Audiences 2008 49
49
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today, I would like to speak about Benedict, the Founder of Western Monasticism and also the Patron of my Pontificate. I begin with words that St Gregory the Great wrote about St Benedict: "The man of God who shone on this earth among so many miracles was just as brilliant in the eloquent exposition of his teaching" (cf. Dialogues II, 36). The great Pope wrote these words in 592 A.D. The holy monk, who had died barely 50 years earlier, lived on in people's memories and especially in the flourishing religious Order he had founded. St Benedict of Norcia, with his life and his work, had a fundamental influence on the development of European civilization and culture. The most important source on Benedict's life is the second book of St Gregory the Great's Dialogues. It is not a biography in the classical sense. In accordance with the ideas of his time, by giving the example of a real man - St Benedict, in this case - Gregory wished to illustrate the ascent to the peak of contemplation which can be achieved by those who abandon themselves to God. He therefore gives us a model for human life in the climb towards the summit of perfection. St Gregory the Great also tells in this book of the Dialogues of many miracles worked by the Saint, and here too he does not merely wish to recount something curious but rather to show how God, by admonishing, helping and even punishing, intervenes in the practical situations of man's life. Gregory's aim was to demonstrate that God is not a distant hypothesis placed at the origin of the world but is present in the life of man, of every man.
This perspective of the "biographer" is also explained in light of the general context of his time: straddling the fifth and sixth centuries, "the world was overturned by a tremendous crisis of values and institutions caused by the collapse of the Roman Empire, the invasion of new peoples and the decay of morals". But in this terrible situation, here, in this very city of Rome, Gregory presented St Benedict as a "luminous star" in order to point the way out of the "black night of history" (cf. John Paul II, 18 May 1979). In fact, the Saint's work and particularly his Rule were to prove heralds of an authentic spiritual leaven which, in the course of the centuries, far beyond the boundaries of his country and time, changed the face of Europe following the fall of the political unity created by the Roman Empire, inspiring a new spiritual and cultural unity, that of the Christian faith shared by the peoples of the Continent. This is how the reality we call "Europe" came into being.
St Benedict was born around the year 480. As St Gregory said, he came "ex provincia Nursiae" - from the province of Norcia. His well-to-do parents sent him to study in Rome. However, he did not stay long in the Eternal City. As a fully plausible explanation, Gregory mentions that the young Benedict was put off by the dissolute lifestyle of many of his fellow students and did not wish to make the same mistakes. He wanted only to please God: "soli Deo placere desiderans" (II Dialogues, Prol. 1). Thus, even before he finished his studies, Benedict left Rome and withdrew to the solitude of the mountains east of Rome. After a short stay in the village of Enfide (today, Affile), where for a time he lived with a "religious community" of monks, he became a hermit in the neighbouring locality of Subiaco. He lived there completely alone for three years in a cave which has been the heart of a Benedictine Monastery called the "Sacro Speco" (Holy Grotto) since the early Middle Ages. The period in Subiaco, a time of solitude with God, was a time of maturation for Benedict. It was here that he bore and overcame the three fundamental temptations of every human being: the temptation of self-affirmation and the desire to put oneself at the centre, the temptation of sensuality and, lastly, the temptation of anger and revenge. In fact, Benedict was convinced that only after overcoming these temptations would he be able to say a useful word to others about their own situations of neediness. Thus, having tranquilized his soul, he could be in full control of the drive of his ego and thus create peace around him. Only then did he decide to found his first monasteries in the Valley of the Anio, near Subiaco.
In the year 529, Benedict left Subiaco and settled in Monte Cassino. Some have explained this move as an escape from the intrigues of an envious local cleric. However, this attempt at an explanation hardly proved convincing since the latter's sudden death did not induce Benedict to return (II Dialogues, 8). In fact, this decision was called for because he had entered a new phase of inner maturity and monastic experience. According to Gregory the Great, Benedict's exodus from the remote Valley of the Anio to Monte Cassio - a plateau dominating the vast surrounding plain which can be seen from afar - has a symbolic character: a hidden monastic life has its own raison d'être but a monastery also has its public purpose in the life of the Church and of society, and it must give visibility to the faith as a force of life. Indeed, when Benedict's earthly life ended on 21 March 547, he bequeathed with his Rule and the Benedictine family he founded a heritage that bore fruit in the passing centuries and is still bearing fruit throughout the world.
