Padre Pio's Secret: His Shoulder Wound

I was in San Giovanni Rotondo on the 15th August 2011 and Br. Modestino Fucci had just passed away. There were a lot of Italians who had come to pay respects to him, and I was curious to find out who he was. This is what I found on the interwebs.

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Shortly after World War II was over, a young Polish priest who was studying in Rome, Fr. Karol Wojtyla, visited Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo. This encounter took place around 1947 or 1948. At that time in post-war Italy, it was possible to have access to Padre Pio, since travel was difficult and great crowds were not besieging the Friary. The young priest spent almost a week in San Giovanni Rotondo during his visit, and was able to attend Padre Pio’s Mass and make his confession to the saint. Apparently, this was not just a casual encounter, and the two spoke together at length during Fr. Wojtyla’s stay. Their conversations gave rise to rumors in later years, after the Polish prelate had been elevated to the Papacy, that Padre Pio had told him he would become Pope. The story persists to the present day, even though on two or three occasions "Papa Wojtyla" denied it.

Recently, new information about this visit has come to light, according to a new book in Italian published by Padre Pio's Friary, Il Papa e Il Frate, written by Stefano Campanella (1). As reported in this book, the future Pope and future Saint had a very interesting conversation. During this exchange, Fr. Wojtyla asked Padre Pio which of his wounds caused the greatest suffering. From this kind of personal question, we can see that they must have already talked together for some time and had become at ease with each other. The priest expected Padre Pio to say it was his chest wound, but instead the Padre replied, "It is my shoulder wound, which no one knows about and has never been cured or treated." This is extremely significant, not only because it reveals that Padre Pio bore this wound, but because, as far as is known, the future pope is the only one to whom Padre Pio ever revealed existence of this secret wound.

Centuries earlier, Our Lord himself had revealed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux in a vision, that his shoulder wound from carrying the heavy wooden cross caused him his greatest suffering, and that the cross tore into his flesh right up to the shoulder bone.

At one time, Padre had confided to his paisano from Pietrelcina, Brother Modestino Fucci, that his greatest pains occurred when he changed his undershirt. (Brother Modestino is currently the doorkeeper at Padre Pio’s friary in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.) Modestino, like Fr. Wojtyla, thought Padre Pio was referring to pains from the chest wound. Then, on February 4, 1971 Modestino was assigned the task of taking an inventory of all the items in the deceased Padre’s cell in the friary, and also his belongings in the archives. That day he discovered that one of Padre Pio’s undershirts bore a circle of bloodstains in the area of the right shoulder.

This reminded Brother Modestino that he had once read about a devotion to the shoulder wound of Jesus, caused by his bearing of the heavy cross beam, the patibulum, to Calvary. The beam could weigh up to 100 pounds. Part of this devotion to the shoulder wound of Christ is to pray daily three Our Father’s, Hail Mary’s and Glory Be’s, to honor the severe pains and lacerations Our Lord suffered from the weight of the patibulum.

On that very evening of February 4, 1971, Brother Modestino asked Padre Pio in prayer to enlighten him about the meaning of the bloodstained undershirt. He asked Padre to give him a sign if he truly bore Christ’s shoulder wound. Then he went to sleep, awakening at 1:00 AM with a terrible, excruciating pain in his shoulder, as if he had been sliced with a knife up to the shoulder bone. He felt that he would die from the pain if it continued, but it lasted only a short time. Then the room became filled with the aroma of a heavenly perfume of flowers – the sign of Padre Pio’s spiritual presence – and he heard a voice saying "Cosi ho sofferto io!" – "This is what I had to suffer!" Modestino remarked that he had a strange sensation after the pain subsided: that being deprived of this pain was also a suffering. His body had suffered from it, but his soul had desired it. He said, "It was painful and sweet at the same time."

What is the mystical and spiritual significance of the shoulder wound of St. Padre Pio? The book by journalist Saverio Gaeta, Sulla Soglia del Paradiso (2), reports that Padre Pio said this of his spiritual children: "When the Lord entrusts a soul to me, I place it on my shoulder and never let it go." From this statement, it can reasonably be inferred that the saint offered up the suffering and the extreme pain of his shoulder wound for his spiritual children.

Cleonice Morcaldi once said in the presence of Gaeta, "On the shoulders of Padre Pio rests the whole world and the Church." This expression seemed an exaggeration to the writer. But on the very same day that Gaeta had heard this, he later joined Padre Pio and some others in conversation. Padre Pio was telling the story of St. Christopher, and how he had carried the child Jesus on his shoulders across a river. Then, turning his gaze to look directly at Saverio Gaeta, Padre Pio pointedly said to the writer, "On my shoulders is the whole world."

References:

1. Campanella, Stefano, Il Papa e Il Frate, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, Edizioni Padre Pio da Pietrelcina, 2005.

2. Gaeta, Saverio, Sulla Soglia del Paradiso, Edizione speciale per Famiglia Christiana, San Paolo Edizioni, 2002.

St. Hormisdas - 8th August 2011

Isdegerdes, king of Persia, renewed the persecution which Cosroes II had raised against the church. It is not easy, says Theodoret, to describe or express the cruelties which were then invented against the disciples of Christ. Some were flayed alive, others had the skin torn from off their backs only, others off their faces from the forehead to the chin. Some were stuck all over with reeds split in two, and appeared like porcupines; then these reeds were forcibly plucked out, so as to bring off the skin with them. Some were bound hands and feet, and in that condition thrown into great vaults which were filled with hungry rats, mice, or other such vermin, which gnawed and devoured them by degrees, without their being able to defend themselves. Nevertheless, these cruelties hindered not the Christians from running with joy to meet death, that they might gain eternal life. Isdegerdes dying, the persecution was carried on by his son Varanes; and Hormisdas was one of the most illustrious victims of his tyranny and malice.

He was of the chief nobility among the Persians, son to the governor of a province, and of the race of the Achemenides. Varanes sent for him, and commanded him to renounce Jesus Christ. Hormisdas answered him: “That this would offend God, and transgress the laws of charity and justice; that whoever dares to violate the supreme law of the sovereign Lord of all things, would more easily betray his king, who is only a mortal man. If the latter be a crime deserving the worst of deaths, what must it be to renounce the God of the universe?” The king was enraged at this wise and just answer, and caused him to be deprived of his office, honours, and goods, and even stripped of his very clothes, except a small piece of linen that went round his waist; and ordered him in this naked condition to drive and look after the camels of the army.

A long time after, the king, looking out of his chamber window, saw Hormisdas all sunburnt, and covered with dust, and calling to mind his former dignity and riches, and the high station of his father, sent for him, ordered a shirt to be given him, and said to him: “Now at least lay aside thy obstinacy, and renounce the carpenter’s son.” The saint transported with holy zeal, tore the shirt or tunic, and threw it away, saying: “If you thought that I should so easily be tempted to abandon the law of God, keep your fine present with your impiety.” The king, incensed at his boldness, banished him again with indignation from his presence. St. Hormisdas happily finished his course; and is named in the Roman Martyrology.

Excerpts from 'The Joy of Loving' by Bl. Teresa of Calcutta

'Let us not be afraid to be humble, small, helpless to prove our love for God. The cup of water you give the sick, the way you lift a dying man, the way you feed a baby, the way you teach a dull child, the way you give medicine to a sufferer of leprosy, the joy with which you smile at your own at home - all this is GOd's love in the world today.'

' In Minneapolis, a woman in wheelchair, suffering continuos convulsions from cerebral palsy asked me what people like her could do for others. I told her: You can do the most. You can do more than any of us because your suffering is united with the suffering of Christ on the Cross and it brings strength to all of us. There is a tremendous strength that is growing in the world through this continual sharing, praying together, suffering together and working together.'

'There are sick and crippled people who cannot do anything to share in the work. So they adopt a Sister or a Brother, who then involves the sick co-worker fully in whatever he or she does. The two become like one person, and they call each other their second self. I have a second self in Belgium, and when I was last there, she said to me, 'I am sure you are going to have a heavy time, with all the walking and working and talking. I know this from the pain I have in my spine.' That was just before her seventeenth operation. Each time I have something special to do, it is she behind me that gives me all the strength and courage to do it.'

