Today the Holy Father arrives in the U.S. for his first pastoral visit to our country. Here are a listing of the many links that you can access to get more information and follow along with the coverage of his visit.

• The Official USCCB Web Site for the Holy Father's Visit


• EWTN's Web Site for the Holy Father's Visit (including streaming video)


• The Vatican's Web site for the Holy Father's Visit


• Pope 2008 (Blog from the National Catholic Register)


• Benedict in America Blog


• Vatican Radio


• Liturgical Texts for the Holy Father's Visit (PDF)


• Zenit News Service


• Catholic News Service Coverage of the Papal Visit


• Catholic University's Official Web Site for the Holy Father's Visit

The Director of the Vatican Museums, Mr. Antonio Paolucci, who welcomes the visitors to the present web site, hopes that this informative means may be a useful instrument of knowledge and access to the complex reality of these five hundred – year old art collections which are the destination of more than four million visitors each year.

It is one of the most renowned and famous cultural institutions of the Holy See, known all over the world for its masterpieces that have been commissioned, collected and preserved in time by the Roman Pontiffs. Besides the great heritage of movable works of art, sculptures and paintings, exhibited in the galleries, the visit inside the Vatican Museums also includes very significant and artistically relevant places of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, such as the Niccolina Chapel containing the paintings of Beato Angelico, the Borgia Apartment decorated by Pinturicchio, the Rooms painted by Raphael and, naturally, the Sistine Chapel with the frescoes of the great masters of the fifteenth-century that come from Umbria and Tuscany and of Michelangelo.

The Holy Father has entrusted us with the great responsibility to care for, preserve, study, and enhance this invaluable heritage of culture and art, by making it known and putting it at the disposal of a very diversified public from all over the world. More than three hundred people – among functionaries, employees, restorers, and attendants – dedicate themselves every day, with great professionalism and availability to accomplish this difficult task. (from the Web site)

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On Friday, March 14th, Capuchin Father Rainero Cantalamessa, who is the preacher of the pontifical household, gave the fourth in his series of Lenten meditations for the Holy Father and the Roman Curia. The theme for his series of meditations is the Word of God.

The fourth and final message is entitled "The Letter Kills, the Spirit Gives Life: The Spiritual Reading of the Bible". In his meditation, Fr. Cantalemessa reflected on the need to read Scripture spiritually, which is not a subjective approach, but rather the most objective approach because it is based on understanding Scripture through the perspective of the historical event of Christ's death and resurrection through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Here is an excerpt from Fr. Cantalemessa's meditation:

Spiritual reading does not only regard the Old Testament; in a different sense it also regards the New Testament; it too must be read spiritually. Reading the New Testament spiritually means reading it in the light of the Holy Spirit given to the Church at Pentecost to lead the Church to all truth, that is, to the complete understanding and actualization of the Gospel.

Jesus explained beforehand the relationship between his word and the Spirit that he would send (even if we do not necessarily need to think that he did so in the precise terms that John's Gospel uses in this regard). The Spirit -- one reads in John -- "will teach and bring to mind" everything that Jesus said (cf. John 14:25f.), that is, he will make it completely understood, in all of its implications. He "will not speak from himself," that is, he will not say new things in respect to those things that Jesus said, but -- as Jesus himself says -- he will take what is mine and will reveal it (cf. John 16:13-15).

In this one sees how spiritual reading integrates and surpasses scientific reading. Scientific reading knows only one direction, which is that of history; it explains, in fact, that which comes after in light of that which comes before; it explains the New Testament in the light of the Old which precedes it, and it explains the Church in the light of the New Testament. A good part of the critical effort in regard to Scripture consists in illustrating the doctrines of the Gospel in light of the Old Testament traditions, of the rabbinical exegesis, etc.; it consists, in sum, in the research on sources (Kittel and many other biblical aids are based on this).