Throughout the second book of his Dialogues, Gregory shows us how St Benedict's life was steeped in an atmosphere of prayer, the foundation of his existence. Without prayer there is no experience of God. Yet Benedict's spirituality was not an interiority removed from reality. In the anxiety and confusion of his day, he lived under God's gaze and in this very way never lost sight of the duties of daily life and of man with his practical needs. Seeing God, he understood the reality of man and his mission. In his Rule he describes monastic life as "a school for the service of the Lord" (Prol. 45) and advises his monks, "let nothing be preferred to the Work of God" [that is, the Divine Office or the Liturgy of the Hours] (43, 3). However, Benedict states that in the first place prayer is an act of listening (Prol. 9-11), which must then be expressed in action. "The Lord is waiting every day for us to respond to his holy admonitions by our deeds" (Prol. 35). Thus, the monk's life becomes a fruitful symbiosis between action and contemplation, "so that God may be glorified in all things" (57, 9). In contrast with a facile and egocentric self-fulfilment, today often exalted, the first and indispensable commitment of a disciple of St Benedict is the sincere search for God (58, 7) on the path mapped out by the humble and obedient Christ (5, 13), whose love he must put before all else (4, 21; 72, 11), and in this way, in the service of the other, he becomes a man of service and peace. In the exercise of obedience practised by faith inspired by love (5, 2), the monk achieves humility (5, 1), to which the Rule dedicates an entire chapter (7). In this way, man conforms ever more to Christ and attains true self-fulfilment as a creature in the image and likeness of God.
The obedience of the disciple must correspond with the wisdom of the Abbot who, in the monastery, "is believed to hold the place of Christ" (2, 2; 63, 13). The figure of the Abbot, which is described above all in Chapter II of the Rule with a profile of spiritual beauty and demanding commitment, can be considered a self-portrait of Benedict, since, as St Gregory the Great wrote, "the holy man could not teach otherwise than as he himself lived" (cf. Dialogues II, 36). The Abbot must be at the same time a tender father and a strict teacher (cf. 2, 24), a true educator. Inflexible against vices, he is nevertheless called above all to imitate the tenderness of the Good Shepherd (27, 8), to "serve rather than to rule" (64, 8) in order "to show them all what is good and holy by his deeds more than by his words" and "illustrate the divine precepts by his example" (2, 12). To be able to decide responsibly, the Abbot must also be a person who listens to "the brethren's views" (3, 2), because "the Lord often reveals to the youngest what is best" (3, 3). This provision makes a Rule written almost 15 centuries ago surprisingly modern! A man with public responsibility even in small circles must always be a man who can listen and learn from what he hears.
Benedict describes the Rule he wrote as "minimal, just an initial outline" (cf. 73, 8); in fact, however, he offers useful guidelines not only for monks but for all who seek guidance on their journey toward God. For its moderation, humanity and sober discernment between the essential and the secondary in spiritual life, his Rule has retained its illuminating power even to today. By proclaiming St Benedict Patron of Europe on 24 October 1964, Paul VI intended to recognize the marvellous work the Saint achieved with his Rule for the formation of the civilization and culture of Europe. Having recently emerged from a century that was deeply wounded by two World Wars and the collapse of the great ideologies, now revealed as tragic utopias, Europe today is in search of its own identity. Of course, in order to create new and lasting unity, political, economic and juridical instruments are important, but it is also necessary to awaken an ethical and spiritual renewal which draws on the Christian roots of the Continent, otherwise a new Europe cannot be built. Without this vital sap, man is exposed to the danger of succumbing to the ancient temptation of seeking to redeem himself by himself - a utopia which in different ways, in 20th-century Europe, as Pope John Paul II pointed out, has caused "a regression without precedent in the tormented history of humanity" (Address to the Pontifical Council for Culture, 12 January 1990). Today, in seeking true progress, let us also listen to the Rule of St Benedict as a guiding light on our journey. The great monk is still a true master at whose school we can learn to become proficient in true humanism.
To special groups
I am happy to greet the English-speaking visitors present at today's Audience, including the pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Manila, and the many groups from England and the United States. May your lives, after the example of St Benedict, be lived in humility, prayer, obedience to God and faithful service to your neighbour. May the Lord bless you and your families!
Lastly, I greet the young people, the sick and the newly-weds, exhorting each one to live this Easter Season intensely, witnessing to the joy that the dead and Risen Christ gives to those who entrust themselves to him.
