POPE PRESENTS 'SACRED HEART' AS SOURCE OF MERCY
(June 26, 2006): Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday highlighted the importance of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, describing it as the answer to "souls thirsting for God's mercy." Greeting some 30,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square to recite the midday Angelus prayer with him, the Pope commented on the meaning of this liturgical solemnity, which the Church celebrated on Friday. Speaking from the window of his study, the Holy Father said that this celebration "correctly unites popular devotion with theological profundity." “To understand this devotion,” he said, “it is necessary to refer back to the mystery of the Incarnation.” "It was precisely through the Heart of Jesus that the Love of God for humanity was manifested in a sublime manner.” "For this reason, authentic worship of the Sacred Heart keeps all its validity and attracts especially souls thirsting for God's mercy, in which they find the inexhaustible source, from which they can draw the water of Life, capable of watering the deserts of the soul and make hope flower anew," he added.
The solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus has also been the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests and Pope Benedict urged all to pray always for priests so that they may be “witnesses of the love of Christ."
The Holy Father also referred to the Pope's Charity Day, June 29th feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, when a national collection, known as Peter's Pence, is taken up in Italy. The funds collected are not part of the Holy See's budget, but are allocated directly to the Pope's charitable works. The Pope expressed his "heartfelt" thanks to the community "for the prayers and support … of his ministry of Successor of Peter.” The Vatican Web page offers the possibility to contribute directly to Peter's Pence, using a credit card or by writing directly to Benedict XVI, at postal address: 00120 Vatican City.
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