As we were saying, the Church was packed to the rafters. Father Benedict spoke in the presence of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
He encouraged us to take an interest and be pro-active in the liturgical movement, a great concern and passion of the present Pope.
He spoke of his main concern that many Catholics today no longer believe in the Divinity of Jesus Christ. A force that has added to this lack of belief has been, according to Father Benedict, the methods of some modern Scripture studies. By rationalising many parts of Divine Revelation in Scripture the flood gates have been opened to a questioning and denial of the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Father Benedict also pointed out that in his line of work as a psychologist he met many priests who were on the verge of leaving the priesthood. And surprise surprise celibacy was NOT one of the main reasons for leaving but a lack of faith in the Divinity of Jesus Christ.
Basically put if Jesus was just a nice bloke who went around being really chummy and just plain boring old nice then there's ABSOLUTELY NO POINT to Christianity. There's no Real Presence, no Resurrection, no Salvation, no Church and crucially for priests, NO PRIESTHOOD!!! We URGENTLY need to rediscover our deep faith in the Divinity of Christ. Christmas is not too far away. This is a time when our faith in the Incarnation of the DIVINE Son of God becomes especially poignant. This is our precious faith passed down (Tradition) from the very Apostles themselves. Father Benedict's talk can be summed up in the following way: Either Christ is God or FORGET IT! We really need to discover our faith in the Divinity of Christ anew. We need to live it and proclaim it. This is the hub of the New Evangelisation. Christ our God came to show us that humanity is not pointless but has a wonderful vocation of being called to be Divinised (Theosis), to become God-like.
Perhaps we could respond to Father Benedict's encouraging preaching by making it our Advent resolution to spend some regular time in the presence of Our Beloved Lord's Body, Blood, Soul and DIVINITY in the Blessed Sacrament.
By making a regular Advent Holy Hour we will gain great graces for the New Evangelisation so very much needed in our world and Church today. And please don't forget to pray for Father Benedict and, of course, our beloved Pope Benedict!
God bless
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5 comments:
I met Father Groeschel personally last April in Illinois, USA attending the national meeting of the Institue of the Religious life. (I am a Catholic monk). He is very holy, funny, intelligent and endearing. He loves our Holy Mother Church very much. We need a lot of the likes of him!!! More power to Fr Benedict. He is an inspiration to us all.
Thanks for that Brother! He is a wonderful inspiration to us all. I managed to speak to him about some personal matters. He was so supportive and encouraging.
Praise God for the likes of Father Benedict. A true pillar of the Church!
Father Groeschel is on the Board of Directors at my parish.
My parish rocks.
:)
You're right it was a fantastic evening and Fr Benedict spoke so clearly and passionately it was a real highlight for the year. I met him only a few weeks before whilst in Rome (see South Ashford Priest blog for pics), a great man for The Church today. It was also great to see so many young priests, religious men and women and of course you seminarians! Keep up the prayers, especially as Fr Benedict reminded us in front of the Blessed Sacrament. God bless, FR James.
Thanks Father James!
I am sure we have probably met before!
Please pray for us too!
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