Living with the Church

Living with the Church
cinops be gone Saturday, April 12, 2008
Imagine living with the Church and the Catechism; living with common sense, reason and natural law: Is this an ideal and reality that we should look forward to? I believe this can be normal for any Catholic or other Christians.

This coming week a very special event will occur with the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI to America. This historic visit will be this Tuesday, April 15th to Sunday, April 20th. The whole visit will be covered by EWTN. It would be wise to listen carefully to what he has to say and the several interviews of him. He will be speaking to the United Nations and make other talks especially to the Presidents of Catholic Colleges and Universities in the United States.

Who is this Pope? May I share some comments made by Father Joseph Fessio S.J. Father Fessio is the senior theologian in residence at the Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida. (Hugh Hewitt, 870AM Talk Radio, April 1/08, 5-6 P.M.)
Father Fessio perceives Benedict as a wonderful, good and gracious man of the Church. The Pope has direction and a purpose. For him, Jesus is first and as the pope he must be faithful to Him. Benedict’s focus is on the gospel and the center of the life of the Church which is the Eucharist. The Mass and what it means with the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

On 7/7/07 with the Motu Proprio, Benedict made the old Mass much more achievable for all. He wants to establish continuity with the past.
He commits himself to lead the renewal and implement Vatican II in conformity with the 2000 year history of the Church.

We believe Jesus is the Son of the Father and is with us in a personal way. His body and blood as food and drink for us: God’s word is living and present to us in the Sacrifice of the Eucharist. Catholic worship in the Eucharist has grown.
He seeks to restore the Gregorian chant. He calls for new creativity to heal any rupture with the past. He wants to restore any loss of the sacred and traditional. Be as generous as possible to his message. Some people will hear it and others will not respond to it. He is not a prophet. He will surely commend the American people for their religiosity; will be apprehensive on any direction that is anti-life, family, and marriage.

Jesus is the Savior of all mankind. Benedict calls for religious freedom. It is common sense and freedom of conscience. During Easter, Benedict baptized a convert, a Moslem. Why are we afraid of a man choosing his religion? (Note in Saudi Arabia, you can’t bring a Bible into the country or build a Church.)
Benedict does not speak as an individual but in the name of Jesus Christ.
At Regensburg, Benedict stated that reason has to be open to the transcendent, to God. Islam believes that God is above reason and this allows for violence.
In his speech to the U.N., he may talk on moral principles accessible to all with different backgrounds. We need to fully accept God’s word, reason and the importance of natural law, justice, family life and marriage in society. Benedict is historically like Pope Leo the Great – theologically and culturally very wise. He stands firm and serene.
Finally, in closing, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson’s book, A Civilization of Love has an important message which is also normal and reasonable.
George H. Kubeck, duplicate and or translate into Spanish or Vietnamese.