Pope Recommends Spiritual Direction to Everyone

Says It Is a Way to Live Baptism Responsibly

VATICAN CITY, MAY 19, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Anyone who wants to live their baptism responsibly should have a spiritual director, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope affirmed this today when he addressed members of the Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum. The faculty was founded in 1935; the audience with the Holy Father was part of the institute's celebrations of its 75th anniversary.

Benedict XVI reflected on the Carmelite institute's emphasis on spiritual theology in the framework of anthropology. He said that in today's context, studying Christian spirituality from its anthropological foundations "is of great importance."

The Pontiff recognized that an education at the Teresianum not only prepares students to teach this discipline, but has an "even greater grace" in that it gears students to "the delicate task of spiritual direction."

"As she has never failed to do, again today the Church continues to recommend the practice of spiritual direction, not only to all those who wish to follow the Lord up close, but to every Christian who wishes to live responsibly his baptism, that is, the new life in Christ," the Pope stated. "Everyone, in fact, and in a particular way all those who have received the divine call to a closer following, needs to be supported personally by a sure guide in doctrine and expert in the things of God."

The Holy Father noted how a spiritual guide helps ward off subjectivist interpretations as well as providing the counseled with the guide's "own supply of knowledge and experiences in following Jesus."

He likened spiritual direction to the "personal relationship that the Lord had with his disciples, that special bond with which he led them, following him, to embrace the will of the Father (cf. Luke 22:42), that is, to embrace the cross."

The Bishop of Rome urged the Teresianum students to "make a treasure of all that you will have learned in these years of study, to support all those whom Divine Providence will entrust to you, helping them in the discernment of spirits and in the capacity to second the motions of the Holy Spirit, with the objective of leading them to the fullness of grace, 'until we all attain,' as St. Paul says, 'to the measure of the fullness of Christ.'"

Our Lady of Fatima

VATICAN CITY, MAY 11, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is encouraging all to "intensify" the practice of praying the rosary during May, the month the Church dedicates to the Mother of God.
At the end of today's general audience, the Pope urged the youth present "to value this traditional Marian prayer, which helps to understand better and to assimilate the central moments of the salvation realized by Christ."
To the sick, he exhorted them to "to turn with confidence to the Virgin Mary through this pious exercise, entrusting all your needs to her."
Finally, to the newlyweds, he invited them to "make the praying of the rosary in the family, a moment of spiritual growth under the gaze of the Virgin Mary."

Divine Mercy

Jesus, I trust in You.

Rise

"The Paschal alleluia is a cry of triumph at Christ's Resurrection, but at the same time it is an urgent invitation for us to rise also. Like the sound of reveille, it calls us to the battles of the spirit, and invites us to rouse and renew ourselves, to participate ever more profoundly in Christ's Resurrection. Who can say, however advanced he may be in the ways of the spirit, that he has wholly attained to his resurrection?"
--taken from Divine Intimacy, #141 (Easter Monday)

It is finished.

"One of you is about to betray me."

Jesus knew beforehand what was in Judas' heart (Jn 13:11; 2:25). Yet Jesus, Who is Hope incarnate, hoped against hope (Rm 4:18) that Judas could change, and He pulled out all the stops to try to change Judas. Even after Judas gave Jesus the kiss of betrayal and death, Jesus still called Judas "Friend" (Mt 26:50).

Judas was an ambitious man.

At the Good Friday liturgy, when you venerate the cross of Jesus, think seriously about the kiss you will give to the hands or feet of the crucified Jesus. Will your kiss be the kiss of obedient faith and abandonment to God, or will it be the kiss of death?
--Taken from One Bread, One Body; Wednesday, April 20, 2011.

Carrying the Cross

"Jesus is condemned to suffer a painful punishment followed by a savagely cruel death reserved for criminals...A man returning home, Simon of Cyrene, is forced to help. Where are the disciples? Jesus had spoken to them about carrying the cross; and they had confirmed with great vehemence that they would go with him even to death. Now not even one of them is to be found to help him...A stranger has to do it, and that under threat of force. There are no friendly faces around Our Lord...

...It is not too late; nor is everything lost...even though to you it may seem so - even though a thousand doom-laden voices keep saying so...You have come at a good time to take up the Cross; the Redemption is taking place now! And Jesus needs many more Simons like the man from Cyrene."
--from In Conversation with God, vol.2 pp 267-269.