'God dwells in us. It doesn't matter where you are as long as you are clean of heart. Clean of heart means openness, that complete freedom, that detachment that allows you to love GOd without hindrance, without obstacles. When sin comes into our lives that is a personal obstacle between us and GOd. Sin is nothing but slavery.'

' To doctors: Have you experienced the joy of loving? You can do that as doctors. YOU have a beautiful opportunity when the sick come to you with great trust and confidence not only to receive a few tablets from you but to receive your tender love and care and especially when you have to make a sacrifice to look after the poor. Jesus said: 'Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me.'

'There is much suffering in the world - physical, material, mental. The suffering of some can be blamed on the greed of others. The material and physical suffering is suffering from hunger, from homelessness, from all kinds of diseases. But the greatest suffering is being lonely, feeling unloved, having no one. I have come more and more to realize that it is being unwanted that is the worse disease that any human being can ever experience.'

'To teachers: Do not neglect the weaker children. Consider the problems of the slow-witted, the dropouts - what will they become in society, if you do not look after them? Among the poor we have the rich poor - children who are better gifted. The rich poor child can still have a place but it is the child who is so dull, stupid, hungry that I must work for.'

'Let us beg form Our Lady to make our hearts 'meek and humble' like her Son's was. We learn humility through accepting humiliations cheerfully. Do not let a chance pass you by. It is so easy to be proud, harsh, moody and selfish, but we have been created for greater things. Why stoop down to things that will spoil the beauty of our hearts?'

'Nowadays, young people especially, want to see. You speak of love, you speak of prayer. They want to know how you love and how you pray, and what compassion means to you. That is how they judge. How you really live the life of a co-worker, a carrier of God's love.'

'Humility always radiates the greatness and glory of God. Through humility we grow in love. Humility is the beginning of sanctity.'

'Don't neglect your family. Be at home. If today so many young people are misled, it is because the grandparents are in some institution, mother is so busy that she is not there when the child comes home from school. There is nobody to receive them, or play with them and they go back into the streets where there are drugs and drinks and so many other things. It is the same everywhere. Everything depends on how much we love one another.'

' Please don't kill the child. I want the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted and give him or her to a married couple who will love the child and be loved by the child. At our children's home in Calcutta alone, we have save 3000 children from abortion. these children have brought such love and joy to their adoptive parents and have grown up so full of love and joy.'

'When we have nothing to give, let us give Him that nothingness.  Let us all remain as empty as possible, so that God can fill us. Even God cannot fill what is already full. God won't force Himself on us. YOu are filling the world with the love God has given you.'

'The very fact that God has placed a certain soul in our way is a sign that God wants us to do something for him or her. It is not chance; it has been planned by God. We are bound by conscience to help him or her.'

'We have small 'listening groups' of co-workers who go to the homes of old people and sit down with them and let them talk. very old people love to have somebody listen to them and let them talk, even if they have to tell the story of thirty years ago. To listen, when nobody else wants to listen, is a very beautiful thing.'

'It is easy to smile at people outside your own home. It is so easy to take care of the people that you don't know well. It is difficult to be thoughtful and kind and smile and be loving to your own in the house day after day, especially when we are tired and in a bad temper or a bad mood. We all have these moments and that is the time that Christ comes to us in a distressing disguise.'

'Once we take our eyes away from ourselves, from our interests, from our own rights, privileges, ambitions - then they will become clear to see Jesus around us.'

'Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for god loves a cheerful giver. he gives most who gives with joy. If in your work you have difficulties accept them with joy, with a big smile. The best way to show your gratitude to God and people is to accept everything with joy.'

Excerpts from "The Joy in Loving" by Bl. Teresa of Calcutta

'Keep the joy of loving God in your heart and share this joy with all your meet especially your family. Be holy - let us pray'

Lord give me this seeing faith, then my work will never be monotonous. I will find joy in humouring the fancies and gratifying the wishes of all poor sufferers. O beloved sick, how doubly dear you are to me, when you personify Christ; and what a privilege is mine to be allowed to tend you.

It is not enough to say: 'I love GOd' I also have to love my neighbour. In the Scriptures, St John says that you are a liar if you say you love God but do not love your neighbour. How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbour whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live? And he uses a very big word. 'You are a liar.' It is one of those words that is frightening to read, and yet it is really true.

It is very important for us to realize that love, to be true, has to hurt. I must be willing to give whatever it takes not to harm other people and, in fact, to do good to them. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise there is no true love in me and I bring injustice, not peace to those around me.

Charity begins today. Today somebody is suffering, today somebody is in the street, today somebody is hungry. Our work is for today, yesterday has gone, tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today to make Jesus known, loved, served, fed, clothed, sheltered. Do not wait for tommorow. Tomorrow we will not have them if we do not feed them today.

Sometime ago a woman came with her child to me and said: 'Mother, I went to two or three places to beg for food, for we have not eaten for three days but they told me that I was young and I should work and earn my living. No one gave me anything.' I went to get some food for her and by the time I returned, the baby in her arms has died of hunger.

Everything starts form prayer. Without asking God for love, we cannot possess love and still less are we able to give it to others. Just as people today are speaking so much about the poor but they do not know or talk to the poor, we too cannot talk so much about prayer and yet not know how to pray.

How do we learn to pray? When Jesus was asked by His disciples how to pray, He did not teach them any methods or techniques. He said that we should speak to God as to our Father, a loving Father. Let us say this prayer and live it: Our Father who are in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

It is simple yet so beautiful. Is this prayer fitting me? Can i say this prayer with an open heart, with a clean heart? Everything is there: God, myself, my neighbour. If I forgive them I can pray. There are no complications and yet we complicate our lives so much, by so many additions.

To students: I pray that all those young people who have graduated, do not carry just a piece of paper with them but that they carry with them love, peace and joy. That they become the sunshine of God's love to our people, the hope of eternal happiness and the burning flame of love wherever they go. That they become carriers of God's love. That they be able to give what they have received. For they have received not to keep but to share.

Have a deep compassion for people. To be able to have a heart full of compassion we need to pray. Especially be kind, be loving to the poor. We think we do so much for the poor, but it is they who make us rich. We are in debt to them. Do you want to do something beautiful for God? This is a person who needs you. This is your chance.

Try to put in the hearts of your children a love for the home. Make them long to be with their families. So much sin could be avoided if our people really loved their homes.

I believe God loved the world through us - through you and through me. We use Mother Teresa'a name; it is only a name, but we are real co-workers and carriers of His love. Today God loves the world through us. Especially in times like these when people are trying to make God 'was', it is you and I, by our love, by the purity of our lives, by out compassion, who prove to the world that God 'is'.

Recognising the Primacy of God the Father - Pope Benedict XVI

At midday today Benedict XVI appeared at the balcony overlooking the inner courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at Castelgandolfo, to pray the Angelus with faithful gathered there.


Commenting, as he does every Sunday, on that morning's Gospel reading, the Pope explained how the parables are "brief narratives which Jesus uses to announce the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven. Using images and situations taken from everyday life, the Lord wishes to show us the true foundation of all things. He shows us ... the God Who acts, Who enters our daily lives".


Using these narratives, "the divine Master invites us to recognise, first and foremost, the primacy of God the Father. Where He is not present, nothing good can exist. He is a decisive priority in all things. The Kingdom of heaven means, in fact, the lordship of God; in other words, His will must be assumed as the criterion-guide for our existence".


In today's Gospel Jesus compares heaven to a field of wheat, "in order to help us understand that something small and hidden, but possessing an irrepressible life force, is sown within us. Despite all the obstacles, the seed will develop and the fruit ripen, but the fruit will be good only if the terrain of life has been cultivated in accordance with the divine will.


"For this reason", the Pope added, "in the parable of the weeds among the wheat Christ warns us that, after the master had sown his seed, 'while everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat'. The meaning of this is that we must be ready to protect the grace we received on the day of Baptism, continuing to nourish faith in the Lord, which prevents evil from taking root".


