Benedict XVI Wednesday called on the faithful
to 'spiritually'' join him in ''prayer'' at the World Youth Day being
held in Madrid and during his journey to the Spanish capital, which he
will begin tomorrow.
The pope called the WYD ''an important ecclesial
event.''
''Tomorrow I will go to Madrid, where I will have the joy of
meeting many young people gathered there for the XXVI World Youth Day,''
the pope said, greeting the Italian-speaking pilgrims at the end of the
general audience in the courtyard of his Castel Gandolfo residence.
''I
ask you to join me spiritually in prayer in this important ecclesial
event,'' said the pontiff, who also thanked the faithful for their
intentions. It will be the third WYD for Pope Ratzinger with the Cologne
edition, in August 2005, just months after his election, and that of
Sydney in July 2008.
In the brief summer audience, Benedict XVI urged the faithful to find time during their day to meditate on the ''the mysteries of the faith''and ''think'' about what the Lord tells us in today's life. And this in a time when ''we are preoccupied with many activities, commitments, concerns, problems'', ''without a moment to stop and nourish our spiritual life and contact with God''. Mental prayer, the pontiff recalled ''is a crucial element on our path to Heaven.''
In the brief summer audience, Benedict XVI urged the faithful to find time during their day to meditate on the ''the mysteries of the faith''and ''think'' about what the Lord tells us in today's life. And this in a time when ''we are preoccupied with many activities, commitments, concerns, problems'', ''without a moment to stop and nourish our spiritual life and contact with God''. Mental prayer, the pontiff recalled ''is a crucial element on our path to Heaven.''
Benedict XVI recalled a word used by St. Augustine and St. Bonaventure,
that of “mulling over” the meaning of “the mysteries of God” so they may
be continuously resonate within us '' so that they become '' familiar''
and “sustain and nourish us”.
"Heaven is our destination, we can all get to heaven: the question is how,'' he said. Meditation ''means creating within us a state of meditation, inner silence, to reflect, absorb the mysteries of our faith and what God does in us, and not just things that come and go''.
"Heaven is our destination, we can all get to heaven: the question is how,'' he said. Meditation ''means creating within us a state of meditation, inner silence, to reflect, absorb the mysteries of our faith and what God does in us, and not just things that come and go''.
This
''rumination'' Ratzinger said, ''can be done in various ways.''
Taking
the example of ''a short passage of Scripture - he listed - especially
the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of the Apostles. Or a
page of an spiritual author who makes the reality of God in our day
closer and more present, perhaps taking advice from our confessor or
spiritual director: Reading and reflecting on what we have read,
focusing on it, trying to understand what he says to us, what he says
today, and open our hearts to what the Lord wants to tell us and teach
us.''
''The Holy Rosary is a prayer of meditation,'' he concluded.