Pope Benedict XVI - Books and Quotes

"Hope will always remain stronger than all else! The Church, built upon the rock of Christ, possesses the promises of eternal life, not because her members are holier than others, but because Christ made this promise to Peter: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18). In this unfailing hope in God’s eternal presence to the souls of each of us, in this joy of knowing that Christ is with us until the end of time, in this power that the Spirit gives to all those who let themselves be filled with him."

Pope Benedict XVI, Paris,
13 September 2008.

 

From Ignatius Press:

Happy Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord!

Pope Benedict XVI says the Transfiguration was an encounter of prayer between Christ and the Father. May we too commune with the Father through prayer, and be “transfigured in hope” as we pick up our cross and follow the Savior to heavenly glory.

Text: “Holiness is always in Season” by Pope Benedict XVI

Image: “Transfiguration” by Fra Angelico, 1440-1442

 

"Once again the mountain serves – as it did in the Sermon on the Mount and in the nights spent by Jesus in prayer – as the locus of God’s particular closeness. Once again we need to keep together in our minds the various mountains of Jesus’s life: the mountain of the temptation; the mountain of his great preaching; the mountain of his prayer; the mountain of the transfiguration; the mountain of his agony; the mountain of the cross; and finally, the mountain of the risen Lord, where he declares – in total antithesis to the offer of world dominion through the devil’s power: “All power in Heaven and on Earth is given to me.” (Matthew 28:18) But in the background we also catch sight of Sinai, Horeb, Moriah – the mountains of Old Testament revelation. They are all at one and the same time mountains of passion and of revelation, and they also refer in turn to the Temple Mount, where revelation becomes liturgy.

When we inquire into the meaning of the mountain, the first point is of course the general background of mountain symbolism. The mountain is the place of ascent – not only outward, but also inward ascent; it is a liberation from the burden of everyday life, a breathing in of the pure air of creation; it offers a view of the broad expanse of creation and its beauty; it gives one an inner peak to stand on and an intuitive sense of the creator. History then adds to all this the experience of the God who speaks, and the experience of the passion, culminating in the sacrifice of Isaac, in the sacrifice of the lamb that points ahead to the definite Lamb sacrificed on Mount Calvary. Moses and Elijah were privileged to receive God’s revelation on the mountain, and now they are conversing with the one who is God’s revelation in person."

Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI,
Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration (2008).

 

"The person who abandons himself totally in God's hands does not become God's puppet, a boring 'yes man'; he does not lose his freedom. Only the person who entrusts himself totally to God finds true freedom, the great, creative immensity of the freedom of good."

Pope Benedict XVI, Homily,
8 December 2005.

 

Commentary of the day
Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus,
28 August 2011

"Thinking as the world thinks is to set God aside, not accepting his plan of love, preventing him, as it were, from doing his wise will. For this reason Jesus says some particularly harsh words to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me” (ibid.). The Lord teaches that “the way of discipleship [is] the way to follow him [walk behind him], the Crucified. In all three Gospels he also interprets this ‘following’ on the way of the Cross” as “the indispensable way for man to ‘lose his life’, without which it is impossible for him to find” himself” (Jesus of Nazareth, English edition, New York, p. 287).

As he invited the disciples, Jesus also addresses an invitation to us: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24). A Christian follows the Lord when he accepts lovingly his own cross, which in the world's eyes seems a defeat and to “lose life” (cf. vv. 25-26), knowing that he is not carrying it alone but with Jesus, sharing his same journey of self-giving.

The Servant of God Paul VI wrote: “In a mysterious way, Christ himself accepts death... on the Cross, in order to eradicate from man's heart the sins of self-sufficiency and to manifest to the Father a complete filial obedience” (Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete in Domino, 9 May 1975). By willingly accepting death, Jesus carries the cross of all human beings and becomes a source of salvation for the whole of humanity.

St Cyril of Jerusalem commented: “The glory of the Cross led those who were blind through ignorance into light, loosed all who were held fast by sin and brought redemption to the whole world of mankind” (Catechesis Illuminandorum XIII, 1: de Christo crucifixo et sepulto: PG 33, 772 B)."