Finally, the Pope turned his attention to the first reading of this morning's Mass, a passage from the Book of Wisdom underscoring the mercy and power of God. "If, then, we are all children of such a great and good Father", he said, "let us seek to resemble Him. This was the goal Jesus set Himself with His preaching, when He told His hearers: ''Be perfect ... as your heavenly Father is perfect

The Psalms: the Book of Prayer Par Excellence

Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis during this morning's general audience to what he described as "the book of prayer par excellence, the Book of Psalms". The audience was held in St. Peter's Square in the presence of 10,000 people.

The 150 Psalms of the Book of Psalms "express all human experience", said the Pope. "All the truth of the believer comes together in those prayers, which first the People of Israel and later the Church adopted as a special way to mediate their relationship with the one God, and as an adequate response to His having revealed Himself in history".

"Despite the many forms of expression they contain", the Psalms "can be divided into two broad categories: ... supplication associated with lamentation, and praise. These two dimensions are related, almost indivisible, because supplication is animated by the certainty that God will respond, and this opens the way to praise and thanksgiving; while praise and thanksgiving arise from the experience of salvation received, which presupposes the need for help expressed in the supplication. ... Thus, in the prayer of the Psalms, supplication and praise intertwine and fuse together in a single song which celebrates the eternal grace of the Lord as He bows down to our frailty".

"The Psalms teach us to pray", the Holy Father explained. "In them, the Word of God becomes the word of prayer. ... People who pray the Psalms speak to God with the words of God, addressing Him with the words He Himself taught us. ... Through these words it is also possible to know and accept the criteria of His actions, to approach the mystery of His thoughts and His ways, so as to grow and develop in faith and love".

"By teaching us to pray", the Pope went on, "the Psalms also teach us that at times of desolation, even in moments of suffering, the presence of God is a source of wonder and consolation. We may weep, plead and seek intercession, ... but in the awareness that we are advancing towards the light, where praise will be unending".

"Equally important and significant are the manner and frequency in which the words of the Psalms appear in the New Testament, where they assume and underline that prophetic significance suggested by the link of the Book of Psalms with the messianic figure of David. In His earthly life the Lord Jesus prayed with the Psalms, and in Him they reach definitive fulfilment and reveal their fullest and deepest meaning. The prayers of the Book of Psalms, with which we speak to God, speak to us of Him, they speak of the Son, image of the invisible God Who fully reveals the Father's face to us. Thus Christians, by praying the Psalms, pray to the Father in Christ and with Christ, seeing those songs in a new perspective which has its ultimate interpretation in the Paschal Mystery".


Having completed his catechesis and delivered greetings in various languages, the Pope recalled the fact that tomorrow is the Feast of Corpus Christi. He invited everyone in Rome, residents and pilgrims alike, to participate in the Mass he will celebrate at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the basilica of St. John Lateran, and in the subsequent procession along Via Merulana to the basilica of St. Mary Major. "I invite you", he said, "to join this act of profound faith towards the Eucharist, which represents the most precious treasure of the Church and of humankind"

The Power of Intercession: the Prophet Elijah's Prayer

In his general audience, held this morning in St. Peter's Square, the Pope resumed his series of catecheses dedicated to the subject of prayer, focusing today on the Prophet Elijah "whom God sent to bring the people to conversion".

The Holy Father explained how "upon Mount Carmel Elijah revealed himself in all his power as intercessor when, before the whole of Israel, he prayed to the Lord to show Himself and convert people's hearts. The episode is recounted in chapter 18 of the First Book of Kings".


"The contest between Elijah and the followers of Baal (which was, in fact, a contest between the Lord of Israel, God of salvation and life, and a mute and ineffective idol which can do nothing for either good or evil) also marked the beginning of a confrontation between two completely different ways to address God and to pray". The oblations of the prophets of Baal "revealed only the illusory reality of the idol ... which closed people in the confines of a desperate search for self".


On the other hand, Elijah "called on the people to come closer, involving them in his actions and his prayer. ... The prophet built an alter using 'twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob', ... to represent all Israel. ... Elijah then addressed the Lord calling Him Lord of the fathers, thus implicitly recalling the divine promises and the history of choice and alliance which had indissolubly united the Lord to His people".


The prophet's request "was that the people might finally and fully come to know and understand Who their God is, and make the decisive decision to follow only Him. Only in this way could God be recognised as Absolute and Transcendent". Only in this way would it be clear that "no other gods could be placed at His side, as this would deny His absoluteness and relativize Him".


Benedict XVI highlighted how "believers must respond to the absoluteness of God with absolute and total love, a love involving all their lives, their energies, their hearts. ... In his intercession, Elijah asked of God what God Himself wished to do: to show Himself in all His mercy, faithful to His nature as Lord of life Who forgives, converts and transforms".

"The Lord responded unequivocally, not only burning the offering but even consuming all the water that had been poured around the altar. Israel could no longer doubt: divine mercy had responded to its weakness, to its doubts, to its lack of faith. Now Baal, the vain idol, was beaten and the people, who seemed lost, had rediscovered the way of truth, they had rediscovered themselves".


The Holy Father concluded by asking himself what this story has to tell us today. "Firstly", he said, "is the priority of the first commandment of God's Law: having no god but God. When God disappears man falls into slavery, into idolatry, as has happened in our time under totalitarian regimes and with the various forms of nihilism which make man dependent on idols and idolatry, which enslave". Secondly, he continued, "the main objective of prayer is conversion: the fire of God which transforms our hearts and makes us capable of seeing God and living for Him and for others". Thirdly, "the Church Fathers tell us that this story is ... a foretaste of the future, which is Christ. It is a step on the journey towards Christ".

Pentecost Was the Baptism of the Church

At midday today, following this morning's celebration of the Eucharist in the Vatican Basilica for the Feast of Pentecost, the Pope appeared at the window of his study to pray the Regina Coeli with faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.


"The Paschal Mystery - the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, and His Ascension to heaven - reaches fulfilment in the powerful effusion of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, who were gathered with Mary ... and the other disciples. This was the 'Baptism' of the Church", he said.


"The voice of God makes the human language of the Apostles divine, and they become capable of 'polyphonically' proclaiming the one Divine Word. The breath of the Holy Spirit fills the universe, it generates faith, it draws people to truth, it prepares the way for unity", the Pope explained. He then went on to quote some words written by Blessed Antonio Rosmini: "On the day of Pentecost God promulgated ... His law of charity, writing it by means of the Holy Spirit, not upon tablets of stone, but in the hearts of the Apostles and, through the Apostles, communicating it to the whole Church".


The Holy Spirit, "Who is the Lord and the Giver of Life, ... has the power to sanctify, to remove divisions, to dissolve the confusion caused by sin. ... The Spirit distributes divine goodness and supports living beings that they may act in accordance with that goodness. As intelligible Light, it gives meaning to prayer, invigorates the mission of evangelisation, sets aflame the hearts of those who hear the happy message, and inspires Christian art and liturgical music. ... It creates faith within us at the moment of our Baptism and allows us to live as conscious and responsible children of God, in keeping with the image of the Only-begotten Son".


After praying the Regina Coeli, the Pope recalled that the priest and martyr Alois Andritzki, killed by the Nazis in 1943, will be beatified tomorrow in the German city of Dresden. He was a "heroic witness of the faith who joins the ranks of those who gave their lives in Christ's name in the concentration camps. On this day of Pentecost I would like to entrust the cause of peace in the world to their intercession. May the Holy Spirit inspire heroic intentions of peace and support the commitment to see them through to fulfilment, that dialogue may triumph over arms and respect for man's dignity may prevail over self-interest. May the Spirit, the bond of communion, cure hearts warped by selfishness and help the human family to rediscover and protect its fundamental unity".


Benedict XVI also mentioned the fact that 14 June marks World Blood Donor Day, which involves "millions of people who silently contribute to helping their brothers and sisters in difficulties. I send a cordial greeting to all blood donors and invite young people to follow their example".


