Tuesday, March 06, 2007



VATICAN - At the Angelus the Pope recalls “prayer is not an accessory, an optional extra, but rather a question of life and death. Only those who pray, that is, who entrust themselves to God with filial love can enter eternal life, which is God himself”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Gospel of the second Sunday of Lent presents us with the episode of the Lord’s Transfiguration (Lk 9,28-36): Jesus went up the mountain to pray taking with him Peter, James and John. While he was praying Jesus was transfigured. Reflecting on this Gospel passage before the midday Angelus prayer on Sunday March 4, Pope Benedict XVI highlighted certain aspects: for the apostles to go up the mountain meant to “share in the prayer of Jesus who often withdrew in order to pray … but on the mount on that occasion He wished to reveal to his friends the interior light which filled him when he prayed”.
Another aspect on which the Pope remarked was: Moses and Elijah appear next to the transfigured Jesus "and they were conversing about his passing which he would accomplish in Jerusalem" (9,31). “Therefore, Jesus listens to the Law and the Prophets who speak to him about his death and resurrection- Pope Benedict XVI explained -. In his intimate dialogue with the Father, He does not exit from history, or escape from the mission for which He came into the world although He knows that to reach his glory He must experience the Cross. Indeed Christ enters this mission ever more deeply, clinging with all his strength to the Father’s will, and He shows us that authentic prayer consists precisely in uniting our own will with that of God”.

The Holy Father said that for a Christian “prayer is not escaping from reality and the responsibilities it implies but rather shouldering them wholeheartedly, trusting in the Lord’s faithful and endless love”. Before reciting the Angelus the Pope recalled “prayer is not an accessory, an optional extra, but rather a question of life and death. Only those who pray, that is, who entrust themselves to God with filial love can enter eternal life, which is God himself”. In particular Pope Benedict XVI said he prayed that the Blessed Virgin Mary in this Liturgical Season would “to teach us to pray in the same way as her Son so that our lives may be transformed by the light of His presence”.

After the Angelus the Pope thanked those who accompanied his retreat with their prayers and he encouraged them to “seek silence and recollection to leave more space for prayer and meditation on the Word of God”. He also mentioned the Marian Prayer Vigil organized for university students on Saturday 10 March in live Television link with students in various other countries to “invoke the intercession of Mary Sedes Sapientiae, that the Lord may send witness of the Gospel truths to build a civilization of love”.

(S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 5/3/2007; righe 32, parole 454)

Links:
See the Pope’s teaching
http://www.evangelizatio.org/portale/adgentes/pontefici/pontefice.php?id=739

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