Our dear Pope Benedict XVI died yesterday morning. He was 95 years old. We were received into the Church during his pontificate so I have a special affection for him. What a great man who wrote clearly about Christ and His Church. He's been suffering and praying for Holy Mother Church. We will definitely offer a Requiem Mass for the repose of his soul. May he rest in heavenly peace. I've edited to add his Spiritual Testament, that the Vatican released, written a year after he was elected Pope. "Stand firm in the faith! Do not be confused!" Wow! It's so prophetic. Here's the rest of the paragraph.
Stand firm in the faith! Do not be confused! Often it seems as if science - on the one hand, the natural sciences; on the other, historical research (especially the exegesis of the Holy Scriptures) - has irrefutable insights to offer that are contrary to the Catholic faith. I have witnessed from times long past the changes in natural science and have seen how apparent certainties against the faith vanished, proving themselves not to be science but philosophical interpretations only apparently belonging to science - just as, moreover, it is in dialogue with the natural sciences that faith has learned to understand the limits of the scope of its affirmations and thus its own specificity. For 60 years now, I have accompanied the path of theology, especially biblical studies, and have seen seemingly unshakeable theses collapse with the changing generations, which turned out to be mere hypotheses: the liberal generation (Harnack, Jülicher, etc.), the existentialist generation (Bultmann, etc.), the Marxist generation. I have seen, and see, how, out of the tangle of hypotheses, the reasonableness of faith has emerged and is emerging anew. Jesus Christ is truly the Way, the Truth, and the Life - and the Church, in all her shortcomings, is truly His Body.
AMEN!
The word placed upon my heart this year is TRUTH. For fun, I enjoy getting a saint and inspirational word from Jennifer Fulwiler's Saint Generator. St. Lucy and FLY for A.D. 2023.
Brace yourselves. It's going to be a challenging New Year! But we were made for a time such as this. All glory to God!!!
