VATICAN : POPE : GREATER TRUST IN DIVINE AND OTHER NEWS

VIS REPORTS::
WE MUST LEARN TO HAVE GREATER TRUST IN DIVINE  PROVIDENCE

VATICAN  CITY, 1 FEB 2012 (VIS) - This morning in the Paul VI Hall the Holy Father  received thousands of pilgrims from around the world in his weekly general  audience. As part of a series of catecheses dedicated to the prayers  pronounced by Christ, he focused his remarks on Jesus' prayer in the Garden  of Gethsemane. (IMAGE SOURCE: RADIO VATICANA)

   Mark the Evangelist narrates how, following the Last Supper, Jesus went to  the Mount of Olives and readied Himself for personal prayer. "But this  time", the Pope said, "something new occurred; it seemed that He  did not want to remain alone. Many times in the past Jesus had moved away  from the crowds, even from His own disciples. ... However, in Gethsemane he  invited Peter, James and John to stay close by; the same disciples who had accompanied  Him during the Transfiguration.

   "The proximity of these three during the prayer at Gethsemane is  significant", Benedict XVI added. It represents "a request for  solidarity at the moment in which He felt the approach of death. Above all it  was a closeness in prayer, an expression of unity with Him at the moment in  which He was preparing to accomplish the Father's will to the end, an  invitation to all disciples to follow Him on the path of the Cross".

   Jesus' words to the three disciples - "I am deeply grieved, even to  death; remain here and keep awake" - show that He was feeling "fear  and anguish at that 'Hour', experiencing the ultimate profound solitude as  God's plan was being accomplished. Jesus fear and anguish comprehend all the horror  that man feels at the prospect of his own death, its inexorable certainty and  the perception of the burden of evil which affects our lives".

   Having invited His disciples to keep awake, Jesus moved away from them.  Referring to the Gospel of St. Mark, the Pope noted that Jesus "threw  Himself to the ground: a position for prayer which expresses obedience to the  Father's will, an abandonment of self with complete trust in Him". Jesus  then asks the Father that, if possible, the hour might pass from Him.  "This is not just the fear and anguish of man in the face of  death", the Holy Father explained, "but the distress of the Son of  God Who sees the terrible accumulation of evil He must take upon Himself, in  order to overcome it and deprive it of power".

   In this context, Benedict XVI invited the faithful to pray to God, placing  before Him "our fatigue, the suffering of certain situations and of  certain days, our daily struggle to follow Him and to be Christians, and the  burden of evil we see within and around us, that He may give us hope, make us  aware of His closeness and give us a little light on life's journey".

   Returning then to Jesus' prayer, the Pope focused on "three revealing  passages" in Christ's words: "Abba, Father, for you all things are  possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want but what you  want". Firstly, Benedict XVI said, the Aramaic word "Abba" is  used by children to address their fathers, "therefore it express Jesus  relationship with God the Father, a relationship of tenderness, affection and  trust". Secondly, Jesus' words contain an acknowledgment of the Father's  omnipotence "introducing a request in which, once again, we see the  drama of Jesus' human will in the face of death and evil. ... Yet the third  expression ... is the decisive one, in which the human will adheres fully to  the divine will. ... Jesus tells us that only by conforming their will to the  divine will can human beings achieve their true stature and become 'divine'.  ... This is what Jesus does in Gethsemane. By transferring human will to the  divine will the true man is born and we are redeemed".

   When we pray the Our Father "we ask the Lord that 'your will be done, on  earth as it is in heaven'. In other words, we recognise that God has a will  for us and with us, that God has a will for our lives and, each day, this  must increasingly become the reference point for our desires and our  existence. We also recognise that ... 'earth' becomes 'heaven' - the place  where love, goodness, truth and divine beauty are present - only if the will  of God is done".

   In our prayers "we must learn to have greater trust in Divine  Providence, to ask God for the strength to abandon our own selves in order to  renew our 'yes', to repeat to Him 'your will be done', to conform our will to  His. This is a prayer we must repeat every day, because it is not always easy  to entrust oneself to the will of God".

   The Gospel says that the disciples were unable to remain awake for Christ,  and Pope Benedict concluded his catechesis by saying: "Let us ask the  Lord for the power to keep awake for Him in prayer, to follow the will of God  every day even if He speaks of the Cross, to live in ever increasing intimacy  with the Lord and bring a little of God's 'heaven' to this 'earth'".

   Following the catechesis the Holy Father delivered greetings in a number of  languages to the pilgrims filling the Paul VI Hall. They included a group of  British military chaplains, faithful from Hong Kong and South America,  bishops friends of the Sant'Egidio Community from Europe, Asia and Africa, as  well as young people and the sick.
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TELEGRAM FOR THE DEATH OF CARDINAL BEVILACQUA

VATICAN  CITY, 1 FEB 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father has sent a telegram to Archbishop  Charles Chaput O.F.M. Cap. of Philadelphia, U.S.A., for the death of Cardinal  Anthony Bevilacqua, former archbishop of that archdiocese who died yesterday  at the age of 88. The Holy Father writes:

   "Having learned with sadness of the death of Cardinal Anthony  Bevilacqua, archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia, I offer my heartfelt  condolences to you and to all the faithful of the archdiocese. I join you in  commending the late cardinal's soul to God, the Father of mercies, with  gratitude for his years of episcopal ministry among Christ's flock in  Philadelphia, his longstanding commitment to social justice and the pastoral  care of immigrants, and his expert contribution to the revision of the  Church's law in the years following Vatican Council II. To you, and to all  the clergy, religious and laity of the Church in Philadelphia, and to the  members of his family, I cordially impart my apostolic blessing as a pledge  of consolation and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ".

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