Finally, the Pope greeted a group of people currently meeting in Pistoia, Italy, for the Catholic Information Forum for the Protection of Creation, organised by the 'Greenaccord' association on the theme: Man's shared space in the creation. "I encourage all journalists working to safeguard the environment", he said.

The Church Was Catholic from the Very First Moment

At 9.30 a.m. today, the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Father presided at Mass in the Vatican Basilica.

In his homily the Holy Father said that "the Spirit which created all things, and the Holy Spirit which Christ caused to descend from the Father upon the community of disciples, are one and the same. Creation and redemption are mutually intertwined and constitute a single mystery of love and salvation".

"The Holy Spirit", he went on, "is first and foremost the Spirit of creation; and so Pentecost is the feast of creation. For we Christians the world is the result of an act of love by God, Who made all things. ... Thus God is not the Absolute Other, indescribable and obscure, God reveals Himself, He has a face, God is reason, God is will, God is love, God is beauty".

Benedict XVI explained that "the Holy Spirit is the One Who enables us to recognise ourselves in Christ the Lord, and causes us to pronounce the Church's profession of faith: 'Jesus is Lord'". In this context, he also pointed out that "by reciting the Creed we enter into the mystery of the Pentecost. ... The Creed brings us together from all over the world. Through the Holy Spirit, it ensures we understand one another though speaking different languages. Through faith, hope and love, the new community of the Church of God is formed".

"The Holy Spirit animates the Church", the Pope said. "The Church is not the result of human will, of reflection, of man's abilities or his capacity for organisation. If this were the case she would have passed out of existence a long time ago, just as all human things pass. She is, rather, the Body of Christ animated by the Holy Spirit".

"The Church was catholic from the first moment of her existence. Her universality is not the result of the subsequent inclusion of different communities: from the first instant the Holy Spirit created her as the Church of all peoples. She embraces the entire world, crossing frontiers of race, class and nation, breaking down barriers and uniting mankind in the proclamation of the One and Triune God. From her beginnings, the Church was one, catholic and apostolic. This is her true nature and as such she must be recognised. She is holy, not thanks to any capacity of her members, but because God Himself, with His Spirit, continuously creates, purifies and sanctifies her".

Benedict XVI concluded by quoting from today's Gospel: "'the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord'. ... Today, at Pentecost, this phrase also includes us, because in the faith we can see Him, in the faith He comes among us and shows us His hands and side, and we too can rejoice. Thus we pray: Lord show Yourself. Give us the gift of Your presence that we might have the greatest gift: Your joy!"

Pope Invites Youth to Trust in the Lord

At 7:15pm Benedict XVI travelled by Popemobile to Josip Jelacic Square, Zagreb's main square, capable of accommodating 50,000 persons, where he held a prayer vigil with the youth.


Before the Pope's arrival some young persons carried in procession the image of the Virgin of the Stone Gate, protectress of Zagreb, and placed it at the podium.


After reading some verses of the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians, two young persons offered their witness.


Afterward, the Holy Father gave his address. Referring to the reading in which St. Paul invites the community to "rejoice in the Lord always", the pope said that the Apostle's experience, which he writes while imprisoned, "reveals how it is possible, along the journey of our lives, to preserve joy even in moments of darkness".


"We all know", he stated, "that lodged in the heart of every person is a strong desire for happiness. Every action, every decision, every intention holds hidden within itself this deep, natural desire. But all too often we realize that we put our trust in things that cannot fulfill that desire, things that turn out to be shifting sands. At such moments we recognize our need for something 'greater', capable of giving meaning to our daily lives".


"This time of youth...", he continued "is a time of vast horizons, of powerful emotions, but also a time of concern about demanding, long-term choices, a time of challenges in your studies and in the workplace, a time of wondering about the mystery of pain and suffering. What is more, this wonderful time of life is marked by a deep longing which, far from canceling everything else, actually lifts it up and fulfils it".


"Jesus speaks to you today, through the Gospel and his Holy Spirit. He is your contemporary! He seeks you even before you seek him! While fully respecting your freedom, he approaches each one of you and offers himself as the authentic and decisive response to the longing deep within your hearts, to your desire for a life worth living. Let him take you by the hand! Let him become more and more your friend and companion along life's journey. Put your trust in him and he will never disappoint you!".

"Jesus enables you to know at first hand the love of God the Father; he helps you realize that your happiness comes from his friendship, from fellowship with him. Why? Because we have been created and saved by love, and it is only in love, the love which desires and seeks the good of others, that we truly experience the meaning of life and find happiness in living it, even amid difficulties, trials and disappointments, even when it means swimming against the tide".


Benedict XVI emphasized that "Jesus is not a Teacher who deceives his disciples: he tells us clearly that walking by his side calls for commitment and personal sacrifice, but it is worth the effort". In this sense he encouraged the youth to not let themselves "be led astray by enticing promises of easy success, by lifestyles which regard appearances as more important than inner depth. Do not yield to the temptation of putting all your trust in possessions, in material things, while abandoning the search for the truth which is always "greater", which guides us like a star high in the heavens to where Christ would lead us. Let it guide you to the very heights of God!".

While stressing that the saints would give them support during their youth, the Pope pointed out that "here in Croatia, ... Blessed Ivan Merz ... discovered the beauty of the Catholic faith and came to understand that his own calling in life was to experience, and to help others experience, the friendship of Christ. ... He died on 10 May 1928, at only 32 years of age, after a few months of sickness, offering his life for the Church and for young people".


"This young life, completely given over to love, bears the fragrance of Christ; it invites all of us not to be afraid and to entrust ourselves to the Lord as did the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, who is venerated and loved here under the title of Our Lady of the Stone Gate," he concluded.


After the address there followed a moment of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, which remained exposed throughout the night for the faithful who wanted to remain in prayer, preparing themselves for Sunday's Mass.


The Holy Father said goodbye to the youth and travelled to the nunciature for dinner and to spend the night.

Moses: Mediator of Salvation for Israel - Pope Benedict XVI

Benedict XVI dedicated today's general Wednesday audience catechesis to the figure of Moses who "carried out his function as mediator between God and Israel, making himself the bearer of the divine words and commands for his people, bringing them to the freedom of the Promised Land ... and, above all, praying".

The Pope emphasized that Moses especially acts as intercessor when the people ask Aaron to build the golden calf while they are waiting for the prophet who has ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Tables of the Law. "Tired of following a path with a God who is invisible now that Moses the mediator has also gone, the people demand a tangible, palpable presence of the Lord and find an accessible god, within the reach of human beings, in Aaron's molten metal calf. This is a constant temptation on the path of faith: avoiding the divine mystery by building a comprehensible god that corresponds to our own preconceptions and plans".

In the face of the Israelites' infidelity, God asks Moses to let him destroy that rebel people but Moses understands that those words are directed at him so that the prophet "might intervene and ask him not to do it. ... If God were to let his people perish, it could be interpreted as a sign of divine incapacity to fulfill the plan of salvation and God could not allow that: He is the good Lord who salves, the guarantor of life, the God of mercy and forgiveness, of liberation from sin that kills. ... Moses had a concrete experience of the God of salvation. He was sent as the mediator of divine liberation and now, with his prayer, he becomes the interpreter of a dual concern, worried for the fate of his people but also worried for the honor due the Lord by the truth of his name. ... The love for his brothers and sisters and the love of God are united in his prayer of intercession and are inseparable. Moses, the intercessor, is the man between two loves that, in prayer, are superimpose in one single desire for good".

"The intercessor does not make excuses for the sin of his people and does not list the presumed merits of either himself or his people. He appeals to God's generosity: a free God, completely love, who never ceases to seek those who have drawn away from him. ... Moses asks God to show himself even stronger than sin and death and, with his prayer, brings about this divine revelation".

"In Moses who is at the top of the mountain - face to face with God, the intercessor of his people - the Fathers of the Church have seen a prefiguration of Christ who, atop the Cross, is truly before God, not just as friend but as Son. ... His intercession", the pontiff concluded, "is not just solidarity but identification with us. ... He gives us a forgiveness that transforms and renews. I believe we must meditate on this reality: Christ before God praying for us, identifying with us. From the heights of the Cross he didn't bring us new stone tablets of the law but himself as Covenant".

