"...Christians with their arms raised towards God in prayer..." - Pope Benedict XVI

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This is the final post in this series of threads on Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical:

1. Development needs Christians with their arms raised towards God in prayer, Christians moved by the knowledge that truth-filled love, caritas in veritate, from which authentic development proceeds, is not produced by us, but given to us. For this reason, even in the most difficult and complex times, besides recognizing what is happening, we must above all else turn to God’s love. Development requires attention to the spiritual life, a serious consideration of the experiences of trust in God, spiritual fellowship in Christ, reliance upon God’s providence and mercy, love and forgiveness, self-denial, acceptance of others, justice and peace. All this is essential if “hearts of stone” are to be transformed into “hearts of flesh” (Ezek 36:26), rendering life on earth “divine” and thus more worthy of humanity. All this is of man, because man is the subject of his own existence; and at the same time it is of God, because God is at the beginning and end of all that is good, all that leads to salvation: “the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours; and you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor 3:22-23). Christians long for the entire human family to call upon God as “Our Father!” In union with the only-begotten Son, may all people learn to pray to the Father and to ask him, in the words that Jesus himself taught us, for the grace to glorify him by living according to his will, to receive the daily bread that we need, to be understanding and generous towards our debtors, not to be tempted beyond our limits, and to be delivered from evil (cf. Mt 6:9-13).

At the conclusion of the Pauline Year, I gladly express this hope in the Apostle’s own words, taken from the Letter to the Romans: “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honour” (Rom 12:9-10). May the Virgin Mary — proclaimed Mater Ecclesiae(Mother of the Church) by Paul VI and honoured by Christians as Speculum Iustitiae (Mirror of Justice) and Regina Pacis (Queen of Peace)— protect us and obtain for us, through her heavenly intercession, the strength, hope and joy necessary to continue to dedicate ourselves with generosity to the task of bringing about the “development of the whole man and of all men".

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on 29 June, the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, in the year 2009, the fifth of my Pontificate.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

Thanks to all who read this series of threads on the encyclical, “Caritas in veritate” (“Charity in Truth”). Please let us pray for one another, for the Church and for all those in Most need of God’s Mercy. May we live the Truth we have heard, from God, through Pope Benedict XVI, now Pope Emeritus.

 

[patricius79]

Yes, may we trust in God through the Virgin our Mother, so as to become–and help others become–more of we really are and are created to be.

 

[MariaChristi]

Thanks for your reply, dear brother Pat,

Good to hear from you again! Pope Benedict has a quiet and tender devotion to Mary, it seems to me. He has written many beautiful words about her. Here at the end of his encyclical on Charity in Truth, he invoked her under three such beautiful titles and significant ones, for the times in which we are living.

How very much we need to recognize our dependence on our Mother to show us by her example and help us by her prayers, to become all God intends us to be as unique saints in the Family of God! How often we need to look at her as a mirror in which we can see the Church as the Bride of Christ, reflecting God’s Justice as well as His Mercy, and finally as the Queen of Peace who now reigns with Him Who became Incarnate in her womb!

We can never thank God enough for Mary, through whom He sent His only Begotten Son! We can never thank the Son Incarnate for giving her to us from His Cross, Come Holy Spirit fill us with Your Love, as you filled Mary our Mother!