St Peter's Square
50
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Although several days have already passed since my return, I would like, nevertheless, to devote today's Catechesis, as usual, to the Apostolic Journey I made to the United Nations Organizations and to the United States of America from 15 to 21 April. I first of all renew the expression of my most heartfelt gratitude to the United States Bishops' Conference, and likewise to President Bush for having invited me, and for the warm welcome they gave me. I would like, however, to extend my "thank you" to all those in Washington and in New York who came to greet me and to express their love for the Pope or who accompanied and sustained me with their prayers and the offering of their sacrifices. As is well known, the occasion of the Visit was the 200th anniversary of the elevation of the Country's first Diocese - Baltimore - to a metropolitan Archdiocese and the establishment of the Sees of New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Louisville. On this characteristically ecclesial occasion, I therefore had the joy of going in person, for the first time as Successor of Peter, to visit the beloved People of the United States of America, to strengthen Catholics in the faith, to renew and to increase brotherhood among all Christians and to proclaim to all the Message of "Christ our Hope" which resounds as the motto of my Journey.
During the Meeting with the President at his residence, I was able to pay tribute to this great Country which was built from the outset on the foundations of a felicitous combination of religious, ethical and political principles which still constitute a valid example of healthy secularism where the religious dimension, with the diversity of its expressions, is not only tolerated but appreciated as the Nation's "soul" and a fundamental guarantee of human rights and duties. In this context the Church can carry out her mission of evangelization and human promotion with freedom and commitment and also as a "critical conscience". She thus contributes to building a society worthy of the human person and, at the same time, encourages a Country such as the United States - to which everyone looks as to one of the principal actors on the international stage - toward global solidarity, ever more necessary and urgent, and the patient exercise of dialogue in international relations.
The mission and role of the ecclesial Community were naturally the focus of the Meeting with the Bishops, which was held at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington. In the liturgical context of Vespers, we praised the Lord for the progress made by the People of God in the United States, for the zeal of its Pastors and the fervour and generosity of its faithful. This is expressed in the high and candid esteem in which faith is held and in countless charitable and humanitarian initiatives, at home and abroad. At the same time, I supported my Brothers in the Episcopate in their far from easy task of sowing the Gospel in a society marked by many contradictions, which even threaten the coherence of Catholics and the clergy themselves. I encouraged them to make their voice heard on the current moral and social issues and to form the lay faithful to be good "leaven" in the civil community, starting with the fundamental cell which is the family. In this regard I urged them to repropose the Sacrament of Matrimony as a gift and an indissoluble commitment between a man and a woman, the natural context for welcoming and raising children. The Church and the family, together with school, especially schools of Christian inspiration - must cooperate in order to offer young people a sound moral education, but in this task those who work in communications and entertainment also have a great responsibility. In thinking of the painful matter of the sexual abuse of minors committed by ordained ministers, I wanted to express my closeness to the Bishops, encouraging them in their endeavour to bind up the wounds and to strengthen relations with their priests. In responding to some of the questions the Bishops asked, I took the opportunity to stress several important aspects: the intrinsic relationship between the Gospel and "natural law"; a healthy conception of freedom that is understood and realized in love; the ecclesial dimension of Christian experience; the need for a new way to proclaim "salvation" as fullness of life, especially to young people, and to teach prayer, from which generous responses to the Lord's call germinate.
In the great and festive Eucharistic Celebration at Nationals Park Stadium in Washington we invoked the Holy Spirit upon the whole Church in the United States of America so that, firmly rooted in the faith transmitted by the Fathers and profoundly united and renewed, she may face present and future challenges with courage and hope, the hope that "does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit" (Rm 5,5). One of these challenges is certainly that of education. I therefore met at the Catholic University of America the Rectors of Catholic universities and colleges, diocesan heads of teaching and representatives of teachers and students. The duty to educate is an integral part of the Church's mission and the American ecclesial community is increasingly involved in it, at the same time rendering an important social and cultural service to the entire Country. It is important that this service continue, and it is likewise important to care for the quality of Catholic institutes so that in them people may truly be formed in accordance with "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (cf. Eph Ep 4,13), combining faith and reason, freedom and truth. Thus with joy I strengthened teachers in their precious task of intellectual charity.