Virgin, Help Us Be Generous in God's Plan - Pope Benedict XVI

The traditional procession and Rosary marking the end of the Marian month took place in the Vatican Gardens yesterday at 8:00 in the evening. The procession wound from the Church of St. Stephen of the Abyssinians to the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.

The Pope arrived at the Grotto of Lourdes at 9:00pm and briefly addressed the present faithful before imparting the apostolic blessing.

"Having begun this month of Mary with the memorable beatification of John Paul II has been and continues to be for all of us", the Pope said, "a reason for great joy and thankfulness. What a great gift of grace for the whole Church was the life of this great Pope! His witness continues to illuminate our lives and urges us to be true disciples of the lord, to courageously follow him in faith, and to love him with the same enthusiasm with which he gave his life to Christ,"

Then, referring to yesterday's feastday, Benedict XVI noted that "the Visitation of Mary leads us to reflect on this courage of faith. The one who Elizabeth welcomes into her home is the Virgin who 'has believed' the Angel's annunciation, who responded with faith, courageously accepting God's plan for her life and thus embracing within herself the eternal Word of the Most High".

"Mary truly believed that 'nothing is impossible to God' and, strong in this confidence she let herself be guided by the Holy Spirit in daily obedience to his plan. How can we not desire that same trusting abandon in our lives? How can we not yearn for that beatitude that is born of a profound and intimate familiarity with Jesus? That is why, addressing the one who is 'full of grace', we can today ask that she intercede with Divine Providence for us too, so that we might each day proclaim our 'yes' to God's plan with the same humble and sincere faith that the Virgin said her yes". May she, who welcomed the Word of God within her and wholeheartedly abandoned herself to him, guide us to an ever more generous and unconditional response to his plan, even when we are called to embrace the Cross".

The Holy Father concluded by "entrusting the Church and the world to Mary's maternal intercession", asking for "the gift of always knowing how to embrace in our lives the lordship of the One who by his Resurrection conquered death".

The Eucharist, the core of Christian life - BL. Pope John Paul II

From the Eucharist we all receive the grace and strength for everyday life, for living a truly Christian existence, in the joy of knowing that God Loves us, that Christ has died for us and that the Holy Spirit lives in us.
Our full participation in the Eucharist is the true source of that Christian spirit we should like to see in our own lives and in every aspect of society. Wherever we work - in politics, in the economy, in culture, in the social or scientific fields - it does not matter what our job may be - the Eucharist is a challenge to our daily lives.
There must always be consistency between what we believe and what we do. We cannot live on the glories of our Christian past. Our union with Christ in the Eucharist must be manifest in the truth of our lives today: in our actions, in our sense of values, in our life-style, in our relationships with others.
For each of us the Eucharist is a summons to make an even greater effort to live as true followers of Christ: truthful in what we say, generous in what we do, caring for and respectful of the dignity and rights of all, whatever their class or their income may be; ready to make personal sacrifices, loyal and just, generous, prudent, compassionate and self-disciplined; aiming at the good of our families, of our young people, of our country, of Europe, of the world. The truth of our union with Christ in the Eucharist is attested by whether or not we truly love our neighbour, whoever that may be, and by the way we treat other people, especially our own families: husbands and wives, children and parents, brother and sisters. It is attested by the effort we really make to be reconciled with our enemies, to forgive those who wrong us or offend us.
Given the agnostic society - a sadly hedonistic and permissive one - in which we live, it is essential to deepen our teaching on the august Mystery of the Eucharist, in such a way as to acquire and maintain absolute certainty over the nature and purpose of the Sacrament which is rightly called the core of the Christian message and of the life of the Church. The Eucharist is the mystery of mysteries; so its acceptance means totally accepting the nexus 'Christ-and-the-Church', from the preambles of the Faith to the doctrine of the Redemption, to the concept of sacrifice and of consecrated priesthood, to the dogma of 'transubstantiation', to the importance of legislation in liturgical matters.
Today this certainty is necessary before all else, in order to restore the Eucharist and priesthood to their absolutely central position, to have a proper sense of the the importance of Holy Mass and Holy Communion, to return to Eucharist pedagogy, this being the source of priestly and religious vocations and inner strength for practising the Christian virtues...
Today is a time for reflection, for meditation and for prayer for Christians to recover their sense of worship, their fervour. Only from the Eucharist profoundly known, loved and lived can we hope for that unity in truth and charity which is willed by Christ and urged on all by the Second Vatican Council.
The Eucharist...is the sacrament of his Body and Blood, which he himself has offered once and for all (Hebrews 9:26-28) , to set us free from sin and death, and which he has entrusted to his Church for her to make the same offering under the species of bread and wine and so to feed his faithful people forever - that is, us who stand about his altar. The Eucharist is thus the sacrifice par excellence, that of Christ on the Cross, by means of which we receive Christ himself, Christ entire, God and man...
The Son's sacrifice is unique and unrepeatable. It was made one single time in human history. And this unique and unrepeatable sacrifice 'endures'.The happening on Golgotha belongs to the past. The reality of the Trinity constitutes a divine 'today' for ever. Thus it is that all humanity shares in this 'today' of the Son's sacrifice. The Eucharist is the sacrament of the unfathomable 'today'. The Eucharist is the sacrament  - the greatest one the church has - by which the divine 'today' of the Redemption  of the world meets our human 'today' in a manner ever human.
We must once again emphasize how important it is, in obedience to the precept of the Church, to take part in the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist. For everyone, this is the highest act of worship in the exercise of the universal priesthood, just as the sacramental offering of the Mass is the highest act of worship, for priests, in the exercise of the priestly ministry. participation in the Eucharistic banquet is a vital condition for everyone for union with Christ, as he himself has said: 'In all truth I tell you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you will have no life in you' (John 6:53). The Cathecism of the Catholic Church reminds all the faithful about the significance of participating in the Sunday Eucharist (nn 2181 - 2182). Here I wish to conclude with those famous words in the First Letter of Peter, which portray the laity participating in the Eucharist-Church mystery: 'You too must become living stones making a spiritual house as a holy priesthood, to offer the spiritual sacrifices made acceptable to God through Jesus Christ' (1Peter 2:5)
For every faithful Catholic, participation at Holy mass on Sunday is at once a duty and a privilege: a sweet obligation to respond to God's  love for us, so that we can then bear witness to this love in our daily lives...The fulfilling of the dominical precept ought, for every Christian family, to be a fundamental source of joy and unity.  Every Sunday, all and every one of you have an appointment with God's love.
Don't fail to keep it..

Perseverance in prayer - Bl. Pope John Paul II

If you really wish to follow Christ, if you want your love for him to grow and last, you must be diligent in prayer. This is key to the vitality of your life in Christ. without prayer, your faith and your love will die. If you are constant in daily prayer and in attendance at Sunday Mass, your love for Jesus will grow. And your heart will know such joy and deep peace as the world could not give you.
Nourish your day with as much prayer as you can and allowing for moments of particular intimacy with the Lord, whether individually or in a group. Only prolonged contact with Him can transform each of us inwardly into a disciple of his. Only by being nourished by long hours of prayer, meditation, concentration and silent listening to God, will a believer be able to speak to other people about the Divine Mystery, to hand it on and to bear witness to it in the presence of others.
The Gospel reminds us of 'the need to pray continually and never to lose heart' (Luke18:1). So everyday, devote a little while to conversing with God, as proof of the face that you sincerely love him; for love always seeks to be close to the beloved. This is why prayer must come before everything else; people who do not take this view, who do not put this into practice, cannot please the excuse of being short of time; what they are short of is love.

