Pope Benedict XVI: ".. According to tradition, John is the "beloved disciple", who in the Fourth Gospel lays his head on the Master's breast during the Last Supper (cf Jn 13, 21), stands at the foot of the Cross together with the Mother of Jesus (cf Jn 19, 25) and lastly is witness both of the empty tomb and of the very presence of the Risen One (cf Jn 20, 2; 21, 7). We know that this identification is disputed by scholars today, some of whom view him merely as the prototype of a disciple of Jesus. Leaving the exegetes to settle the matter, let us be content here to gather an important lesson for our lives: the Lord desires to make each one of us a disciple who lives a personal friendship with Him. To realise this, it is not enough to follow him and to listen to him exteriorly: it is also necessary to live with Him and like Him. This is possible only in the context of a rapport of great familiarity, imbued with the warmth of total trust. This is what happens between friends; this is why Jesus said one day: "No one has a greater love than this: to give his life for his friends.... I no longer call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you" (Jn 15, 13. 15). In the apocryphal Acts of John, the Apostle is presented not as the founder of Churches nor as the guide of already established communities, but in continual journeying as the communicator of faith in the encounter with "souls capable of hoping and of being saved" (18, 10; 23, 8). Everything is motivated by the paradoxical intention of making the invisible seen. And indeed he is called simply "the Theologian" by the Eastern Church, that is, the one who is able to speak of divine things in accessible terms, by revealing an arcane access to God through adherence to Jesus." (General Audience, 5 July 2006) Music: To the Ends of the Earth by Fr Rob Galea - ℗ 2011 Robert Galea - used with permission. Visit Totus2us.com for much more - dedicated to Our Lady, it was inspired by our holy fathers St John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Pope Benedict XVI: ".. Peter thus learnt what it means to truly follow Jesus. It is his second call, analogous to the call of Abraham in Genesis 22, after that of Genesis 12: "If any man wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Because whoever wants to save his life, will lose it; but whoever loses his own life for my sake and that of the Gospel, will save it" (Mk 8, 34-35). It is the demanding law of following Christ: the need to know how to renounce, if necessary, the whole world so as to save true values, to save one's soul, to save the presence of God in the world (cf Mk 8, 36-37). Even if with difficulty, Peter welcomes the invitation and continues his pathway in the footsteps of the Master. And it seems to me that these different conversions of St Peter and his whole figure are a great consolation and a great lesson for us. We too have a desire for God, we too want to be generous, but we too expect God to be strong in the world and to immediately transform the world according to our ideas, according to the needs that we see. God chooses a different road. God chooses the way of transformation of hearts in suffering and in humility. And we, like Peter, must always convert anew. We must follow Jesus and not precede him: it is He who shows us the way. Thus Peter tells us: You think you have the recipe and must transform Christianity, but it is the Lord who knows the road. It is the Lord who says to me, who says to you: follow me! And we must have the courage and humility to follow Jesus, because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life." (General Audience, 17 May 2006) Music: To the Ends of the Earth by Fr Rob Galea - ℗ 2011 Robert Galea - used with permission. Visit Totus2us.com for much more - dedicated to Our Lady, it was inspired by our holy fathers St John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Pope Benedict XVI: ".. Then there is the well-known and proverbial scene of the doubting Thomas, that occurred eight days after Easter. Initially, he had not believed that Jesus had appeared in his absence, and had said: "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe" (Jn 20, 25). At base, from these words emerges the conviction that Jesus is henceforth recognized not so much by his face as by his wounds. Thomas considers that the marks that confirm Jesus' identity are now above all his wounds, in which he reveals to what end He has loved us. In this the Apostle is not mistaken. As we know, eight days later Jesus reappeared among his disciples, and this time Thomas was present. And Jesus summons him: "Put your finger here and see my hands; stretch out your hand and place it in my side; and no longer be incredulous, but believe" (Jn 20, 27). Thomas reacts with the most splendid profession of faith in the whole of the New Testament: "My Lord and my God!" (Jn 20, 28). In this regard, St Augustine comments: Thomas "saw and touched the man, but confessed his faith in God, whom he neither saw nor touched. But what he saw and touched led him to believe in what until then he had doubted". The Evangelist continues with Jesus' last words to Thomas: "Because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe" (Jn 20, 29). This phrase can also be put in the present tense: "Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe". In any case, Jesus here enunciates a fundamental principle for Christians who will come after Thomas, thus for all of us. It is interesting to note how another Thomas, the