In a Country with a multicultural vocation such as the United States of America the meetings with the representatives of other religions have acquired special importance: in Washington, at the John Paul II Cultural Center, with Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Jains; in New York, the Visit to the Synagogue. These were very cordial moments, especially the latter, which confirmed the common commitment to dialogue, and to the promotion of peace and of spiritual and moral values. In what can be considered the homeland of religious freedom, I wanted to recall that the latter should always be defended with united efforts, to avoid any form of discrimination and prejudice. And I emphasized the great responsibility of religious leaders both in teaching respect and non-violence, as well as keeping alive the deepest questions of the human conscience. The ecumenical celebration in Parish Church of St Joseph was also marked by great cordiality. Together we prayed the Lord to increase in Christians the ability to account, with ever greater unity, for the one great hope that is in them (cf. 1P 3,15) through their common faith in Jesus Christ.
Another important objective of my journey was the Visit to the Headquarters of the UN, the fourth Visit of a Pope after Paul VI's in 1965 and the two Visits of John Paul II in 1979 and 1995.
On the 60th anniversary of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" Providence gave me the opportunity to confirm the value of this Charter at the broadest and most authoritative supra-national Assembly. I referred to its universal foundations, that is, the dignity of the human person, created by God in his image and likeness so that he might cooperate in the world with God's great plan of life and peace. Like peace, respect for human rights is also rooted in "justice", in other words, in a valid ethical order for all epochs and all peoples, which can be summarized in the famous maxim: "Do not do to others what you would not like them to do to you" or, expressed in a positive form in Jesus' words: "Treat others the way you would have them treat you" (Mt 7,12). On this basis, which constitutes the Holy See's characteristic contribution to the United Nations Organization, I renewed and I renew again today the effective commitment of the Catholic Church to contribute to strengthening international relations marked by the principles of responsibility and solidarity.
The other moments of my stay in New York also remain deeply impressed on my heart. In St Patrick's Cathedral, in the heart of Manhattan - truly a "house of prayer for all peoples" I celebrated Holy Mass for priests and consecrated people who came from every part of the Country. I shall never forget the great warmth with which they congratulated me on the third anniversary of my election to the Chair of Peter. It was a moving moment in which I experienced in a tangible way all of the Church's support for my ministry. I can say the same about the Meeting with Young People and Seminarians at the Diocesan Seminary which was preceded by a very significant stop among disabled children and young people with their relatives. To the youth, who by their nature thirst for truth and love, I proposed several outstanding men and women who bore an exemplary witness to the Gospel in American territory, the Gospel of truth which makes them free in love, in service and in a life spent for others. By coming to grips with the problems that threaten young people today, they can find in the saints the light that dispels this darkness: the light of Christ, hope for every person! This hope, stronger than sin and death, enlivened the moment charged with emotion that I spent in silence in the abyss of Ground Zero, where I lit a candle, praying for all the victims of that terrible tragedy. Lastly, my Visit culminated in the Eucharistic celebration in New York's Yankee Stadium: I still carry in my heart that celebration of faith and brotherhood with which we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the oldest dioceses in North America. Enriched with faith and with the traditions of successive waves of immigrants, the little flock of the origins has developed enormously. To that Church, which now faces the challenges of the present time, I had the joy of proclaiming anew "Christ our Hope" yesterday, today, and for ever.
Dear brothers and sisters, I ask you to join me in thanksgiving for the comforting success of this Apostolic Visit and in asking God, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, to make it bear a fruitful harvest for the Church in America and in every part of the world.
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To special groups
I offer a warm welcome to the participants in the third Christian-Buddhist Symposium, meeting in Castel Gandolfo during these days. Upon all of you and upon the English-speaking pilgrims from England, Ireland, Scandinavia, Malta, South Africa, Korea, Thailand, Canada and the United States, I cordially invoke the joy and peace of the Risen Christ.
My thoughts go lastly to the young people, the sick and the newly weds. Today the liturgy commemorates the holy Pontiff Pius V who, moved by profound love for the Church, promoted the propagation of the faith with tireless zeal and reformed liturgical worship. May his example and his intercession encourage you, dear young people, to carry out authentically and coherently your Christian vocation; may it sustain you, dear sick people, so that you may persevere in hope and offer your sufferings in union with those of Christ for the salvation of humanity; may it make you, dear newly-weds grow in the reciprocal commitment to fidelity and love.
