Pope Encourages Personal Relationship With Christ

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 21, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Only Jesus is "joy to the heart," says Benedict XVI, citing words from St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

The Pope reflected today during the general audience on this 12th century saint, highlighting his personal relationship with Christ.



According to the Holy Father, "in a more than decisive way, the abbot of Clairvaux configures the theologian to the contemplative and the mystic. Only Jesus -- insists Bernard in face of the complex dialectical reasoning of his time -- only Jesus is 'honey to the mouth, song to the ear, joy to the heart.'"



Ideas like this one, noted the Pontiff, won the saint his traditional title: "Doctor Mellifluus: his praise of Jesus Christ, in fact, 'runs like honey.'"

Benedict XVI observed that "the abbot of Clairvaux does not tire of repeating that only one name counts, that of Jesus the Nazarene. 'Arid is all food of the soul,' [the saint] confesses, 'if it is not sprinkled with this oil; insipid, if it is not seasoned with this salt. What is written has no flavor for me, if I have not read Jesus.' And he concludes: 'When you discuss or speak, nothing has flavor for me, if I have not heard resound the name of Jesus.'"



The Pope said Bernard's concept of true knowledge of God consists in a "personal, profound experience of Jesus Christ and of his love."



"And this, dear brothers and sisters," he said, "is true for every Christian: Faith is above all a personal, intimate encounter with Jesus, and to experience his closeness, his friendship, his love; only in this way does one learn to know him ever more, and to love and follow him ever more. May this happen to each one of us."

Catholic Underground in Pittsburgh this Saturday

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Memorial of Saint John of Capistrano (Oct, 24, 2009)

From: saintvincentarchabbey.org

Rom 8:1-11, Ps 24:1-6; Lk 13:1-9

"Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face."

So what is the blessing, the reward that we shall receive from the LORD God, our savior? What do we expect from the LORD who made the earth and its fullness and all those who dwell upon it? He founded the seas, and he established the rivers. How can we even climb the mountain where he dwells? How can we stand in his holy place to receive anything? We must have clean hearts, and sinless hands. We must not desire anything that is vain. What is vain? It is vain to desire anything more than we desire the LORD God Almighty. Can we claim membership in the race that seeks him, that seeks the face of the God of Jacob? We are commanded to ask, seek, and knock. Whenever we ask, we receive. Whenever we seek, we find. Whenever we knock, it is opened to us. Our Heavenly Father always answers our prayer by the abundant gift of the Holy Spirit. For what more could we ask? Does not the gift of the Holy Spirit far surpass all we could have ever imagined? Is there anything else we need? As Saint Paul teaches his beloved in the church in Rome, "If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you." Indeed it is only the Holy Spirit who can enable the growth necessary so that we can bear His Fruits to nourish and refresh our world: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control.

The law has only so much to offer. It does guide us in forming a good conscience so that we can continue to choose the will of God. However, the law has not power to strengthen our weakened flesh. Indeed, we are weakened because the desire or tendency toward sin remains enfleshed as patterns of behavior, habits of the heart. What we cannot do of our own accord, God does within us by the gift of grace in Christ and in the Holy Spirit. We are too close to our own situation to see ourselves clearly, as God sees us. We all too easily make excuses for our weakness and sinful habits. They have become our friends; they seem to offer some level of comfort that is within our reach and our control. Left to our own devices we have no hope for change, for growth in spirit and truth. We need the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ in order to be strong and even to desire the Father's will more than our own will. In the Holy Spirit we belong to Christ and we no longer belong to sin, to our habits of seeming self-affirmation. Because Christ has taken up residence in our hearts, we are dead to sin and alive in Christ. As Saint Paul writes elsewhere, we can say with total confidence, "It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me!"

