How do you respond to the spirituality of Pope Benedict?

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Our Pope benedict has stated that in these days the Church will grow stronger but its numbers will dwindle. He speaks a reality.

Never forget, that this pope like all the others has been chosen wioth the guidance of the Holy Spirit. There may come a time when we will be intruded upon with a false pope. Some interpret a passage in the Apocalypse as warning us of that event.

Pope Benedict, to me, at least, is that “rod of iron” spoken of. He is a gentle man; almost timid in appearance; immensly soft-spoken…BUT…He is STRONG in the faith. He is here for us for good reason.
 
When JPII started, I didn’t know what to think of him. Here was a young pope who came off an airplane and kissed the ground. He seemed so showy and I was so young. I didn’t know if he was for real. But as the years passed by, I grew to really love him and I saw his genius and morned for him when he passed away. Benedict 16 is so forthright. He tells it like it is and I admire that alot. I am sure I will grow to love him more and more each day.
 
Obviously, the time has come to be forthright in the Faith and not mince words. Pope Benedict is delivering the hard realities of the Faith in this world.

Some think we will have a schism because of many advances to restoring the Faith to its former holiness. That might be a very good thing. We will all have to choose which side we will go to for salvation.
 
Graing
sorry but I didn’t think the question on what our feelings are on the spirituality of Pope Benedict, was open for debate.

You like him, great.

I’m haven’t jumped on the B16 band wagon yet.

God Bless
 
TOP said:
Hi, at first I wasn’t quite sure about Pope Benedict. Then I had a dream I was confessing my sins to him. I cried as I rested my head on his chest and he consoled me. That totally changed my veiws of him. Now I see him getting the Church ready for battle. He is drawing a line in the dirt, so to speak. I think he will cleanse the Church and that is what the Lord showed me in that dream. I love JP2 like everyone else. But I didn’t practice under him. He was what was needed for the time. Tim
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Yes Pope Benedict 16th is drawing a line in the dirt and it will be more clearly seen who stands where and why. Evil will be come to be known as evil by those who can see and good will be come to be known as good by those who can see, those belong to Jesus and no man who belongs to Jesus will have an excuse for the lack of good they do nor the evil they commit, but they will come down on one side of the line or the other and those who come down on the side of the good and repent will be seen as evil doers and those who come down on the side of the line that is evil, unrepentant will be seen as doing good. So repent, rejoice and hold your head up high for it is a sin to conceal an evil.

Let us all pray for the courage of the martyrs to follow our faith

In the Living Prayer of my life.
 
Under Pope John Paul there were (still are) many, many disobedient cardinals, bishops and priests but it was kind of nebulous on who were the disaffected clergy.

Today, with the same group still in place our Holy Father Pope Benedict will force them out into the open.

There will be public disavowals of the pope’s policies. It is THEN we will know with absolute certainty who they are that broke the vows of obedience.

God Bless Pope Benedict. He is a gift from God.
 
What’s curious is that many priests thought that Pope John Paul II was too conservative and longed for what they imagined Pope John XXIII to have represented. For the life of the world and for my tastes I prefer someone who speaks plainly, like Pope Benedict.

CDL
 
GregoryPalamas said:
What’s curious is that many priests thought that Pope John Paul II was too conservative and longed for what they imagined Pope John XXIII to have represented. For the life of the world and for my tastes I prefer someone who speaks plainly, like Pope Benedict.

CDL
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Yes it always was as it is and it always will be as it is, the world strays from the Truth, but the One True Apostolic Catholic Church will always speak the Truth. There is no such thing as liberal or conservative, there is always the Truth and it is for every age and is always plainly spoken.

In the Living Prayer of my life
 
Teelynn said:
“The Rottweiler for Christ.” I myself don’t know if I’d go that far, but he doesn’t seem to be afraid to take a definitive stand for The Church. Get’s into hot water quite often and doesn’t seem to care.
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Code:
Just a comment on your saying that our Pope is not afraid to take a stand or criticism. When I went to see Fr corapi in Rochester, that is exactly what he said…well…in these terms: ‘The Pope doesn’t care a rat’s *** what people think of him or his teachings’ :eek: Man are we no so blessed to have such holy men to direct us!

