Posts Tagged ‘Pope Benedict XVI’
Pope Benedict XVI’s Spiritual Challenge
The following is an excerpt taken from Joseph Pearce’s biography, Benedict XVI: Defender of the Faith. Like the Infant Christ, Pope Benedict XVI was a man of humility and prayer. He never sought prestige and power; rather, he preferred a life of reading, study, and solitude. He suffered silently for the salvation of souls and…
Read MoreAdvent Calls Us to Silence: Part II
Pope Benedict XVI continues his previous discourse on silence by focusing on the importance of expectation. Another fundamental element of Advent is expectation, an expectation which is at the same time hope. Advent impels us to understand the meaning of time and of history as a kairós, as a favourable opportunity for our salvation. Jesus…
Read MoreAdvent Calls Us to Silence: Part I
In the biblical Reading we have just heard, taken from the First Letter to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul invites us to prepare for “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:23), with God’s grace keeping ourselves blameless. The exact word Paul uses is “coming”, in Latin adventus, from which the term “Advent” derives. Let…
Read MoreBenedict XVI and the Call to Holiness
When all is said and done, it’s all about good and evil. Those, like Nietzsche, who say otherwise are themselves evil. And, as Solzhenitsyn reminds us, the battle between good and evil takes place in each individual human heart. There is, therefore, no escaping this battle because it is being fought within our very core,…
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