EMERITUS POPE BENEDICT: LISTEN CATHOLIC BISHOPS, PRIESTS AND PARISHIONERS

EMERITUS POPE BENEDICT: LISTEN CATHOLIC BISHOPS, PRIESTS AND PARISHIONERS

IN PURSUIT OF THE TRUTH: HTTP.//WWW.CINOPSBEGONE.BLOGSPOT.COM -SUN. JULY 28/19

FROM: "THE RATZINGER REPORT" PP. 52-53

"The Church - as we have seen - is a reality that surpasses, mysteriously and infinitely, the sum of her members. In fact, in order to obtain Christ's forgiveness, my sin was set over against the faith of his Church.

Today this seems to have been forgotten by many theologians, priests, and laymen. Its is not only the change from the I to the We, from personal to collective responsibility. One gets the impression that some, although unconsciously may reverse the prayer by understanding it in this way: Look not upon the sins of the Church but upon my faith ..." Should this really happen, the consequences will be grave:

the faults of the individuals become the faults of the Church, and faith is reduced to a personal event, to my way of understanding and accepting God and his demands. I really fear that today this is a widespread manner of feeling and thinking. It is another sign of how greatly in many places the common Catholic consciousness has distanced itself from an authentic conception of the Church.

"We must go back to saying to the Lord: "We sin, but the Church that is yours and the bearer of faith does not sin." Faith is the answer of the Church to Christ. It is Church in the measure that it is an act of faith. This faith is not an individual, solitary act, a response of the individual. Faith means to believe together, with all the Church.

We must always bear in mind that the Church is not ours but his. Hence the "reform", the "renewals" - necessary as they may be - cannot exhaust themselves in a zealous activity on our part to erect new, sophisticated structures. The most that can come from a work of this kind is a Church that is "ours", to our measure, which might indeed to be interesting but which, by itself, nevertheless not the true Church, that which sustains us with faith and gives us life with the sacrament.

I mean to say that what we can do if infinitely inferior to one who does. Hence, true "reform" does not mean to take great pains to erect new facades (contrary to what certain ecclesiologies think).

Real "reform" is to strive to let what is ours disappear as much as possible so what belongs to Christ may become more visible. It is a truth well known to the saints. Saints, in fact, reformed the Church in depth, not by working up plans for new structures, but by reforming themselves. What the Church needs in order to respond to the needs of every age is holiness, not management.

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SAINT PIO OF PIETRELCINA

"I want to be only a poor Friar who prays .... 

Pray, hope and don't worry, Worry is useless.

God is merciful and will hear your prayer....

Prayer is the best weapon we have; It is the key

To God's heart. You must speak to Jesus not

Only with your lips, but with your heart. In fact

On certain occasions you should speak to Him

          only with your heart ..." Saint Pio

Received the Stigmata: Sept. 20, 1918,

Entered Eternal Life:       Sept. 23, 1968

Canonized a Saint: June 16, 2002

George H. Kubeck