Newman… they are the warmest memories that I will never ever relinquish of Pope Benedict XVI.”