Why and how to pray - BL. Pope John Paul II

First of all, we should pray because we are believers. For prayer is the recognition of our limitations and of our dependence; from God we come, to God we belong, to God we shall return! Hence the least we can do is surrender ourselves to him, our Creator and Lord, in full and total trust. Some people assert and do their best to prove that the universe is eternal and that all the order we observe in the universe - human beings with their brain-power and freedom included - has only come about by chance. Scientific studies and the experience of many honest people, however, say that these ideas, despite being asserted and even taught, have not been proved and invariably leave those who hold them anxious and confused, since they are very well aware that any object in motion must have had a push from outside! They are very well aware that chance cannot produce the perfect order existing in the universe and in the human entity! Everything is marvelously ordered, from the infinitesimal particles making up the atom, to the galaxies that wheel around in space! Everything, points to a plan comprehending every manifestation of nature, from inert matter to human thought. Where there is order, there is supreme Intelligence whom we call 'God' and whom Jesus has revealed to us as Love and taught us to call 'Father'.
So, by reflecting on the nature of the universe and on our own lives, we understand and acknowledge that we are creatures, limited yet sublime, who owe our nature to the Infinite Majesty of the Creator! this being so, prayer is, before all else, an act of intelligence, a feeling of humility and thankfulness, an attitude of trust and surrender to him who has lovingly given us life. Prayer is a mysterious but nonetheless real dialogue with God, a dialogue of confidence and love.
However, we are Christians and so we ought to pray like Christians. Now, for the Christian, prayer takes on a particular character which totally changes its innermost nature and innermost value. Christians are disciples of Jesus; we truly believe Jesus to be the Incarnate Word, the Son of God, come to dwell among us on earth.
When Jesus was on earth, his life was one of ceaseless prayer, a continuous act of adoration and love addressed to the Father; and since the highest form of prayer is sacrifice, the climax of our Lord's prayer life was the sacrifice of the cross, anticipated in the Eucharist at the Last Supper and handed down in the Holy mass for all ages to come.
So Christians know that their prayer life is Jesus; all our prayer live start from Jesus; it is he who prays within us, with us, for us. All who believe in God pray; but Christians pray in Jesus Christ. Christ is our prayer!
The highest form of prayer is the Holy Mass because, in Holy Mass, Jesus himself is really present, renewing the sacrifice of the Cross. But every prayer is valuable, especially the 'Our Father', which Christ himself was pleased to teach the Apostles and everybody on earth.

In uttering the words of the 'Our Father', Jesus created a practical model and universal synthesis. For everything one can and should say to the Father is contained in those seven petitions which we all know by heart. In them is such simplicity that even a child can learn them; but at the same time there is such depth that one might spend a lifetime reflecting on their meaning.
A further reason why we should pray is that we are frail and guilty. Humbly and realistically we need to admit that we are poor creatures, confused in our ideas, tempted to wrong -doing, frail and weak, constantly in need of inner strengthening and consolation. Prayer gives us strength for high ideals, for keeping the Faith, for charity, purity and generosity. Prayer gives us the courage to rise above indifference, or above guilt, if we have been unlucky enough to yield to temptation and weakness. Prayer gives us the light to see and consider events in our personal lives and in history itself in the salvific perspective of God and eternity.
So you must not stop praying! Let no day go by without praying a little! Prayer is a duty; it is also a great joy, since it is a dialogue with God through`Jesus Christ. Every Sunday, Holy Mass and, if you possibly can, sometimes on a weekday as well; everyday, prayers in the morning and at night, and when ever else you can find a moment!
St. Paul wrote to early Christians as follows: 'Be persevering in your prayers' (Collossians 4:2); 'With every sort of prayer and entreaty, keep praying on every possible occasion' (Ephesians 6:18).

Jacob - Prayer: Battle of Faith, Call for Perseverance - Pope Benedict XVI

Continuing with his catecheses on prayer, Benedict XVI spoke in today's general audience about the Patriarch Jacob and his fight with the unknown man at the ford of the Jabbok. The audience was held in St. Peter's Square with 15,000 people in attendance.


The Bible, explained the Pope, describes Jacob as an astute man who obtains things through deception. At a certain point, he sets out to return to his homeland and face his brother, whose firstborn birthrights he had taken. Jacob waits overnight in order to cross the ford safely but something unforeseen occurs: he is suddenly attacked by an unknown man with whom he struggles the entire night. The story details their struggle, which has no clear winner, leaving the rival a mystery. "Only at the end, when the struggle is finished and that 'someone' has disappeared, only then will Jacob name him and be able to say that he had struggled with God".


Once the fight is over Jacob says to his opponent that he will only let him go if he blesses him. Jacob "who had defrauded his brother out of the first-born's blessing through deceit, now demands [a blessing] from the unknown man, in whom he perhaps begins to see divine traits, but still without being able to truly recognize him. His rival, who seems restrained and therefore defeated by Jacob, instead of bowing to the Patriarch's request, asks his name. ... In the Biblical mentality, knowing someone's name entails a type of power because it contains the person's deepest reality, revealing their secret and their destiny. ... This is why, when Jacob reveals his name, he is putting himself in his opponent's hands. It is a form of surrender, a complete giving over of himself to the other".

Paradoxically, however, "in this gesture of surrender, Jacob also becomes the victor because he receives a new name, together with the recognition of his victory on the part of his adversary". The name "Jacob", Benedict XVI continued, "recalls the verb 'to deceive' or 'to supplant'. After the struggle, in a gesture of deliverance and surrender, the Patriarch reveals his reality as a deceiver, a usurper, to his opponent. The other, who is God, however, transforms this negative reality into a positive one. Jacob the deceiver becomes Israel. He is given a new name as a sign of his new identity ... the mostly likely meaning of which is 'God is strong, God wins'. When, in turn, Jacob asks his rival's name, he refuses to say it but reveals himself in an unmistakable gesture, giving his blessing. ... This is not a blessing obtained through deceit but one given freely by God, which Jacob can now receive because, without cunning or deception, he gives himself over unarmed, accepts surrender and admits the truth about himself".

In the episode of the fight at the ford of Jabbok, the Pope observed, "the people of Israel speak of their origin and outline the features of a unique relationship between God and humanity. This is why, as also affirmed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 'from this account, the spiritual tradition of the Church has retained the symbol of prayer as a battle of faith and as the triumph of perseverance'".

"Our entire lives", concluded the Holy Father, "are like this long night of struggle and prayer, passed in the desire of and request for God's blessing, which cannot be ripped away or won over through our strength, but must be received with humility from Him as a gratuitous gift that allows us, finally, to recognize the face of the Lord. And when this happens, our entire reality changes: we receive a new name and God's blessing".

The Book of confidence - Chapter 3 (by Fr. Thomas de St. laurent)

(From The Book of Confidence)

Chapter Three
Confidence in God and Our Temporal Necessities

God Provides for Our Temporal Necessities

Confidence, we have already said, is a heroic hope; it does not differ from the common hope of all the faithful except in its degree of perfection. It is, then, exercised upon the same objects as that virtue but by means of acts that are more intense and vibrant.

Like ordinary hope, confidence expects from our heavenly Father all the aids necessary for living a holy life here on earth and for meriting the happiness of Paradise. It expects, first of all, temporal goods, to the degree that these can lead us to our final end.

There is nothing more logical. We cannot proceed to conquer heaven as pure spirits; we are composed of body and soul. The body that the Creator formed with His adorable hands is our inseparable companion in our terrestrial existence, and it will also be the partaker of our eternal fortune after the general resurrection.We cannot act without its assistance in the battle for the conquest of our blessed life.

Now, then, in order to maintain itself and to fulfil its task completely, the body has multiple demands. It is necessary that Providence satisfy these demands, and it does so magnificently.

God takes upon Himself the responsibility of providing for our necessities, and this He does generously. He follows us with a vigilant eye and does not leave us in need. Amidst material difficulties, even anguishing ones, we must not become disturbed. With complete certainty we must hope to receive from the Divine Hands that which is necessary to maintain our lives.

“Therefore I say to you,” declares the Saviour, “be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat, and the body more than the raiment?

“Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of such more value than they? …And for raiment why are you solicitous?

“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they labour not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. And if the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven God doth so clothe; how much more
you, O ye of little faith?

