On Peter and Paul

On this Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul be sure to go back and read what His Holiness had to say about them in his catechetical series on the Apostles:

• Peter, the Fisherman


• Peter, the Apostle


• Peter, the Rock


• Saint Paul and the Spirit


• Saint Paul and the Church

When they feel that their freedom is respected and taken seriously, adolescents and young people, despite their changeability and frailty, are not in fact unwilling to let themselves be challenged by demanding proposals: indeed, they often feel attracted and fascinated by them.

-Address at the Opening of the Convention of the Diocese of Rome

From the outset the disciples recognized the Risen Jesus as the One who is our brother in humanity but is also one with God; the One who, with his coming into the world and throughout his life, in his death and in his Resurrection, brought us God and in a new and unique way made God present in the world: the One, therefore, who gives meaning and hope to our life; in fact, it is in him that we encounter the true Face of God that we find what we really need in order to live.

-Address at the Opening of the Convention of the Diocese of Rome

Missionary commitment remains the first service that the Church owes to humanity today to
guide and evangelize the cultural, social and ethical transformations; to offer Christ's salvation to the people of our time in so many parts of the world who are humiliated and oppressed by endemic poverty, violence and the systematic denial of human rights.

-Message for the 81st World Mission Sunday

This is the very time for opening oneself with trust to the Providence of God, who never abandons his People and who, with the power of the Holy Spirit, guides them toward the fulfilment of his eternal design of salvation.

-Message for the 81st World Mission Sunday

Another book by Benedict

The Holy Father's Wednesday Audience Addresses on the Apostles will be published soon. This, and more, via Amy.

If you haven't yet read these addresses, shame on you!

Within each address Pope Benedict XVI offers a brief biographical sketch of the Apostles and proposes several things we can learn from the example of their lives. Each of these addresses is both educational and highly spiritual.

Order your copy today! A must read for every faithful Catholic!

We travel on the highways of the world knowing that he is beside us, supported by the hope of being able to see him one day face to face, in the definitive encounter.

-Homily, 7 June 2007

Precisely because this is a mysterious reality that surpasses our understanding, we must not be surprised if today too many find it hard to accept the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It cannot be otherwise. This is how it has been since the day when, in the synagogue at Capernaum, Jesus openly declared that he had come to give us his flesh and his blood as food (cf. Jn 6: 26-58). This seemed "a hard saying" and many of his disciples withdrew when they heard it. Then, as now, the Eucharist remains a "sign of contradiction" and can only be so because a God who makes himself flesh and sacrifices himself for the life of the world throws human wisdom into crisis.

-Homily, 7 June 2007

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Viva il Papa!!!

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He [Saint Francis of Assis] was not only an environmentalist or a pacifist. He was a convert.

-Address to the priests of Albano, 31 August 2006

Assisi bound

VATICAN CITY, JUN 15, 2007 (VIS) - On Sunday, June 17, Benedict XVI will make a pastoral visit to Assisi, Italy, for the eighth centenary of the conversion of St. Francis.

The Pope will leave the Vatican by helicopter at 7.30 a.m. After landing at the heliport of Rivotorto, he will make a private visit to the Shrine of St. Damian. At 10 a.m., he will preside at a Eucharistic concelebration in the Lower Square of St. Francis then pray the Angelus. At 12.30 p.m., he will make a private visit to the tomb of St. Francis.

At 4 p.m., he will meet the German Poor Clare Capuchin Sisters in the hall of the convent before going on to the Upper Basilica of St. Francis to meet participants in the general chapter of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor Conventual and the community of the convent.

Following a meeting with priests, deacons, religious, superiors and students of the pontifical seminary of Umbria in the Cathedral of San Rufino, he will make a private visit to the shrine of Porziuncola and the chapel of St. Francis.

At 6 p.m., he will meet with young people on the square in front of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels.

His return to the Vatican is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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Adoration of the love of God, which has found in the symbol of the 'pierced heart' its historical-devotional experience, continues to be vital for a living relationship with God.

-Letter to Fr. Kolvenback, S.J., 15 May 2006

Gazing at the side pierced by the lance, where shines God's boundless will for salvation, cannot then be considered as a passing form of veneration or devotion. The adoration of God's love, which found historical-devotional expression in the symbol of the pierced heart, remains irreplaceable for a living relationship with God.

-Letter to Fr. Kolvenback, S.J., 15 May 2006

Historical analysis is never an end in itself; it seeks not only to get to know the past, but it firmly points toward conversion and to an authentic witness of Christian life on the part of the faithful. It is a guide for today.

-Wednesday Audience, 13 June 2007

Only when charitable activity takes the form of Christ-like self-giving does it become a gesture truly worthy of the human person created in God's image and likeness. Lived charity fosters growth in holiness, after the example of the many servants of the poor whom the Church has raised to the dignity of the altars.

-Address to Caritas International, 8 June 2007

Every act of charity should be inspired by a personal experience of faith, leading to the discovery that God is Love.

-Address to Caritas International, 9 June 2007

Love finds it greatest fulfilment in the gift of self.

-Address to Caritas International, 8 June 2007

A few good resources

In honor of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, I have compiled a few links to some worthwhile reading on the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar by the Holy Father:

Sacramentum caritatis

Homily, Corpus Christis (2006)

Angelus Address on Corpus Christi (2006)

Homily, World Youth Day

Homily, Conclusion of Eucharistic Congress at Bari

Homily, Corpus Christi (2005)

His homily for Corpus Christi 2007 is not yet available at the Vatican web site in English, though it is available in Italian.