Suffering With Joy

Benedict, the German Shepherd

May 17, 2010

April 3, 2010 Urbi et Orbi - Photo by Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images Europe

This weekend I finally got around to reading the April edition of Inside the Vatican magazine, one of the few Catholic publications I subscribe to.  It is the commemorative issue of the fifth anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II and of Pope Benedict XVI’s ascension to the Throne of Peter.

Editor-in-Chief Robert Moynihan gave us a great issue with many remembrances of both Popes by those who were (are) close to them.  I loved Pope John Paul II because he showed everyone that the Holy Father is indeed a Father to everyone in the world, not just Catholics. His writings are not easy or quick reads, but his love for mankind in imitation of Christ was easily comprehended.  Most of all, by his living with great physical suffering that was obvious to all he was a silent and continuous witness to the dignity of the human person.

Pope Benedict XVI is special to me in a different way.  His writings are a lot easier for me to read, and his steadfastness in the Faith reminds me of the great Pope of my youth, Pius XII, whose writings are also easy to understand and who bravely and prudently led the Church through a dark and murderous time.  As a child I knew in my heart that Pius XII was a saint, and none of the slander against him has dimmed my affections toward him in any way or caused me any doubt.

My affection for Pope Benedict is the same as that for Pius XII.  The clarity of his communications, the relevance of his words and the strength and dignity he shows in the face of falsehood and adversity is an example of the witness all of us followers of Christ must show to the world.

This issue of Inside the Vatican contained some of the words Pope Benedict spoke at his inaugural Mass homily five years ago about his Petrine ministry. The term that comes to mind is “timeless”.

It is really true: as we follow Christ in this mission to be fishers of men, we must bring men and women out of the sea that is salted with so many forms of alienation and onto the land of life, into the light of God. It is really so: the purpose of our lives is to reveal God to men. And only where God is seen does life truly begin.  Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is.  We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God.  Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.

There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ.  There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him. The task of the shepherd, the task of the fisher of men, can often seem wearisome.  But it is beautiful and wonderful, because it is truly a service to joy, to God’s joy which longs to break into the world.

As Christians, we share in the ministry of revealing God to men in the service of God’s joy. We are indeed all willed, loved, and necessary in God’s plan of salvation.  And it is personal.  No one else can do the job that God has created each individual to do.  Like his predecessor, Pope Benedict is the Pope of Life, the Pope of Hope, and the Pope of Truth.  I never get tired of hearing what he has to say.

Tags: Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI

3 Comments to Benedict, the German Shepherd

1. 

   The Pope is due to visit us in Britain in September. We hope it will be a very successful visit.

   God bless.
Victor S E Moubarak on May 17th, 2010
2. 

   I, too, love this man of God and I rejoiced when he became our very own Pope Benedict XVI, though I greeted with an exultant “Ratzinger.”

   We need a German Shepherd. This man reveals Jesus. In his book Jesus of Narareth he comments that most modern portraits of Jesus reveal not Jesus but rather they present an image of the authors.

   Pope Benedict XVI gives us Jesus with a healthy dose of history and reality. The reality that we can’t know the Jesus of scripture and history without knowing the impact He had on the people of His day and everyday since His coming, His dying,His Resurrection and the coming of His Holy Spirit.
   Forgive the book!I get carried away.
Joann on May 31st, 2010
3. 

   I’ve been wanting to get his book, Jesus of Nazareth and you just convinced me to go ahead and do it. The Pope is such a great and clear teacher and the things he has to say are things we need to hear.
barb on May 31st, 2010