Spiritual reading fully recognizes the validity of this direction of research, but it adds an inverse direction to it. This consists in explaining that which comes before in the light of that which comes after, prophecy in the light of its realization, the Old Testament in the light of the New and in the New in the light of the tradition of the Church. In this the spiritual reading of the Bible finds a singular confirmation in the Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutic principle of "history of effects" ("Wirkungsgeschichte"), according to which a text is understood by taking account of the effects that it has produced in history, by inserting oneself in this history and dialoguing with it.

Only after God has realized his plan, is one able to fully understand the meaning of that which prepared and prefigured. If every tree, as Jesus says, is known by its fruit, then the word of God cannot be fully understood unless the fruits it produces are seen. Studying Scripture in the light of the Tradition is a little like knowing the tree by its fruits. For this reason Origen says that "the spiritual sense is that which the Spirit gives to the Church." The Spirit identifies itself with the ecclesial reading or, indeed, Tradition itself, if by "Tradition" we understand not only the solemn declarations of the magisterium (which, after all, only touch on very few biblical texts), but also the experience of doctrine and sanctity in which the word of God is in a way newly incarnated and "explained" over the course of centuries, by the working of the Holy Spirit.

That which is necessary is not therefore a spiritual reading that would take the place of current scientific exegesis, with a mechanical return to the exegesis of the Fathers; it is rather a new spiritual reading corresponding to the enormous progress recorded by the study of "letter." It is a reading, in sum, that has the breath and faith of the Fathers and, at the same time, the consistency and seriousness of current biblical science.

Zenit provides a synopsis of his meditation, and you can read the entire meditation on Fr. Cantalemessa's Web site.

There is a also a link to Fr. Cantalamessa's Fourth Meditation for Lent in the Resources for Lent section of the Web site.

On Friday, March 7th, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, who is the preacher of the pontifical household, gave the third in his series of Lenten meditations for the Holy Father and the Roman Curia. The theme for his series of meditations is the Word of God.

The third message is entitled "Welcome the Word: The Word of God As a Way of Personal Sanctification". In his meditation, Fr. Cantalemessa reflected on three steps that can be followed to allow the Word of God to transform us--"welcoming the word, meditating on the word, putting the word into practice." Here is an excerpt from Fr. Cantalemessa's meditation:

The soul that looks into the mirror of the word learns to know "how he is," he learns to know himself, he sees his deformities in the image of God and in the image of Christ. "I do not seek my own glory," Jesus says (John 8:50): well, the mirror is in front of you and immediately you see how far you are from Jesus. "Blessed are the poor in spirit": The mirror is again in front of you and immediately you see that you are full of attachments and full of superfluous things. "Charity is patient": You realize how impatient, envious and self-interested you are.

More than "searching the Scriptures" (cf. John 5:39), it is a matter of letting oneself be searched by the Scriptures. The word of God, the Letter to the Hebrews says, "penetrates even to the point of division of the soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is able to discern sentiments and thoughts of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12-13). The best prayer for beginning the moment of contemplation is repeating with the Psalmist: "You search me, O God, and you know my hear, you probe me and know my thoughts: You see if I my way is crooked and you guide me along the way of life" (Psalm 139).

But in the mirror of the word, we do not only see ourselves; we see the face of God; better, we see the heart of God. Scripture, St. Gregory the Great says, is "is a letter of Almighty God to his creature; in it one learns to know the heart of God in the words of God."[9] Jesus' saying even holds for God: "From the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34); God has spoken to us, in Scripture, of that which fills his heart and that which fills his heart is love.

In this way the contemplation of the word procures the two pieces of knowledge that are the most important for advancing along the road of true wisdom: self-knowledge and knowledge of God. "That I might know myself and know you" -- "noverim me, noverim te" -- St. Augustine said to God. "That I might know myself to humble myself and that I might know you to love you."

Zenit provides a synopsis of his meditation, and you can read the entire meditation on Fr. Cantalemessa's Web site.

There is a also a link to Fr. Cantalamessa's Third Meditation for Lent in the Resources for Lent section of the Web site.