 

Pope Benedict XVI, Homily,
Foro Italico Umberto I, Palermo,
3 October 2010

"Just as a lever raises something far heavier than its own weight, so faith, even a crumb of faith, can do unthinkable, extraordinary things, such as uproot a great tree and plant it in the sea. Faith—trusting in Christ, welcoming him, letting him transform us and following him to the very end—makes humanly impossible things possible in every situation.
The temptation to discouragement and resignation comes to those who are weak in faith, who confuse evil with good, and who think that, faced with evil—often profound—there is nothing that can be done.
Instead, those who are firmly founded on faith, who place their full trust in God and live in the Church, are capable of bringing the transforming power of the Gospel into the world."

 

On the Feast of Saint Lawrence,
Deacon and Martyr -
Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience,
The Significance of Martyrdom,
11 August 2010

"On what is martyrdom founded? The answer is simple: on the death of Jesus, on his supreme sacrifice of love, consummated on the Cross, that we might have life (cf. Jn 10: 10). It is the logic of the grain of wheat that dies in order to sprout and bring new life (cf. Jn 12: 24). Jesus himself "is the grain of wheat which came from God, the divine grain that lets itself fall to the ground, that lets itself sink, be broken down in death and precisely by so doing germinates and can thus bear fruit in the immensity of the world" (Benedict XVI during his Visit to the Evangelical Lutheran Community at the "Christuskirche", Rome, 14 March 2010). The martyr follows the Lord to the very end, freely accepting death for the salvation of the world in a supreme test of love and faith (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 42).

Once again, where does the strength to face martyrdom come from? From deep and intimate union with Christ, because martyrdom and the vocation to martyrdom are not the result of human effort but the response to a project and call of God, they are a gift of his grace that enables a person, out of love, to give his life for Christ and for the Church, hence for the world. If we read the lives of the Martyrs we are amazed at their calmness and courage in confronting suffering and death: God's power is fully expressed in weakness, in the poverty of those who entrust themselves to him and place their hope in him alone (cf. 2 Cor 12: 9). Yet it is important to stress that God's grace does not suppress or suffocate the freedom of those who face martyrdom; on the contrary it enriches and exalts them: the Martyr is an exceedingly free person, free as regards power, as regards the world; a free person who in a single, definitive act gives God his whole life, and in a supreme act of faith, hope and charity, abandons himself into the hands of his Creator and Redeemer; he gives up his life in order to be associated totally with the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. In a word, martyrdom is a great act of love in response to God's immense love."

 

“There are so many problems that all have to be solved but that will not all be solved unless God stands in the center and becomes visible again in the world.”

From the book 'Light of the World' (2010).
Another wide ranging discussion
with journalist Peter Seewald.

 

"Man's great, true hope which holds firm in spite of all disappointments can only be God—God who has loved us and who continues to love us “to the end,” until all “is accomplished” (cf. Jn 13:1 and 19:30). Whoever is moved by love begins to perceive what “life” really is. He begins to perceive the meaning of the word of hope that we encountered in the Baptismal Rite: from faith I await “eternal life”—the true life which, whole and unthreatened, in all its fullness, is simply life. Jesus, who said that he had come so that we might have life and have it in its fullness, in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10), has also explained to us what “life” means: “this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (Jn 17:3). Life in its true sense is not something we have exclusively in or from ourselves: it is a relationship. And life in its totality is a relationship with him who is the source of life. If we are in relation with him who does not die, who is Life itself and Love itself, then we are in life. Then we “live”.

Pope Benedict XVI,
Spe Salvi, 27.

 

Stephen is my middle name bequeathed to me at my Church Baptism (though I was baptized 3 times on the day I was born (by a doctor, a nurse, and a chaplain!) It's probably the only reason I lived (9 weeks premature in 1954)

 

Stephen is also our son's name

 

"Jesus knocks at the door of our hearts and asks to come in not just for one day, but for forever."

Pope Benedict XVI, Corpus Christi,
7 June 2007.

 

You know Dave, I can't remember the occasion when Pope Benedict was filmed praying an hour of Adoration outside of St. Peter's, but I do remember "joining him", and sensing his deep focus and concentration.

 

A friend was telling us the other day about a baby girl she knew of who was recently born at 25 weeks. Thankfully, she seems to be doing well. Please God, she will continue to thrive.

 

I don't recall seeing that, Mario but I can well believe your sensing his deep focus. His deep faith shines through in all of his writings and interviews too.
It's been a while since I read it but I remember the interview / book 'God and the World' , with Peter Seewald was excellent.