It has been an interesting week in Rome. I hope that all of you have been able to read the Holy Father's statement announcing his resignation. If not, see our previous post.
This week the Holy Father will not have an audience, since he is on his annual retreat. Next Sunday will be his final Angelus blessing, and next Wednesday, February 27th, will be his final general audience. Those of us who are in Rome will be going, some of us right after class, in order to say goodbye and receive his apostolic blessing for the last time.Here is what the Holy Father had to say at last week's audience (Ash Wednesday):
As you know, I have decided [applause]– thank you for your kindness – to renounce the ministry which the Lord entrusted to me on 19 April 2005. I have done this in full freedom for the good of the Church, after much prayer and having examined my conscience before God, knowing full well the seriousness of this act, but also realizing that I am no longer able to carry out the Petrine ministry with the strength which it demands. I am strengthened and reassured by the certainty that the Church is Christ’s, who will never leave her without his guidance and care. I thank all of you for the love and for the prayers with which you have accompanied me. Thank you; in these days which have not been easy for me, I have felt almost physically the power of prayer – your prayers – which the love of the Church has given me. Continue to pray for me, for the Church and for the future Pope. The Lord will guide us.
Today, Ash Wednesday, we begin our yearly Lenten journey of conversion in preparation for Easter. The forty days of Lent recall Israel’s sojourn in the desert and the temptations of Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry. The desert, as the place of silent encounter with God and decision about the deepest meaning and direction of our lives, is also a place of temptation. In his temptation in the desert, Jesus showed us that fidelity to God’s will must guide our lives and thinking, especially amid today’s secularized society. While the Lord continues to raise up examples of radical conversion, like Pavel Florensky, Etty Hillesum and Dorothy Day, he also constantly challenges those who have been raised in the faith to deeper conversion. In this Lenten season, Christ once again knocks at our door (cf. Rev 3:20) and invites us to open our minds and hearts to his love and his truth. May Jesus’ example of overcoming temptation inspire us to embrace God’s will and to see all things in the light of his saving truth.
P.S. I wanted to add in the following links for you, in case you missed these homilies:
Mass for the World Day of Consecrated Life. February 2, 2013
Ash Wednesday Mass. February 13, 2013
Finally, here is the Holy Father's Lenten Message for 2013: "Believing in charity calls forth charity."
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