On Friday, February 29th, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, who is the preacher of the pontifical household, gave the second in his series of Lenten meditations for the Holy Father and the Roman Curia. The theme for his series of meditations is the Word of God. The second message is entitled "'For Every Useless Word': Speaking 'as With Words of God'". Here is an excerpt from Fr. Cantalemessa's meditation:

The "false prophets" are not only those who from time to time disseminate heresies; they are also those who falsify the word of God. Paul is the one who uses this term, drawing it from the contemporary language; literally it means to water down the word, as do the fraudulent hosts when they dilute their wine with water (cf. 2 Corinthians 2:17; 4:2). The false prophets are those who do not present the word of God in its purity, but they dilute and extenuate it with a thousand human words that come from out of their heart.

I too am the false prophet, every time that I do not entrust myself to the "weakness," "foolishness," "poverty" and "nakedness" of the word and I cover it up, and I esteem what I have clothed it in more than the word itself, and the time that I spend covering it up is more than that which I spend with the word, remaining before it in prayer, worshipping it and allowing it to live in me.

Jesus, at Cana in Galilee, transformed water into wine, that is, [transformed] the dead letter into the Spirit that gives life -- this is how the Fathers of the Church interpreted the episode; false prophets are those who do the exact opposite, and change the pure wine of the word of God into water that does not inebriate anyone, into a dead letter, into vain chatter. Deep down, they are ashamed of the Gospel (cf. Romans 1:16) and of Jesus' words, because they are "too hard" for the world, or too poor or naked for the intellectuals, and they then try to season them with what Jeremiah called "visions of their own fancy."

St. Paul wrote to his disciple Timothy: "Be eager to present yourself as acceptable to God […] imparting the word of truth without deviation. Avoid profane, idle talk, for such people will become more and more godless" (2 Timothy 2:15-16). Profane chatter is that talk that is not relevant to God's design, which does not have anything to do with the mission of the Church. Too many human words, too many useless words, too many speeches, too many documents. In the era of mass communication the Church too runs the risk of falling into the "straw" of useless words, speaking just to say something, writing just because there are journals and newspapers to be filled.

In this way we offer to the world an optimal pretext resting content in its unbelief and its sin. When they have heard the authentic word of God, it would not be easy for unbelievers to go off saying -- as they often do after listening to our preaching: "Words, words, words!" St. Paul calls the words of God "the weapons for our battle" and says that they alone "destroy arguments and every pretension raising itself against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive in obedience to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

Humanity is sick from noise, the philosopher [Soren] Kierkegaard said; it is necessary to fast, but a fasting from words; someone needs to cry out, as Moses did one day: "Be silent and listen Israel!" (Deuteronomy 27:9). The Holy Father reminded us of the necessity of this fast from words in his Lenten meeting with the pastors of Rome and I believe, as is his wont, his invitation was not first directed to the world but to the Church.

Zenit provides a synopsis of his meditation, and you can read the entire meditation on Fr. Cantalemessa's Web site.

There is a also a link to Fr. Cantalamessa's Second Meditation for Lent in the Resources for Lent section of the Web site.

On Friday, February 22nd, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, who is the preacher of the pontifical household, gave the first in his series of Lenten meditations for the Holy Father and the Roman Curia. The theme for his series of meditations is the Word of God. The first message is entitled "Jesus Began to Preach".

The sacramentality of the word of God is revealed in the fact that sometimes it plainly works beyond the person's understanding, which can be limited and imperfect, it almost works by itself, "ex opera operata," as one says in theology.

When the prophet Elisha told Naaman the Syrian, who had come to him to be cured of leprosy, to wash seven times in the Jordan, Naaman replied indignantly, "Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed" (2 Kings 5:12)? Naaman was right: The rivers of Syria were undoubtedly better, they had more water; and yet, washing in the Jordan he was healed and his flesh became like that of a little child, something that would not have happened if had bathed in the great rivers of his country.

This is how it is with the word of God contained in Scripture. Among the nations and also in the Church there have been and there will be better books than some of the books of the Bible, more refined from a literary standpoint and religiously more edifying (just think of the "Imitation of Christ"), but none of them work as well as the most modest of the inspired books. There is, in the words of Scripture, something that acts beyond every human explanation; there is an evident disproportion between the sign and the reality that it produces, that makes one think, precisely, of the action of the sacraments.

