In his homily on Friday evening in the Lateran Basilica, the Cardinal Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome expresses the “affection” and “gratitude” of the entire Roman Church for the Pope Emeritus, whose health remains stable.
By Lisa Zengarini
While cardinals, bishops, episcopal conferences and faithful around the world continue to pray for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI Lateran Basilica.
The director of the Press Office of the Holy See said on Friday that the health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. be stable.
Although critical, the director of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni, has confirmed that Benedict XVI’s health is poor. remains stable.
affection and gratitude
Cardinal De Donatis began his homily by expressing the “affection” and “gratitude” of the entire Church of Rome for the pope emeritus, who he noted, “loved his diocese so much and loved (her) with unselfish love served”.
In light of today’s Gospel of the Solemnity of the Holy Family, the Archpriest St. John’s Basilica emphasized the similarity between the “trusting devotion” to God of Benedict XVI, whose baptismal name is Joseph, and that of St. Joseph when he was with Mary and the baby before Herod, Jesus fled.
A humble laborer in the Lord’s vineyard
“We like to think,” he said, “that our Bishop Emeritus is now holding the hand of St. Joseph, who helps him to keep ever alive God’s invitation not to fear”.
Cardinal De Donatis stressed the need for families to restore that loving and trusting relationship with God as they face many worldly challenges today, recalling the words of Benedict XVI. at the World Meeting of Families in Milan, when he said: “I often think of the marriage – Feast of Cana. The first wine is very fine: that is falling in love. But it doesn’t last until the end: a second wine has to come later, it has to ferment and grow, mature. The Definitive Love That Truly Can That ‘second wine’ will be even more wonderful, it’s better than the first wine”.
The Cardinal Vicar further emphasized the “great confidence of Benedict XVI. into Providence”: “As priest, theologian, bishop and pope, he expressed at the same time the strength and sweetness of faith, the essentiality and simplicity of faith, of one who knows that dreams come true when one dreams with God “.
In addition, Cardinal De Donatis noted that, like Saint Joseph, the Pope Emeritus “has always stressed the primacy of the word of God over our human words, recalling the great value of silence and listening” and during his pontificate “us that Wine of love tasted new and good.
He quoted his first words of the encyclical Deus Caritas est, in which Benedict XVI. said that being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but “the encounter with an event, a person who gives life new horizons and a decisive direction”
“Benedict XVI, a humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard, is a witness to this encounter, a worker of truth and joy, of love for Christ and for the Church.”
A “man of the word”
As a “man of the word Benedict” Benedict XVI. also “a man of his word” and is showing us right now, as he has done for the last ten years, that “he who believes is never alone.” With his “tenderness, kindness, humility, gentleness, in deep communion with Pope Francis, the Pope Emeritus is a sign of the beautiful face of the Church, reflecting the light of the face of Christ,” Cardinal De Donatis said.
“Our prayer today is a sign of vitality and communion in the Church. In a change of era full of hardships and historical facts that have shaken us, let us testify, as Benedict repeated several times at the beginning of his pontificate, that the Church lives, she lives because Christ lives, he lives truly risen.”
preparation for death
The Cardinal Vicar ended his homily by quoting Benedict XVI’s reply. to a journalist who asked him how he prepared for death. The Pope Emeritus replied: “Think. Always remember that the end is near. Prepare for this moment and above all always keep it in mind. The important thing is not to imagine him, but to live in the awareness that all life tends towards this encounter” – which, as we can read in his encyclical ‘Spe Salvi’, “can be like diving into the ocean of infinite love becomes, a moment in which time – the before and the after – no longer exists. We can only try to understand that such a moment is life in its fullest sense, an immersion in the vastness of being, in which we are simply overwhelmed with joy.”
“If God wills, he will approach this brother of ours in the sleep of death and say to him: ‘Joseph, arise; Joseph, get up again’. And it will be Christ and his mother who will take him and lead him to paradise, where the dream of one life will become the reality of eternity.”