That being said, I too believe God gave us Benedict 16 to prepare us. In Divine Mercy, Jesus said that a spark from Poland shall prepare the people for the end times…the spark being JP@ of course…well, we are closer…and Benedict is oonly cementing our Faith as it were. No more gray to wallow in…God bless him abundantly! Thank you Lord for this great gift of a Pope but also for the Faith! 👍
 
The “rotweiller” nickname was created by the media. They were prejudiced against Cardinal Ratzinger for years. It is a snide appellation.
 
johnstown_johnn said:
The “rotweiller” nickname was created by the media. They were prejudiced against Cardinal Ratzinger for years. It is a snide appellation.
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It is a horrible phrase as is the ‘German Shepherd’. So rude to our Supreme Pontiff, now I don’t see Pope Benedict as demanding special honour, it seems to me he would shun this, he is a very gentle and humble man, but I can’t imagine how anyone could be so rude as to attach these words to such a gentle and humble man; a man who is the Vicar of Christ.

It is a sign purely that we have lost all sense of reverance because we must have reverance for the office of Pope even if we do not find affinity with the personality that fulfills this office. This is why I have been greatly grieved and saddened that people have said they don’t like him or they have said they haven’t gone along with him yet. He is our Pope and his office demands reverance for us not to speak against him as Catholics but to speak with him as one voice in one Church.

If we listen to him, we will not err and if we read his works we will see Christ. He is the head man, chief and captain and I am only a ground level foot soldier, but I am happy to be led daily by him out into battle because where he comes from is Divinely inspired, when I read what he has said he only confirms my innermost prayer life with Jesus.

This is what is wrong with the world, no sense of anything sacred, Priests are disrespected daily and I know many Priests have done very grave things wrong, but who amongst you can cast the first stone, who amongst you is without sin? It is the office we must respect because the office is holy. No-one ever said that the one who would hold the office would be perfect because no one amongst us is perfect, all are sinners to degrees and degrees again.

Should you disrespect St Peter because he flat and outrightly rejected and denied Jesus in the courtyard? Jesus still held true to His proclaimation about Peter ‘You are the rock and upon this rock I build my Church’ and this is true even until today.Yes St Peter repented but so do we all. If you can’t take a little difference in personality, maybe even a little error in a personailty, I ask you are you Christian at all?

I, personally, am a sinner and am full of error, still it doesn’t mean I don’t speak the Truth in word and action.

One Church, One Truth, One Faith, hold to that and you won’t go far wrong.

Pope Benedict 16th is our Pope and I love him.

In the Living Prayer of my life.
 
Begging to differ, I personally see “German Shepherd” as a term of endearment for Pope Benedict XVI.

I’m part German myself, having a grandfather who is 100% ethnic Bavarian and who knows how to make a better sauerbraten meal from scratch than anything you can buy in a restaurant. 🙂

He married my Irish grandmother, who may have been something of a prophet. She died in 1999, well before Pope Benedict XVI. But while Pope John Paul II was alive, I heard her once happily refer to herself as “the Pope’s pit bull.” And when she knew she was dying, she insisted that at her funeral Mass, that they play “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” This choice of hymn shocked certain members of the family, who said, “But grandma … people will see you as an old battle ax!” Her response was, “Yes, I always have been, my whole life, for the Pope.” God bless grandma, her final wish was respected and carried out. 👍

From my grandma, my mom has always defended the Pope, writing numerous published articles … and this same feistiness has been passed down to me.

So there are those of us who, when we say that Pope Benedict XVI is our German Shepherd, we say it with love. :yup:

~~ the phoenix
 
the_phoenix said:
Begging to differ, I personally see “German Shepherd” as a term of endearment for Pope Benedict XVI.