Zenit provides a synopsis of his meditation, and you can read the entire meditation on Fr. Cantalemessa's Web site.

H2ONews also has a video summary of this first message. (Click here, if you are not able to see the video image.)

There is a also a link to Fr. Cantalamessa's First Meditation for Lent in the Resources for Lent section of the Web site.

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS
BENEDICT XVI
FOR LENT 2008

"Christ made Himself poor for you" (2 Cor 8,9)

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Each year, Lent offers us a providential opportunity to deepen the meaning and value of our Christian lives, and it stimulates us to rediscover the mercy of God so that we, in turn, become more merciful toward our brothers and sisters. In the Lenten period, the Church makes it her duty to propose some specific tasks that accompany the faithful concretely in this process of interior renewal: these are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. For this year's Lenten Message, I wish to spend some time reflecting on the practice of almsgiving, which represents a specific way to assist those in need and, at the same time, an exercise in self-denial to free us from attachment to worldly goods.

Click here to read the full text of the Holy Father's Message for Lent.

The Holy Father touched on this message at the General Audience on Ash Wednesday. Click the picture below to view highlights from the General Audience.

There is a also a link to the Holy Father's Message for Lent in the Resources for Lent section of the Web site.

A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the law, and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me and stood there and said, 'Saul, my brother, regain your sight.' And at that very moment I regained my sight and saw him.

Then he said, 'The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice; for you will be his witness before all to what you have seen and heard.

Now, why delay? Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away, calling upon his name.' Acts 22:12-16

Today is the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. The importance of this event is underscored by the fact that the account of his conversion is recorded three times in the book of Acts. Today's reading is taken from St. Paul's own apologia which he presented after he had been arrested in Jerusalem.

Today, also marks the last day of the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity. This is the 100th year of this ecumenical effort as this short video explains.

A recently published interview of the Holy Father's personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein is now available on Catholic Culture. It is very interesting interview because it provides insights on the Holy Father and life in the Vatican. Click here to read the interview. (Photo courtesy of Daily Mail)

MESSAGE OF POPE BENEDICT XVI
FOR THE WORLD DAY OF PEACE
1 January 2008
THE HUMAN FAMILY, A COMMUNITY OF PEACE

1. At the beginning of a New Year, I wish to send my fervent good wishes for peace, together with a heartfelt message of hope to men and women throughout the world. I do so by offering for our common reflection the theme which I have placed at the beginning of this message. It is one which I consider particularly important: the human family, a community of peace. The first form of communion between persons is that born of the love of a man and a woman who decide to enter a stable union in order to build together a new family. But the peoples of the earth, too, are called to build relationships of solidarity and cooperation among themselves, as befits members of the one human family: "All peoples"--as the Second Vatican Council declared--"are one community and have one origin, because God caused the whole human race to dwell on the face of the earth (cf. Acts 17:26); they also have one final end, God".

Click here to read the full text.

The prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Francis Arinze, is using the latest technology to spread the Gospel. On the Cardinal Arinze Webcast site, you will find podcasts and videocasts in which the Cardinal teaches the Faith.

A recent article in Zenit described this apostolate.

The Cardinal Arinze Webcast aims to clarify Church teaching. It is produced by the Ohio-based Apostolate for Family Consecration, founded by Jerome Coniker and his wife, Gwen. Gwen's cause for beatification is now being considered.

The site explains: "Just when you'd think the confusion surrounding religion, God or truth is at its highest, we are helped by technology to plug directly into the Vatican where, in a webcast, Cardinal Arinze will tell you just what the Catholic Church really is about and what her true message is on living a joyful and fulfilling life."

Using both podcasting, which is audible, and webcasting, which includes video footage, the 74-year-old cardinal discusses such topics as theology of the body, Benedict XVI's encyclical "Deus Caritas Est," the Second Vatican Council, family, and the liturgy.