great Medieval theologian of Aquinas, juxtaposed this formula of blessedness with the apparently opposite one recorded by Luke: "Blessed are the eyes which see what you see!" (Lk 10, 23). But, Aquinas comments: "Those who believe without seeing are much more deserving than those who believe by seeing". In fact, the Letter to the Hebrews, recalling the whole series of the ancient biblical Patriarchs, who believed in God without seeing the fulfilment of his promises, defines faith as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb 11, 1). The case of the Apostle Thomas is important for us for at least three reasons: first, because it comforts us in our insecurities; second, because it shows us that every doubt can lead to an outcome brighter than any uncertainty; and, lastly, because the words addressed to him by Jesus remind us of the true meaning of mature faith and encourage us to carry on, despite the difficulties, along our pathway of adherence to Him." (General Audience, 27 September 2006) Music: To the Ends of the Earth by Fr Rob Galea - ℗ 2011 Robert Galea - used with permission. Visit Totus2us.com for much more - dedicated to Our Lady, it was inspired by our holy fathers St John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Pope Benedict XVI: ".. We can thus learn many things from Saint James: promptness in welcoming the Lord's call even when he asks us to leave the "boat" of our human securities, enthusiasm in following him on the roads that He indicates to us beyond any of our illusory presumption, readiness to witness to him with courage, if necessary, all the way to the supreme sacrifice of life. Thus James the Greater stands before us as an eloquent example of generous adherence to Christ. He who initially, through his mother, had requested to be seated with his brother next to the Master in his Kingdom, was precisely the first to drink the chalice of the passion, to share martyrdom with the Apostles. And, in the end, summarizing everything, we can say that the pathway, not only exterior but above all interior, from the mount of the Transfiguration to the mount of the Agony, symbolizes the whole pilgrimage of Christian life, amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God, as the Second Vatican Council says. By following Jesus like St James, we know, even in difficulties, that we are going on the right road." (General Audience, 21 June 2006) Music: To the Ends of the Earth by Fr Rob Galea - ℗ 2011 Robert Galea - used with permission. Visit Totus2us.com for much more - dedicated to Our Lady, it was inspired by our holy fathers St John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Pope Benedict XVI: ".. Benedict describes the Rule as "minimal, tracing only an initial outline" (73, 8); in reality, however, it offers useful directions not only to monks, but also to all those who seek guidance on their pathway to God. For its measure, humanity and sober discernment between the essential and the secondary in spiritual life, it has been able to maintain its illuminating force all the way up to the present time. Paul VI, by proclaiming St Benedict Patron of Europe on 24 October 1964, intended to recognize the marvellous work accomplished by the Saint through his Rule for the formation of European civilization and culture. Today Europe - having just exited a century deeply wounded by two World Wars and then the collapse of the great ideologies that were revealed as tragic utopias - is in search of its own identity. In order to create new and lasting unity, political, economic and juridical instruments are certainly important, but an ethical and spiritual renewal must also be awakened which draws upon the Christian roots of the Continent, otherwise Europe cannot be rebuilt. Without this vital sap, man remains exposed to the danger of succumbing to the age-old temptation of wanting to redeem himself by himself - a utopia which, in different ways, in 20th century Europe has caused, as Pope John Paul II pointed out, "a regression without precedent in the tormented history of humanity". In seeking true progress, let us too listen today to the Rule of St Benedict as a light on our pathway. The great monk remains a true master at whose school we can learn the art of living true humanism." (General Audience, 9 April 2008) Music: To the Ends of the Earth by Fr Rob Galea - ℗ 2011 Robert Galea - used with permission. Visit Totus2us.com for much more - dedicated to Our Lady, it was inspired by our holy fathers St John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Pope Benedict XVI: ".. .. In this time of Lent, in the Year of faith, we renew our commitment on the pathway of conversion, so as to overcome the tendency to close in on ourselves and to make, instead, space for God, looking with his eyes at daily reality. The alternative between the closing in of our egoism and the opening to the love of God and others, we could say corresponds to the alternatives of the temptations of Jesus: the alternative, that is, between human power and love of the Cross, between a redemption viewed solely on material well-being and a redemption as the work of God, to whom we give the primacy in existence. Conversion means not closing in on oneself in the search for one's own success, one's own prestige, one's own position, but making sure that every day, in the little things, truth, faith in God and love become the most important thing." (General Audience, 13 January 2013) Music by Ooberfuse: Credo. Visit Totus2us.com for much more.

