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Vatican
City, 24 February 2013 – More than 200,000 people attended the final
Angelus of Benedict XVI's pontificate. Maxiscreens were placed in the
areas around St. Peter's Square so that the faithful who could not enter
the square would be able to see the Pope at the window of his study
shortly before noon.
The
Holy Father was received with much applause and, before beginning his
short meditation, responded saying, “Thank you, thank you very much.” He
then commented on the Gospel reading for this second Sunday of Lent,
which recounts the Transfiguration of the Lord.
“Luke
the Evangelist,” he said, “places particular attention on the fact that
Jesus was transfigured as He prayed. His is a profound experience of
relationship with the Father during a type of spiritual retreat that
Jesus undergoes on a high mountain in the company of Peter, James, and
John, the three disciples who are always present at the moments of the
Master's divine manifestation. The Lord, who had foretold His death and
resurrection shortly before, offers His disciples an anticipation of His
glory. Again at the Transfiguration, as at His Baptism, we hear the
voice of the Heavenly Father: 'This is my chosen Son; listen to Him.'
The presence of Moses and Elijah, who represent the Law and the Prophets
of the Old Covenant, is very important. The entire history of the
Covenant is directed toward Him, the Christ, who brings about a new
'exodus', not to the promised land, as in the time of Moses, but to
heaven. Peter's exclamation, 'Master, it is good that we are here',
represents the impossible attempt to stop this mystical experience. St.
Augustine comments: “Peter … on the mountain ... had Christ as the Bread
of his soul. Should he then depart from there to return to struggles
and sorrows, while up above he was full of the holy love for God that
inspired him to saintly behaviour?”
“Meditating
on this Gospel passage, we can draw a very important teaching from it.
First of all, the primacy of prayer, without which the entire commitment
of ministry and charity is reduced to activism. During Lent we learn to
give the proper time to the prayer, both personal and communal, which
gives breath to our spiritual life. In addition, prayer is not an
isolation from the world and its contradictions, as Peter would have
wanted on Mt. Tabor. Instead, prayer leads to a path of action. 'The
Christian life—I wrote in this year's Lenten Message—consists in
continuously scaling the mountain to meet God and then coming back down,
bearing the love and strength drawn from Him, so as to serve our
brothers and sisters with God’s own love.'”
“I
hear this Word of God addressed to me in a special way at this moment
of my life. The Lord has called me to 'scale the mountain', to dedicate
myself still more to prayer and meditation. But this does not mean
abandoning the Church. If God asks me this it is precisely so that I
might continue to serve her with the same dedication and the same love
with which I have tried to give up to now, but in a way more suitable to
my age and my strength. Let us call upon the intercession of the Virgin
Mary: May she help all of us to always follow the Lord Jesus, in prayer
and in works of charity.”
After
praying the Angelus, in his greetings in various languages, the Pope
thanked everyone for expressing their closeness and for keeping him in
their prayers in these days, saying: “We also give thanks to God for
this sun we have today”, seeing that in Rome, contrary to the
meteorological forecasts, it was not raining.
In
addressing the Polish pilgrims he reaffirmed that on Mt. Tabor, Christ
“revealed the splendour of His divinity to His disciples, giving them
the certainty that, through suffering and the cross we can gain
resurrection. We always have to perceive His presence, His glory, and
His divinity in the life of the Church, in contemplation, and in
everyday events.”
Finally,
speaking to the many Italians from diverse dioceses throughout the
peninsula, he bade them farewell saying: “Thank you, again. We will
always be close in prayer.”(VIS:here)
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