St Peter's Square
51
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the course of the Catechesis on the Fathers of the Church, today I would like to speak of a rather mysterious figure: a sixth-century theologian whose name is unknown and who wrote under the pseudonym of Dionysius the Areopagite. With this pseudonym he was alluding to the passage of Scripture we have just heard, the event recounted by St Luke in chapter 17 of the Acts of the Apostles where he tells how Paul preached in Athens at the Areopagus to an elite group of the important Greek intellectual world. In the end, the majority of his listeners proved not to be interested and went away jeering at him. Yet some, St Luke says a few, approached Paul and opened themselves to the faith. The Evangelist gives us two names: Dionysius a member of the Areopagus and a woman named Damaris.
If five centuries later the author of these books chose the pseudonym "Dionysius the Areopagite", it means that his intention was to put Greek wisdom at the service of the Gospel, to foster the encounter of Greek culture and intelligence with the proclamation of Christ; he wanted to do what this Dionysius had intended, that is, to make Greek thought converge with St Paul's proclamation; being a Greek, he wanted to become a disciple of St Paul, hence a disciple of Christ.
Why did he hide his name and choose this pseudonym? One part of the answer I have already given: he wanted, precisely, to express this fundamental intention of his thought. But there are two hypotheses concerning this anonymity and pseudonym. The first hypothesis says that it was a deliberate falsification by which, in dating his works back to the first century, to the time of St Paul, he wished to give his literary opus, a quasi apostolic authority. But there is another better hypothesis than this, which seems to me barely credible: namely that he himself desired to make an act of humility; he did not want to glorify his own name, he did not want to build a monument to himself with his work but rather truly to serve the Gospel, to create an ecclesial theology, neither individual nor based on himself. Actually, he succeeded in elaborating a theology which, of course, we can date to the sixth century but cannot attribute to any of the figures of that period: it is a somewhat "de-individualized" theology, that is, a theology which expresses a common thought and language. It was a period of fierce polemics following the Council of Chalcedon; indeed he said in his Seventh Epistle: "I do not wish to spark polemics; I simply speak of the truth, I seek the truth". And the light of truth by itself causes errors to fall away and makes what is good shine forth. And with this principle he purified Greek thought and related it to the Gospel. This principle, which he affirms in his seventh letter, is also the expression of a true spirit of dialogue: it is not about seeking the things that separate, but seeking the truth in Truth itself. This then radiates and causes errors to fade away.
Therefore, although this author's theology is, so to speak, "supra-personal", truly ecclesial, we can place it in the sixth century. Why? The Greek spirit, which he placed at the service of the Gospel, he encountered in the books of Proclus, who died in Athens in 485. This author belonged to late Platonism, a current of thought which had transformed Plato's philosophy into a sort of religion, whose ultimate purpose was to create a great apologetic for Greek polytheism and return, following Christianity's success, to the ancient Greek religion. He wanted to demonstrate that in reality, the divinities were the active forces in the cosmos. The consequence to be drawn from this was that polytheism must be considered truer than monotheism with its single Creator God. What Proclus was demonstrating was a great cosmic system of divinity, of mysterious forces, through which, in this deified cosmos, man could find access to the divinity. However, he made a distinction between paths for the simple, who were incapable of rising to the heights of truth - certain rites could suffice for them - and paths for the wise who were to purify themselves to arrive at the pure light.
As can be seen, this thought is profoundly anti-Christian. It is a late reaction to the triumph of Christianity, an anti-Christian use of Plato, whereas a Christian interpretation of the great philosopher was already in course. It is interesting that this Pseudo-Dionysius dared to avail himself of this very thought to demonstrate the truth of Christ; to transform this polytheistic universe into a cosmos created by God, into the harmony of God's cosmos, where every force is praise of God, and to show this great harmony, this symphony of the cosmos that goes from the Seraphim to the Angels and Archangels, to man and to all the creatures which, together, reflect God's beauty and are praise of God. He thus transformed the polytheistic image into a praise of the Creator and his creature. In this way we can discover the essential characteristics of his thought: first and foremost, it is cosmic praise. All Creation speaks of God and is praise of God. Since the creature is praise of God, Pseudo-Dionysius' theology became a liturgical theology: God is found above all in praising him, not only in reflection; and the liturgy is not something made by us, something invented in order to have a religious experience for a certain period of time; it is singing with the choir of creatures and entering into cosmic reality itself. And in this very way the liturgy, apparently only ecclesiastical, becomes expansive and great, it becomes our union with the language of all creatures. He says: God cannot be spoken of in an abstract way; speaking of God is always - he says using a Greek word - a "hymnein", singing for God with the great hymn of the creatures which is reflected and made concrete in liturgical praise. Yet, although his theology is cosmic, ecclesial and liturgical, it is also profoundly personal. He created the first great mystical theology. Indeed, with him the word "mystic" acquires a new meaning. Until then for Christians such a word was equivalent to the word "sacramental", that is, what pertains to the "mysterion", to the sacrament. With him the word "mystic" becomes more personal, more intimate: it expresses the soul's journey toward God. And how can God be found? Here we note once again an important element in his dialogue between Greek philosophy and Christianity, and, in particular biblical faith. Apparently what Plato says and what the great philosophy on God says is far loftier, far truer; the Bible appears somewhat "barbaric", simple or pre-critical one might say today; but he remarks that precisely this is necessary, so that in this way we can understand that the loftiest concepts on God never reach his true grandeur: they always fall short of it. In fact these images enable us to understand that God is above every concept; in the simplicity of the images we find more truth than in great concepts. The Face of God is our inability to express truly what he is. In this way one speaks - and Pseudo-Dionysius himself speaks - of a "negative theology". It is easier for us to say what God is not rather than to say what he truly is. Only through these images can we intuit his true Face, moreover this Face of God is very concrete: it is Jesus Christ.
