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On the Our Father ARLINGTON, Texas, AUG. 20, 2010 (Zenit.org).- In a world where young people are perpetually texting, “tweeting” and connecting on Facebook, it can seem that the modern technology of social networking is more of a distraction than a benefit. Matthew Warner, however, sees the technology as an opportunity to reach out to youth, and to unite parishes.
Read more...MINSK, Belarus, AUG. 20, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Though the Church in Belarus is thriving 20 years after religious freedom was restored, now the faithful must be on guard against the winds of secularism, says the archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev.
Read more...CALCUTTA, India, AUG. 20, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Mother Teresa of Calcutta would have turned 100 years old next Thursday. The order she founded Missionaries of Charity, as well as faithful and nonbelievers from around the world are joining in preparation for the anniversary.
Read more...IRONDALE, Alabama, AUG. 20, 2010 (Zenit.org).- When Benedict XVI makes his Sept. 16-19 State visit to the United Kingdom, people worldwide will be able to watch through the Eternal Word Television Network.
Read more...MEXICO CITY, AUG. 19, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Mexico's Supreme Court has propelled the nation to one of the world's most liberal stances on homosexual "marriage" and adoption.
Read more...PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, AUG. 19, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Christians are uniting to affirm the importance of fatherhood and the truths of John Paul II's teaching in the theology of the body, says Glenn Stanton.
Read more...BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, AUG. 19, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The Permanent Commission of the Argentina Episcopal Conference concluded a three-day meeting that was dominated by discussion on strategy, now that Argentina has established a nationwide recognition of same-sex "marriages."
Read more...BHOPAL, India, AUG. 19, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The Catholic Church in India is struggling to promote religious freedom in the nation, while recent conflicts show tensions are still flaring.
Read more...ROCCA DI MEZZO, Italy, AUG. 19, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI spent this year's Feast of the Transfiguration following Christ's example in a particular way: He went into the mountains, where he visited a Marian shrine that marked its 1,400th anniversary this summer.
Read more...ROME, AUG. 18, 2010 (Zenit.org).- A Vatican spokesman says Benedict XVI's trip to the United Kingdom next month will be an opportunity to effectively present a secularized society with the positive contribution and beauty of the Christian faith and the Catholic Church.
Read more...CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 18, 2010 (Zenit.org).- An intimate personal union with Christ must be at the heart of apostolic activity, says Benedict XVI, pointing to the teaching of his predecessor St. Pius X.
Read more...ROME, AUG. 17, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
Read more...ARLINGTON, Virginia, AUG. 17, 2010 (Zenit.org).- A seminar on the intersection between psychology and spiritual growth gathered people involved in pastoral ministry worldwide to study new methods of caring for others.
Read more...CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 17, 2010 (Zenit.org).- A martyr is free before worldly power, a free person who in one definitive act gives his whole life to God, says Benedict XVI.
Read more...CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 16, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the homily Benedict XVI gave Sunday for the feast of Mary's Assumption, which he celebrated in the parish Church of St. Thomas of Villanueva.
Read more...STUBENVILLE, Ohio, AUG. 16, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The words solemnly uttered by Pope Pius XII on Nov. 1, 1950, brought a new global appreciation to the Mother of Christ's glorious exit from earth to heaven, a doctrinal truth which has been celebrated liturgically since the sixth century.
Read more...CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 16, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's address yesterday, solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin, before he prayed the midday Angelus together with pilgrims gathered in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo.
Read more...VATICAN CITY, AUG. 16, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is affirming his personal gratitude to the members of the Knights of Columbus, and assuring them that fidelity to God is the best response to "often unfair and unfounded" attacks on the Church and its leaders.
Read more...TAIZÉ, France, AUG. 16, 2010 (Zenit.org).- As the ecumenical Taizé Community marked both the 70th anniversary of foundation and the fifth anniversary of the founder's death, Benedict XVI pointed to the founder's "ecumenism of holiness" as an inspiration in "our march toward unity."
Read more...CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 16, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The truth of what awaits Christians and is prefigured with Mary's assumption into heaven should fill us with joy, says Benedict XVI.
Read more...| Christ Wants a Universal Church, Pope Says |
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Greets Bishops From a "Multiconfessional Environment" VATICAN CITY, MAY 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI met with prelates from a bishops' conference based in Belgrade and reminded them that Christ wanted his Church to be open to everyone. |
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| On the Our Father |
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| Written by www.zenit.org | |
| Wednesday, 28 July 2010 | |
"Words of Sacred Scripture That We Have Known Since Childhood"
* * * Dear Brothers and Sisters! This Sunday’s Gospel presents us with Jesus recollected in prayer, a bit apart from his disciples. When he finished, one of them said: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). Jesus did not object, he did not offer strange or esoteric formulas, but with great simplicity said: “When you pray, say: ‘Father…,’” and taught the Our Father (cf. Luke 11:2-4), drawing from his own prayer, with which he addresses God, his Father. St. Luke hands down the Our Father to us in a briefer form than we find in the Gospel of St. Matthew, which has entered into common use. We are before the first words of sacred Scripture that we have known since childhood. They fix themselves in the memory, they form our lives, they accompany us until our last breaths. They reveal that “we are in no way already complete as sons of God, but we must more and more become so and be so through our ever deeper communion with Jesus. Being sons becomes equivalent to following Christ” (Benedetto XVI, “Gesù di Nazaret,” Milano 2007, p. 168). This prayer also incorporates and expresses human material and spiritual needs: “Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:3-4). It is precisely because of everyday needs and difficulties that Jesus forcefully exhorts: “I say to you: Ask and you shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. Because whoever asks receives and whoever seeks finds and for whoever knocks it is opened” (Luke 11:9-10). It is not an asking to satisfy one’s own wants but rather to keep alive one’s friendship with God, who -- the Gospel always says -- “shall give the Holy Spirit to those who ask for him!” (Luke 11:13). It was experienced by the ancient “Desert Fathers” and contemplatives of every age, who through prayer, became friends of God, like Abraham, who implored the Lord to save the few just people from the extermination of the city of Sodom (cf. Genesis 18:23-32). St. Teresa of Avila said to her sisters: “We must beg God always to free us from every danger and to take away every evil from us. And however imperfect our desire, we must make an effort to persist in this request. What does it cost us to ask so much, given that we address the Omnipotent?” (“Cammino,” 60 (34), 4, in Opere complete, Milano 1998, p. 846). Every time we recite the Our Father our voice interweaves with the voice of the Church, because no one who prays is ever alone. “Each one of the faithful must try to seek and can find in the truth and wealth of Christian prayer, taught by the Church, his own way, his own style of prayer … he will thus let himself be guided … by the Holy Spirit, who leads him, through Christ, to the Father” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Letter on certain aspects of Christian meditation,” 15 October 1989, 29: AAS 82 [1990], 378). Today is the feast of the Apostle James known as “the Greater,” who left his father and his work as a fisherman to follow Jesus and give his life for him -- the first among the Apostles to do so. From my heart I address a special thought to the many pilgrims traveling to Santiago de Compostela! May the Virgin Mary help us to rediscover the beauty and the profundity of Christian prayer. [The Pope then greeted the pilgrims in various languages. In Italian he said:] Dear brothers and sisters, I learned with sadness of the tragedy that occurred in Duisburg, Germany, where many young people were killed. I commend the dead, the injured and their families to the Lord in prayer. [Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic] |
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