Before the Lord Jesus told the parable in today's gospel, where did you think he was going? Perhaps it seem like he was trying to answer the question we often express this way: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Actually, he refuses to answer that question. The Galileans were killed because Pilate wanted to achieve some political goal. Those crushed by the tower of Siloam were killed because of a freak accident. There is no easy explanation for "physical evil." The Lord Jesus used these two examples from the news of his day to simply summon his listeners to repent. Even more so, this crowd was warned to stop thinking themselves to be better human beings because they did not suffer in these ways. They may have been even more painful events ahead of each of those who gathered around the Lord that day. Then comes the good news, and it's in the parable. The gardener says to the orchard owner like Jesus says to the Father with his whole life and ministry. "Father, let me pour my life upon the cross and pour out the Spirit upon this fig tree of yours, then it will bear fruit." We are the fig trees. This is our grace filled, Spirit filled opportunity! If we do not bear fruit this time, will there be another opportunity? At a dark and turbulent time all through the Western world Saint John of Capistrano was summoned to sanctity and to service. As a Franciscan Friar and Catholic Priest this great Christian Optimist helped the plague infested and war torn peoples of Europe to triumph over the darkness of Moslem domination and begin to heal from the Western Schism when there were three claimants to the Holy See at one time. This Holy Friar continues to pray for us that darkness will be lifted from our hearts and that we might bear the Fruits of the Holy Spirit in our day.

Pope Benedict on Bl. Peter the Venerbale, OSB

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr

Rom 4:13,16-18; Ps 107:6-9,42-43; Lk 12:8-12

"The LORD remembers his covenant forever."

When the LORD remembers, things happen. When the LORD forgets, even then, great things happen. The LORD remembers his covenant with Abraham that he renewed with Isaac. When the LORD remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then he leads forth his people with joy, with shouts of joy. Indeed, the LORD leads us from slavery and from exile and from sin. All through history the LORD's remembering is for our blessing, in every generation! At the same moment the LORD remembers his covenant and leads us out, the LORD forgets our sin, our complaining, our refusal to remember his love and mercy in the way we treat one another. Such is the remembering and the forgetting of the LORD our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the God of Saint Paul who recognizes that Abraham is the father of all who have faith, Jew and Gentile alike. He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who promises the Holy Spirit to those who are called to testify in court for their faith in the LORD God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This promise is also intended for us who live in this age and endure persecution.

Abraham is our father in faith. The LORD made a promise to Abraham and fulfilled that promise in Christ, "I have made you father of many nations." In Christ the eternally begotten son of the Father, Abraham's faith is fulfilled. He has inherited the world through the righteousness that comes from faith. This faith is the gift that enabled Abraham to trust in the promise and that is also a gift. Everyone who receives that gift of faith and trusts in the promise of the LORD is a descendant of Abraham. The LORD promised him literal descendants through Isaac whom God called him to offer up in sacrifice. This seeming contradiction was the ultimate test of Abraham's faith. He believed that the LORD who gives life would give life to his son, Isaac. In Christ this promise is completely fulfilled because of the resurrection of Christ and because we share in that gift from on high. We, too, trust in the LORD who calls into being what does not exist, He calls into being a completely new creation by the power and out pouring of the Holy Spirit, a body of Christ made up of reconciled Jews and Gentiles.

If we forget who we are, we will deny the Lord Jesus before others. Such forgetfulness will lead to our not being acknowledged before the angels of God. This teaching becomes even more severe when the Lord Jesus continues, "Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven." What is this great blasphemy? Perhaps it is the willful denial that we can be forgiven. Perhaps there are some who foolishly think in their hearts that they have so grievously offended the LORD that even He cannot forgive them. To deny the Holy Spirit access to our hearts so that he might give us the grace to repent and believe the Good News is to close off all hope for new life, mercy or kindness. Such is the despair of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. However, those who do welcome the Holy Spirit have nothing to fear. Even when we are summoned before religious or civil authority, we have nothing to fear. What we are to say and when we are to say it will be given us from deep within our Spirit-filled hearts. This Holy Spirit hovers over us whenever we are in communion with the Body and Blood of Christ. This Holy Spirit breathes in us even as we cry out Abba, Father. We have nothing to fear. Saint Ignatius had no fear as he approached Rome and his own self-sacrifice as wheat ground between the teeth of the lions. His great desire was for the unity and order of the Church. He knew, what we sometimes forget, the price of commitment to Christ.