Pope Benedict XVI in the Year of Faith: ".. The Logos, who is with God, the Logos who is God, the Creator of the world (cf Jn 1, 1), for whom all things were created (cf Jn 1, 3), who has accompanied and accompanies men in their history with his light (cf Jn 1, 4-5; 1, 9), became one among others, took up his dwelling amongst us, becoming one of us (cf Jn 2, 14). The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council affirms: “The Son of God... worked with the hands of a man, he thought with the intelligence of a man, he acted with the will of a man, he loved with heart of a man. Born of the Virgin Mary, he truly became one of us, like us in all things except sin” (Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 22). It is thus important to rediscover amazement in front of this mystery, to let ourselves be enveloped by the greatness of this event: God, the true God, Creator of everything, as man has traveled our roads, entering into the time of man, so as to transmit to us his own life (cf 1 Jn 1, 1-4). And He did it not with the splendour of a sovereign, who subjugates the world with his power, but with the humility of a child." (General Audience, 9 January 2013) Music by Ooberfuse: Credo. Visit Totus2us.com for much more.

Pope Benedict XVI in the Year of Faith: ".. So let us return to the question with which we begun, the one about the origin of Jesus, synthesized by Pilate’s question: “Where are you from?” From our reflections it appears clear, right from the beginning of the Gospels, what the true origin of Jesus is: He is the Only-Begotten Son of the Father, He comes from God. We are before the great and disconcerting mystery which we celebrate in this time of Christmas: the Son of God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, was incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary. This is an announcement that rings out ever new and that in itself brings hope and joy to our hearts, because each time it gives us the certainty that, even though we often feel weak, poor, incapable in the face of the difficulties and evil of the world, the power of God acts always and works wonders in weakness itself. His grace is our strength (cf 2 Cor 12:9-10). Thank you." (General Audience, 2 January 2013) Music by Ooberfuse: Credo. Visit Totus2us.com for much more.

Pope Benedict XVI in the Year of Faith: ".. Faced with all this, we can ask ourselves: how was Mary able to live this pathway alongside her Son with a faith so strong, even in obscurity, without losing full trust in the action of God? There is an underlying attitude that Mary assumes in the face of what happens in her life. At the Annunciation she is disturbed on hearing the words of the angel — it is the fear a man feels when touched by the closeness of God —, but it is not the attitude of someone who is afraid in front of what God might ask. Mary reflects, she ponders the meaning of such a greeting (cf Lk 1:29). The Greek term used in the Gospel to define this “reflection”, “dielogizeto”, evokes the root of the word “dialogue”. This means that Mary enters into intimate dialogue with the Word of God that has been announced to her, she does not consider it superficially, but dwells on it, lets it penetrate into her mind and her heart so as to understand what the Lord wants from her, the meaning of the announcement. We find another hint of Mary's interior attitude in front of the action of God, again in the Gospel of St Luke, at the time of Jesus' birth, after the adoration of the shepherds. Luke affirms that Mary “kept all these things, meditating upon them in her heart” (Lk 2:19); in Greek the term is symballon, we could say that she “holds together”, “puts together” in her heart all the events that were happening; she placed each single element, each word, each fact within the whole and compared it, cherished it, recognizing that everything comes from the will of God. Mary does not stop at a first superficial understanding of what is happening in her life, but knows to look in depth, she lets herself be questioned by events, she digests them, discerns them, and acquires that understanding that only faith can guarantee. It is the profound humility of the obedient faith of Mary, who welcomes within her even what she does not understand in the action of God, leaving it to God to open her mind and her heart. “Blessed is she who believed in the fulfillment of the word of the Lord” (Lk 1:45), exclaims her kinswoman Elizabeth. It is precisely for her faith that all generations will call her blessed." (General Audience, 19 December 2012) Music by Ooberfuse: Credo. Visit Totus2us.com for much more.

Pope Benedict XVI in the Year of Faith: "This “design of benevolence” did not remain, so to speak, in the silence of God, in the heights of his Heaven, but He made it known by entering into relationship with man, to whom He revealed not only something, but His very self. He did not simply communicate a set of truths, but communicated himself to us, all the way to being one of us, to being incarnated. The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council says in the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum: “It pleased God in his goodness and wisdom to reveal his very self [not only something of himself, but he himself] and to make known the mystery of his will, thanks to which men through Christ, the Word made flesh, have access in the Holy Spirit to the Father and are thus rendered participants in the divine nature” (DV, 2). God does not only say something, but He communicates Himself, He attracts us into divine nature in such a way that we are involved in divine nature, divinized. God reveals his great design of love by entering into relationship with man, by coming so close to him as to make Himself man. The Council continues: “The invisible God in his great love speaks to men as to friends (cf Ex 33, 11; Jn 15, 14-15), and lives among them (cf Bar 3, 38) so as to invite and admit them into communion with Himself” (ibid). With only his intelligence and capabilities man could not have reached such a luminous revelation of God’s love; it is God who has opened his Heaven and lowered Himself so as to guide man in the abyss of his love." (General Audience, 5 December 2012) Music by Ooberfuse: Credo. Visit Totus2us.com for much more.