I’m part German myself, having a grandfather who is 100% ethnic Bavarian and who knows how to make a better sauerbraten meal from scratch than anything you can buy in a restaurant. 🙂

He married my Irish grandmother, who may have been something of a prophet. She died in 1999, well before Pope Benedict XVI. But while Pope John Paul II was alive, I heard her once happily refer to herself as “the Pope’s pit bull.” And when she knew she was dying, she insisted that at her funeral Mass, that they play “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” This choice of hymn shocked certain members of the family, who said, “But grandma … people will see you as an old battle ax!” Her response was, “Yes, I always have been, my whole life, for the Pope.” God bless grandma, her final wish was respected and carried out. 👍

From my grandma, my mom has always defended the Pope, writing numerous published articles … and this same feistiness has been passed down to me.

So there are those of us who, when we say that Pope Benedict XVI is our German Shepherd, we say it with love. :cool:

~~ the phoenix
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If you see it as endearing all well and good but for the most part he has been dubbed this out of ridicule from the media.

Intent is everything.

In the Living prayer of my life.
 
blessedstar said:
Intent is everything.
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Indeed it is my friend … which is why I changed the emoticon in my final paragraph from :cool: to :yup: and am now feeling :o !
(Because sometimes these emoticons might give the wrong impression, helpful as they are. The “cool” emoticon, on looking at it, has more of an edge to it than I wanted to convey … )

Anyways blessedstar, I definitely know what you’re saying in terms of the media and others trying to disparage Pope Benedict XVI even through the use of his German ethnicity. In fact, I was very saddened at work to see one of my co-workers one day choose an absolutely blasphemous screensaver concerning the Pope and his German heritage, which other people gathered around and laughed at. I work in an extremely toxic environment in that regard, which is why I so often say the St. Michael prayer.

~~ the phoenix
 
the_phoenix said:
Indeed it is my friend … which is why I changed the emoticon in my final paragraph from :cool: to :yup: and am now feeling :o !
(Because sometimes these emoticons might give the wrong impression, helpful as they are. The “cool” emoticon, on looking at it, has more of an edge to it than I wanted to convey … )

Anyways blessedstar, I definitely know what you’re saying in terms of the media and others trying to disparage Pope Benedict XVI even through the use of his German ethnicity. In fact, I was very saddened at work to see one of my co-workers one day choose an absolutely blasphemous screensaver concerning the Pope and his German heritage, which other people gathered around and laughed at. I work in an extremely toxic environment in that regard, which is why I so often say the St. Michael prayer.

~~ the phoenix
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I’m sorry you had to witness that. I will say the St Michael prayer for you and your work friends every night as I do for Shosana and a few other people who face such things every day.

I’m so tired so I’m going to climb the wooden hill to ‘Bedfordshire’ and be alone with Jesus 🙂

The smilie icon was a real smile from me to you, my friend in Jesus.🙂

In the Living Prayer of my life
 
This “how do you respond to the spirituality of PB16” bothers me. There are different modes of spirituality (why else would there be different religious orders?). I generally think we get the pope we need but the Spirit’s time frame is certainly not ours. Each pope has his own talents and weaknesses. PB16’s talent is clearly theology and clarity of expression rather than politics and diplomacy (at least at this early time in his papacy). Perhaps that’s what we need. Each pope has an agenda for the Church as he understands its needs. No single pope can do it all.
 
TOP said:
Hi, at first I wasn’t quite sure about Pope Benedict. Then I had a dream I was confessing my sins to him. I cried as I rested my head on his chest and he consoled me. That totally changed my veiws of him. Now I see him getting the Church ready for battle. He is drawing a line in the dirt, so to speak. I think he will cleanse the Church and that is what the Lord showed me in that dream. I love JP2 like everyone else. But I didn’t practice under him. He was what was needed for the time. Tim
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This is said so perfectly, and I cannot wait untill next year I live in NY and he is coming here. I also loved John Paul2. I love Pope Benedict! Blessedstar! I agree with you he us such a humble and gentle man,
 
I was predisposed to like Pope Benedict from the beginning, and when I found he loved cats - well that sealed the deal for me.😃

I think he is kindness personified and his homilies are worth reading over and over again. I have his book Jesus of Nazareth on my shelf and it will be my Advent reading.
 
Funny, those that attack the Pope’s German lineage are the same ones that call others “racists.” Go figure!
 
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