“Be not solicitous therefore, saying ‘What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.

“Seek ye, therefore, first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.”1

It is not enough for us to skip lightly over this discourse of Our Lord. We must fix our attention on it for a long time in order to seek its profound significance and to imbue our souls deeply with its doctrine.

Holy yet sinful - Bl. Pope John Paul II

We have to acknowledge that, the Church also being a community made up of sinners, there has been no lack over the centuries of transgressions against the law of love. I mean the failures of individuals and groups sporting the name of Christian, on the plane of mutual relations, whether of the order of person to person, or of social and international dimensions.
That is the sorry fact, found in the history of men and nations, and in Church history too. Aware of their true vocation to love following Christ's example, Christians humbly and penitently confess those offences against love, yet without ceasing to believe in the love that, according to St Paul, 'endures whatever comes' and 'will never come to an end' (1 Corinthians 13:7-8). But if the history of mankind and of the Church abounds in sins against charity which grieve and sadden us, we must at the same time joyfully and gratefully recognize that throughout the Christian centuries there has never been a lack of marvellous witness on behalf of love, and that many a time - as well we remember - the witness borne has been heroic.

The Church and the State - Bl. Pope John Paul II

The Christian message brings glad tidings for everyone: for the political, economic and legal world too. When the authority of the Church, within the sphere of her own mission, proclaims Christian doctrine or gives rulings of a moral nature on matters in the political order, and when she encourages promotion of the dignity and inalienable rights of man, she is, above all, seeking the integral good of the body politic and, ultimately, the integral good of the individual. The Church, at the same time, recognizes that it is the duty of the Catholic laity, when faced with questions susceptible of various solutions in the vast field of politics, to find such solutions as are compatible with Gospel values. In union with all those people wishing to promote the good of the community, they bear a great responsibility: for seeking and applying truly humane solutions to the challenge posed by modem times and social coexistence. The Church shares in the best of human aspirations and offers mankind what she has herself: 'A global perspective on man and human realities' (Populorum progressio 13).

Both Church and State, each in its own domain and with its own means, are at the service of man's personal and social vocation. Thus ample room opens up for dialogue and for various kinds of co-operation,based always on mutual respect for the identity of each and for the functions proper to each of these two institutions. The Church recognizes, respects and encourages the legitimate autonomy of temporal and specifically political affairs. Her mission is set on a different plane. She is 'the sign and the safeguard of the transcendental dimension of the human person' (Gaudium et Spes 76)

In no way is the Church to be confused with the political community, nor is she tied to any political system (Gaudium et Spes 76). Even less is she to be identified with any party, and it would be deplorable if individuals and institutions, of whatever stamp they may be, were tempted to make use of her for their own particular advantage. Such an attitude would reveal an ignorance of the nature and real mission of the Church and would involve a lack of respect for the aims she has received from her Divine Founder, But, this said, we should not conclude that the message of salvation entrusted to the Church has nothing to say to the body politic in order to enlighten it with the Gospel. To the Church it pertains, as the Council teaches, 'to carry out her task among men without hindrance, and to pass moral judgements even in matters relating to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it' (Gaudium et Spes 76). So it is not a question of undue interference in a field to which she is a stranger, but of a service offered, for love of Jesus Christ, to the whole community, and prompted by a desire to contribute to the common good, encouraged by the Lord's words: 'The truth will make you free' (John 8:32)

The Book Of Confidence - Fr. Thomas de Saint-Laurent - Chapter 2

The Book Of Confidence - Fr. Thomas de Saint-Laurent -
Chapter 2 -
Nature and Characteristics of Confidence

Confidence Is a Firm Hope

With words that bear the mark of his genius, Saint Thomas Aquinas defines confidence with this conciseness that bears the mark of his genius as “a hope fortified by solid conviction.”1 We will devote this chapter to the explanation of these profound words.

Let us attentively consider the terms employed by the Angelic Doctor.

“Confidence,” he writes, “is a hope.” It is not that ordinary hope common to all the faithful; a precise qualifier distinguishes it: it is “a fortified hope.”

However, note well, there is no difference in nature, only in degree. The faint glimmer of the dawn and the dazzling light of the sun at its zenith form part of the same day. So hope and confidence pertain to the same virtue; one is the complete blossoming of the other.

Ordinary hope is lost by despair. It can tolerate, however, a certain amount of anxiety. But, when it reaches that perfection which merits for it the name of Confidence, then it becomes more delicate and more sensitive.

It can no longer bear hesitation, however insignificant it may be; the slightest doubt would lessen it and so reduce it to the level of mere hope.

The Royal Prophet David selects his words most precisely when he calls confidence “a super hope.”2 It is, indeed, a question of a virtue carried to the very highest degree attainable. And Father Saint-Jure, one of the most esteemed spiritual writers of the seventeenth century, justly terms it an “extraordinary and heroic hope.”3

Confidence is not, then, a common flower. It grows on the crests; it does not permit itself to be picked except by magnanimous souls.

Confidence Is Fortified by Faith

Let us take this study further.

What sovereign strength fortifies hope to the point of rendering it unshakable in the face of the assault of adversity? Faith!

The confident soul remains mindful of the promises of her Heavenly Father; she meditates upon them profoundly. She knows that God’s word cannot fail, and from this she draws her certainty. Danger may threaten, surround, and even strike her, but she always preserves her serenity. In spite of the imminent danger, she repeats the words of the Psalmist: “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life: Of whom shall I be afraid?”4

There is the closest affinity between faith and confidence; the two are most intimately related. A contemporary theologian tells us that confidence has its “source and root”5 in faith. Hence the more profound our faith, the stronger and more deeply rooted will be our confidence. In the Scriptures, we find that the sacred writers designated these two virtues by the same word: fides.

Confidence Is Unshakable

The preceding considerations may appear to be excessively abstract. It was necessary for us, however, to establish our foundation upon these considerations. From them we shall deduce the characteristics of true confidence.

“Confidence,” writes Father Saint-Jure, “is firm, stable, and constant to such an eminent degree that it cannot be shaken – I no longer say just overthrown – by anything in the world.”6

Neither the most afflicting temporal misfortunes nor the greatest spiritual difficulties will disturb the peace of the confident soul. Unforeseen calamities may lay her happiness in ruins around her; this soul, more master of herself than the ancient wise man, will remain calm: “Impavidum ferient ruinae.”7

She will simply turn to the Lord. She will lean on Him with a certainty that increases in proportion to the degree that she feels herself deprived of human help. She will pray with greater fervour and, in the darkness of the trial, continue on her path, waiting in silence for the hour of God.

Such confidence, no doubt, is rare. But, unless it attains this minimum of perfection, it does not merit the name of confidence.

We find sublime examples of this degree of confidence in the Scriptures and in the lives of the saints.

Such was the confidence of Job. Stricken with every possible misfortune – the loss of his wealth, the death of his children, the ruin of his health – he was reduced to direst poverty and afflicted with a dreadful disease. As he sat on a dunghill, his friends, even his wife, increased his pain by the cruelty of their words. But he did not allow himself to be discouraged; no murmuring was mixed with his groaning. He kept his mind fixed on thoughts of faith. “Although He [the Lord] should kill me,” he said, “I will trust in Him.”8

This was an admirable confidence that God rewarded magnificently. The trial ceased; Job recovered his health, gained a considerable fortune again, and enjoyed a life more prosperous than the one he had before the trial.

On one of his journeys, Saint Martin fell into the hands of highwaymen.

The bandits stripped him and were going to kill him. Suddenly, however, touched by the grace of repentance or moved by a mysterious fear, they turned him loose and, against all expectations, freed him. Later, the illustrious bishop was asked if, during that pressing danger, he had not felt some fear.

“None,” he responded. “I knew that as human help became more improbable, the divine intervention was all the more certain.”

Unfortunately, most Christians do not imitate such examples.

Never do they approach God so seldom as in the hour of trial. Indeed, many do not even send forth that cry for help which God awaits in order to come to their assistance. What a fatal negligence! “Providence,” Louis of Granada used to say, “wishes to give the solution to the extraordinary difficulties of life directly, while it leaves to secondary causes the resolving of ordinary difficulties.”9 But it is always necessary to cry out for divine help.

