Pope Benedict XVI - Books and Quotes

"The world needs renewal! In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair. How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns (cf. Jer 2:13) in a desperate search for meaning – the ultimate meaning that only love can give? This is the great and liberating gift which the Gospel brings: it reveals our dignity as men and women created in the image and likeness of God. It reveals humanity’s sublime calling, which is to find fulfilment in love. It discloses the truth about man and the truth about life."

Pope Benedict XVI, World Youth Day, Sydney, 20 July 2008.

 

14 September
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

“We adore you O Christ and we praise you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”

 

"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.

 

Exactly what I needed to read. Thank u

 

"The important question we ask ourselves today is: how can we talk about God in our time? How can we communicate the Gospel so as to open roads to his saving truth in our contemporaries’ hearts — that are all too often closed — and minds — that are at times distracted by the many dazzling lights of society? Jesus, the Evangelists tell us, asked himself about this as he proclaimed the kingdom of God: “With what can we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?” (Mk 4:30).

How can we talk about God today? The first answer is that we can talk about God because he has talked to us; so the first condition for speaking of God is listening to all that God himself has said. God has spoken to us! God is therefore not a distant hypothesis concerning the world’s origin; he is not a mathematical intelligence far from us. God takes an interest in us, he loves us, he has entered personally into the reality of our history, he has communicated himself, even to the point of taking flesh. Thus God is a reality of our life, he is so great that he has time for us too, he takes an interest in us. In Jesus of Nazareth we encounter the face of God, who came down from his heaven to immerse himself in the human world, in our world, and to teach “the art of living”, the road to happiness; to set us free from sin and make us children of God (cf. Eph 1:5; Rom 8:14). Jesus came to save us and to show us the good life of the Gospel.

Talking about God means first of all expressing clearly what God we must bring to the men and women of our time: not an abstract God, a hypothesis, but a real God, a God who exists, who has entered history and is present in history; the God of Jesus Christ as an answer to the fundamental question of the meaning of life and of how we should live. Consequently speaking of God demands familiarity with Jesus and his Gospel, it implies that we have a real, personal knowledge of God and a strong passion for his plan of salvation without succumbing to the temptation of success, but following God’s own method. God’s method is that of humility — God makes himself one of us — his method is brought about through the Incarnation in the simple house of Nazareth; through the Grotto of Bethlehem; through the Parable of the Mustard Seed.

Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, Year of Faith: How to speak about God?, 28 November 2012.

Full text
https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20121128.html

 

Dave, thanks for all these articles. It’s striking that many of these Ultra-traditionalists are very critical of Benedict. A lot of them are very nearly sedevacantist back to Pius XII, just like the actual sedes. They’re a tough crowd.

Wouldn’t we all be glad now to have a John XXIII, a John Paul I or II, a Benedict or even a Paul VI (who gave us the wonderful Humane vitae) on the papal throne?

 

Thanks DeG, a lot of the pieces come from a Facebook page: Benedict XVI - The Court of the Gentiles.
I know many people aren't on Fb, so I share some of them here.
Yes, the Popes you name would be a welcome return to Catholicism.
I suppose Pope Benedict's style and way of communicating his (considerable) understanding of Christianity and the Gospel strike a chord with me. His clarity and insight is such a contrast to recent occupants of the throne of St. Peter.
I didn't realise he was so out of favour with the Ultra-Trads. To be honest I try not to get too involved in factions.
No doubt there may be some criticisms which could be levelled at Pope Benedict but I feel his works are a beacon of light in these increasingly dark times. If I recall correctly, it was mainly because of reading J. Ratzinger's books that Scott Hahn was drawn to embrace Catholicism.

 

I have a soft spot for any Pope that can so enjoy a pint!

 

Yes, there is that too

 

200 million Catholics were added to the Church under Pope Francis.

God can work his ways no matter who the pontiff is.

 

Sláinte!

 

"Having faith means drawing support from the faith of your brothers and sisters, even as your own faith serves as a support for the faith of others. I ask you, dear friends, to love the Church which brought you to birth in the faith, which helped you to grow in the knowledge of Christ and which led you to discover the beauty of his love. Growing in friendship with Christ necessarily means recognizing the importance of joyful participation in the life of your parishes, communities and movements, as well as the celebration of Sunday Mass, frequent reception of the sacrament of Reconciliation, and the cultivation of personal prayer and meditation on God’s word."

Pope Benedict XVI, Homily,
21 August 2011.

 

"Love of God and love of neighbour are inseparable and are mutually related. Jesus did not invent one or the other but revealed that they are essentially a single commandment and did so not only through the Word, but especially with his testimony: the person of Jesus and his whole Mystery embody the unity of love of God and neighbour, like the two arms of the Cross, vertical and horizontal. In the Eucharist he gives us this two-fold love, giving himself, because, nourished by this Bread, we love one another as he has loved us."

Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus,
4 November 2012.

 

Where would I be without the Lord? How could I press on without His Grace and the covering of Mary's Mantle, or the faithfulness of my wife! So many graces and support from others. As I type, Geralyn is giving grandmotherly advice to our oldest grandchild, 15 yr. old Dairinne.

 

Thank God for grandmothers.

 

https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinio...tima-and-benedict-xvi/?utm_source=most_recent

 

"On the road of life we may sometimes not be aware of Jesus’ presence. However, it is really this presence, living and true, in the work of creation, in the Word of God and in the Eucharist, in the community of believers and in every man redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ, which is the inexhaustible source of human strength. Jesus of Nazareth, God made Man, is beside us during the good times and the bad times and he thirsts for this relationship, which is, in reality, the foundation of authentic humanity. We read in the book of Revelation these important words: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20).

Pope Benedict XVI. Meeting with
young people, Poland, 26 May 2006.

 

“Enmity with God is the source of all that poisons man; overcoming this enmity is the basic condition for peace in the world. Only the man who is reconciled with God can also be reconciled and in harmony with himself, and only the man who is reconciled with God and with himself can establish peace around him and throughout the world….That there be peace on earth (cf Lk 2:14) is the will of God and, for that reason, it is a task given to man as well.”

Joseph Ratzinger, Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, (Chapter 4: The Sermon on the Mount),
Doubleday 2007, p. 85.

 

I so miss Pope Benedict. I never felt confused with him as our Anchor and leader.