Pope Reflects On Jesus' Prayer Life

1-December-2011 -- Catholic News Agency

(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=23871)

VATICAN CITY, November 30 (CNA/EWTN News) .- Pope Benedict XVI used his Nov. 30 general audience to discuss Jesus' prayer life and how it challenges Christians to faithfully devote time to prayer.

The Pope told pilgrims in the Paul VI Hall that Jesus "by his own example most fully reveals the mystery of Christian prayer." The Lord's own prayer life, he said, was like "a hidden canal irrigating his life ... and guiding him with increasing firmness to the total gift of self, in keeping with the loving plan of God the Father."

Pope Benedict initially focused on the prayer of Jesus at the time of his baptism in the River Jordan.

He explained that Christ, who was without sin, chose to be baptized to show his "solidarity with people who recognize their sins, who chose to repent and change their lives." In doing so, Jesus "helps us to understand that being part of the people of God means entering into a new life, a life in conformity with God."

This conformity with God comes in prayer, for it was "through prayer" that "Jesus lives in uninterrupted contact with the Father in order to achieve His project of love for mankind," said the Pope.

For Jesus, "prayer enters into all stages of His ministry and into every day of His life," so much so that it was never interrupted by fatigue.

On contrary, said the Pope, "the Gospels make it clear that Jesus was wont to spend part of the night in prayer," and that this increased as he encountered decisions of greater magnitude.

The Pope stressed that while Jesus in his humanity learned to pray from "his Mother and from the Jewish tradition," the "source of his prayer is his eternal communion with the Father." Therefore, as "the incarnate Son," Jesus "shows us perfectly how to pray as children of the heavenly Father."

This divine example of fidelity to prayer challenges each one of us "to examine the time and effort we devote to our own prayer," so that in our lives we recognize "the importance of the prayerful reading of Holy Scripture," as well as the need for "listening, meditating and remaining in silence before the Lord," which is "an art we learn through constant practice."

Pope Benedict also encouraged Christians to give witness to prayer in a world that "often remains closed to the divine, to the hope which leads to the encounter with God."

He finished his reflection by asking that the faithful "maintain an intense relationship with God, to pray, not intermittently but constantly and faithfully, so as to illuminate our lives as Jesus taught us."

Pope Urges End To Death Penalty Worldwide

1-December-2011 -- Catholic News Agency

(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=23869)

VATICAN CITY, November 30 (CNA/EWTN News) .- Pope Benedict XVI encouraged countries around the world to end the death penalty as a legal sanction at today's general audience.

Addressing a group of pilgrims gathered in Rome for an international conference on the controversial topic, the Pope said he hopes that their deliberations "will encourage the political and legislative initiatives being promoted in a growing number of countries to eliminate the death penalty."

The conference was organized by the Italian-based Sant'Egidio Community under the theme of "No Justice without Life." The Pope told them that he applauded "the substantive progress made in conforming penal law both to the human dignity of prisoners and the effective maintenance of public order."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that the traditional teaching of the Church "does not exclude" recourse to the death penalty when it is "the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor." It adds, however, that today such cases are "very rare, if not practically non-existent."

Recent figures suggest that around a third of the world's countries use the death penalty as part of their legal code. In the United States, there are currently 34 states where the death penalty is legal.

Pope Asks What Jesus' Prayer Means for Us

1-December-2011 -- ZENIT.org News Agency

Invites the Faithful to "Open Windows to God's Heaven"

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 30, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is beginning an examination of Jesus' prayer in his Wednesday catecheses, and today he considered Our Lord's prayer like a "secret channel irrigating his existence, his relationships and his acts."

Until today, the Pope had drawn from the Old Testament for his teaching series on prayer, most recently concluding with a reflection on the Psalms.

In today's audience, he spoke of Jesus as the "Master for our prayer; indeed, he is the fraternal and active support each and every time we turn to the Father."

"The whole of Jesus' life -- lived in a family profoundly tied to the religious tradition of the people of Israel -- stands against the backdrop of this extraordinary prayer. The references we find in the Gospels demonstrate this: His circumcision (cf. Luke 2:21) and His presentation in the temple (cf. Luke 2:22-24), as well as the education and formation He received at Nazareth in the holy house (cf. Luke 2:39-40 and 2:51-52). We are speaking here of 'about thirty years' (Luke 3:23), a long period of hidden, daily life -- even if marked by experiences of participation in moments of communal religious expression, like the pilgrimage to Jerusalem (cf. Luke 2:41)," he explained.

Personal relationship

The Holy Father noted how Jesus' prayer is "found always at the crossroads between insertion into the tradition of his people and the newness of a unique personal relationship with God."

"In our prayer also," he said, "we must learn increasingly to enter into this history of salvation whose summit is Jesus; [we must learn] to renew before God our personal decision to open ourselves to his Will, and to ask him for the strength to conform our will to his -- in every aspect of our lives -- in obedience to his plan of love for us."

Benedict XVI proposed that Jesus' prayer is an invitation to examine our own prayer lives: "In looking to the prayer of Jesus, a question should arise in us: How do I pray? How do we pray? What sort of time do I dedicate to my relationship with God? Does there exist today a sufficient education and formation in prayer? And who can be its teacher?"

"Christians are called to be witnesses to prayer because our world is often closed to divine horizons and to the hope that leads to an encounter with God," the Pope affirmed. "Through a deep friendship with Jesus -- and by living a filial relationship with the Father in Him and with Him -- by our faithful and constant prayer we can open the windows to God's heaven. Indeed, in walking along the way of prayer -- without regard for human concern -- we can help others to travel the same road: for it is true also of Christian prayer that, in travelling along its paths, paths are opened."