That help God gives us with pleasure. “Far from bothering the nurse who suckles him, the baby brings her relief.”10

Other Christians pray rervently, but they do not persevere in prayer. If they are not answered immediately, they quickly fall from exalted hope into a state of unreasonable discouragement. They do not understand the ways of grace. God treats us like children; He plays deaf at times because He likes to hear us invoking Him. Why should we become discouraged so quickly when, on the contrary, it would be convenient for us to cry out with greater insistence?

This is the doctrine taught by Saint Francis de Sales: “Providence only delays in coming to our aid in order to excite us to confidence. If our Heavenly Father does not always grant us what we ask, it is because He desires to keep us at His feet and to provide us with an occasion to insist with loving violence in our petitions to Him. He showed this clearly to the two disciples at Emmaus, with whom He did not consent to remain until the close of the day, and even after they had pressed Him.” 11

Confidence Counts on Nothing but God

Unshakable firmness is, then, the first characteristic of confidence.

The second quality of this virtue is even more perfect. It leads a man not to count on the help of creatures, whether such help be drawn from himself, from his own intelligence, from his judgement, from his knowledge, from his skill, from his riches, from his friends, from his relatives, or from any other thing of his; or whether it be assistance that he might perhaps hope to receive from someone else: kings, princes, or any creature in general, because he senses and knows the weaknesses of all human help. He considers human helps to be what they really are. How right Saint Teresa was in calling them “dry branches that break under the first pressure.”12

But, some will say, does not this theory proceed from false mysticism? Will it not lead to fatalism or, at least, to perilous passivity? Why should we multiply our efforts in trying to overcome difficulties if all human support must crumble in our hands? Let us simply cross our arms and await divine intervention!

No, God does not wish us to sleep; He demands that we imitate Him. His perfect activity has no limits. He is pure act.

We must act, then, but from Him alone must we expect the efficacy of our action. “Help thyself that heaven may help thee.” Behold the economy of the providential plan.

To your posts then! Let us work with our spirit and heart turned on high. “It is vain for you to rise before light,”13 says the Scripture; if the Lord does not aid thee, thou shalt attain nothing.

Indeed, our impotence is radical. “Without Me you can do nothing,” says Our Saviour.14 In the supernatural order, this impotence is absolute. Heed well the teachings of the theologians.

Without grace, man cannot observe the commandments of God for a long time or in their totality. Without grace, he cannot resist all the temptations, sometimes so violent, that assault him.

Without grace, we cannot have a good thought; we cannot even make the shortest prayer; without it, we cannot even invoke with piety the holy name of Jesus.

Everything that we do in the supernatural order comes to us from God alone.15 Even in the natural order, it is still God who gives us victory.

Saint Peter had worked the whole night; he had endured in his labours; he had a profound knowledge of the secrets of his difficult occupation. Nevertheless, his movements over the gentle waves of the lake had been in vain; he had caught nothing. Then he receives the Master into his boat; upon casting his net in the name of the Saviour, he attains an undeniably miraculous catch; the nets break, such is the number of fish.

Following the example of the Apostle, let us cast our nets with untiring patience; but let us hope only in Our Lord for the miraculous catch.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola used to say: “In everything you do, behold the rule of rules to follow: Trust in God, acting, nevertheless, as if success in everything depended entirely on you and not at all on God; but, employing your efforts to attain this good result, do not count on them, but proceed as if everything were done by God alone and nothing by you.”16

Confidence Rejoices Even at Being Deprived of Human Help

Do not be discouraged when the mirage of human assistance fades away. To count on nothing but the help of heaven, is this not already a most high virtue?

Even so, the vigorous wings of true confidence rise to even more sublime regions. It reaches them by a kind of refinement of heroism. Then it attains the highest degree of its perfection. This degree consists in the soul rejoicing when it finds itself stripped of all human support, abandoned by its relatives, its friends, and all the creatures who do not wish to or cannot help it, who cannot give it counsel or assist it with their talents or credits, who have no means left to come to its aid.17

What a profound wisdom this joy denotes in such cruel circumstances!

To intone the Canticle of Alleluia under blows which are, naturally speaking, sufficient to break our courage, one must know the Heart of Our Lord to Its depth; one must believe blindly in His merciful and fatherly love and His omnipotent goodness; one must have absolute certainty that He selects for His intervention the hour of the desperate situations.

After his conversion, Saint Francis of Assisi despised the dreams of glory that had dazzled him previously. He fled from human gatherings, withdrew into the forest in order to surrender himself to a long period of prayer, and gave generous alms. This change displeased his father, who, dragging his son before the diocesan authority, accused him of dissipating his goods. Then, in the presence of the marvelling bishop, Francis renounced his paternal inheritance, removed the clothing that had come to him from his family, and stripped himself of everything! Then, vibrant with supernatural happiness, he exclaimed: “Now, yes, O my God, I can call Thee more truly than ever, ‘Our Father, Who art in heaven’!” Behold how the saints act.

You souls wounded by misfortune, do not murmur over the abandonment in which you find yourselves reduced. God does not ask of you a sensible joy, impossible to your weakness. Just rekindle your faith, have courage, and, according to the expression dear to Saint Francis de Sales, in the “innermost point of your soul,” try to have joy.

Providence will eventually give you the right sign by which you shall recognise Its hour; It deprived you of all support. Now is the moment to Resist the distress of nature. You have reached that hour in the office of the interior of the soul in which you should sing the Magnificat and put incense to burn. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice… The Lord is nigh!”18 Follow this counsel, you will feel the benefit of it.

If the Divine Master did not allow Himself to be touched by such confidence, He would not be the same Person shown by the Gospel to be so compassionate, the One who trembled with painful emotion at the sight of our suffering.

Our Lord once said to a saintly religious, who died in the odour of sanctity: “If I am good to all, I am very good to those who confide in Me. Dost thou know which souls take the greatest advantage of my goodness? They are those who hope the most. Confident souls steal my graces!”19

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1. “Est enim fiducia spes roborata ex aliqua firma opinione.” Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologica, IIa IIae., quest. 129, art. 6, ad. 3.
2. “In verba tua supersperavi.” Ps. 118:74.
3. Saint-Jure, De la connaissance et de l’armour de Jésus Christ, vol. 3, p. 3.
4. “Dominus illuminatio mea et salus mea; quern timebo? Dominus protector vitae meae; a quo trepidabo?” Ps. 26:1.
5. “Itaque quatenus fides est causa et radix hujus fiduciae, potest accipi fides pro fiducia causaliter, ut quando S. Jacobus ait: Postulet in fide nihil haesitans (I.6). Ibi enim et aliis similibus locis fides aut simpliciter ponitur pro fiducia aut intelligitur quidem fides dogmatica, sed in quantum roborat spem.” Pesch, Praelectiones dogmaticae, vol. 7, p. 51, note 2.
6. Saint-Jure, op. cit., vol. 3, p. 3.
7. Horace, Ode 3 of Book 3.
8. “Etiamsi occiderit me, in ipso sperabo.” Job 13:15.
9. Louis of Granada, First Sermon for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany.
10. Ibid.
11. Petits Bollandistes, vol. 14, p. 542.
12. Saint-Jure, op. cit., vol. 3, p. 3.
13. “Vanum est vobis ante lucem surgere.” Ps. 126:2.
14. “Sine me nihil potestis facere.” John 15:5.
15. “Sufficientia nostra ex Deo est.” 2 Cor. 3:5.
16. Fr. Xavier de Franciosi, L’Esprit de Saint Ignace, p. 5.
17. Saint-Jure, op. cit., vol. 3, p. 4.
18. “Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico gaudete… Dominus prope est.” Phil. 4:4-5.
19. Soeur Benigne Consolata Ferrero, Roudil, Lyons, pp. 95-96. This biography appeared in 1920, with the imprimatur of the archbishop and the declarations prescribed by the decrees of Urban VIII.