And although Dionysius shows us, following Proclus, the harmony of the heavenly choirs in such a way that it seems that they all depend on one another, it is true that on our journey toward God we are still very far from him. Pseudo-Dionysius shows that in the end the journey to God is God himself, who makes himself close to us in Jesus Christ. Thus, a great and mysterious theology also becomes very concrete, both in the interpretation of the liturgy and in the discourse on Jesus Christ: with all this, Dionysius the Areopagite exerted a strong influence on all medieval theology and on all mystical theology, both in the East and in the West. He was virtually rediscovered in the 13th century, especially by St Bonaventure, the great Franciscan theologian who in this mystical theology found the conceptual instrument for reinterpreting the heritage - so simple and profound - of St Francis. Together with Dionysius, the "Poverello" tells us that in the end love sees more than reason. Where the light of love shines the shadows of reason are dispelled; love sees, love is an eye and experience gives us more than reflection. Bonaventure saw in St Francis what this experience is: it is the experience of a very humble, very realistic journey, day by day, it is walking with Christ, accepting his Cross. In this poverty and in this humility, in the humility that is also lived in ecclesiality, is an experience of God which is loftier than that attained by reflection. In it we really touch God's Heart.
Today Dionysius the Areopagite has a new relevance: he appears as a great mediator in the modern dialogue between Christianity and the mystical theologies of Asia, whose characteristic feature is the conviction that it is impossible to say who God is, that only indirect things can be said about him; that God can only be spoken of with the "not", and that it is only possible to reach him by entering into this indirect experience of "not". And here a similarity can be seen between the thought of the Areopagite and that of Asian religions; he can be a mediator today as he was between the Greek spirit and the Gospel.
In this context it can be seen that dialogue does not accept superficiality. It is precisely when one enters into the depths of the encounter with Christ that an ample space for dialogue also opens. When one encounters the light of truth, one realizes that it is a light for everyone; polemics disappear and it is possible to understand one another, or at least to speak to one another, to come closer. The path of dialogue consists precisely in being close to God in Christ, in a deep encounter with him, in the experience of the truth which opens us to the light and helps us reach out to others - with the light of truth, the light of love. And in the end, he tells us: take the path of experience, the humble experience of faith, every day. Then the heart is enlarged and can see and also illumine reason so that it perceives God's beauty. Let us pray to the Lord to help us today too to place the wisdom of our day at the service of the Gospel, discovering ever anew the beauty of faith, the encounter with God in Christ.
Appeal for the People of China
My thoughts turn at this moment to the populations of Sichuan and the neighbouring Provinces in China, severely hit by the earthquake that has taken a heavy toll of human life with thousands missing and caused inestimable damage. I invite you to join me in fervent prayer for all those who have lost their lives. I am spiritually close to the people sorely tried by such a devastating calamity. Let us implore God for relief for the suffering. May the Lord sustain all the rescue workers involved in responding to the immediate needs.
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I welcome all the English-speaking visitors present today, including the groups from England, Ireland, Japan, The Philippines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States of America. May your visit to Rome be a time of deep spiritual renewal. Upon all of you I invoke God’s abundant blessings of joy and peace.
Paul VI Audience Hall
Audiences 2008 49