Always Advent

I came across this at Fr. John Zuhlsdorf’s website What Does The Prayer Really Say?

At the end of Holy Mass of Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, at noon, His Holiness delivered him (sic) Angelus message. This week it included a very strong appeal for peace in Iraq, following on the death of the Archbishop of Mossul of the Chaldeans, Paulos Farah Rahho.

Here is the section of his comments on Iraq. My emphases indicates the part he quite literally shouted, though they were part of the prepared text:

At the end of this solemn celebration, in which we have meditated on the Passion of Christ, I want to call to mind the late lamented Archbishop of Mossul of the Chaldeans, Paulos Farah Rahho, tragically deceased a few days ago. His beautiful witness of faith in Christ, the Church and his people, which despite many threats he never wanted to abandon, presses me to raise a strong and concerned cry: enough of these massacres, enough with the violence, enough with hatred in Iraq! And I raise at the same time an appeal to the people of Iraq, which for five years is bearing the consequenzes of a war which has provoked the upheaval of civil and social life: beloved Iraqi people, raise up your heads and let you be, in the first place, riconstructors of your national life. Let there be reconciliations, forgiveness, justice and respect in common life betweem tribes, ethnic and religious groups, the solid way of peace in the name of God.

Wow!
(Here’s a link to the post: The Holy Father shouts for peace in Iraq.)

I pulled the image at the top from Fr. Z’s website. He has more images from the papal Palm Sunday liturgy in St. Peter’s Square here: Benedict XVI’s Palm Sunday Mass.

“We must be inspired by a holy restlessness…

…restlessness to bring to everyone the gift of friendship with Christ.” (Pope Benedict XVI)

Lovely article here from Zenit last year: a summary of some things Pope Benedict XVI said about Heaven, the narrow gate, friendship with Christ, etc:

Get Your “Passport” Ready for Heaven, Says Pope
http://www.zenit.org/article-20341?l=english

Just a few excerpts from an article a few months ago in the National Catholic Register (September 16, 2007 issue). The Pope’s remarks are from his homily during Holy Mass which he celebrated at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria, September 19, 2007:

…Pope Benedict XVI urged Austrian Catholics to protect Sunday as a day of spiritual focus. Modern Christians need an appointment with the Lord to give them a sense of direction and help them move beyond “the bustle of everyday life…”

Benedict said Sunday has been transformed by Western society into leisure time. Leisure is important in “the mad rush of the modern world,” but, unlike worship, it often lacks direction, he said.

He noted that for early Christians, Sunday Mass was not a commandment but an inner necessity — a time to meet Christ. “Without him who sustains our lives with his love, life itself is empty,” he said.

In Austria, according to polls, regular weekly church attendance among Catholics has declined steadily over the last 30 years and today may be as low as 10%.

The Holy Father also examined the radical nature of Christ’s call to his disciples and, in a sense, to all his followers: the injunction to “leave everything behind” in order to be totally available for him and for others. The aim, the Pope said, is to “create oases of selfless love in a world where so often only power and wealth seem to count for anything.”

Links

5 Things Catholics Can Do to Keep the Sabbath Holy (part one)
http://claresiobhan.stblogs.com/2007/12/16/5-things-catholic s-can-do-to-keep-the-sabbath-holy-part-one/

National Catholic Register
http://www.ncregister.com/

CNS — Catholic News Service
http://www.catholicnews.com/

Very interesting feature at the National Catholic Register, a photoessay of the daily life of Pope B16:
http://ncregister.com/site/article/7818