(02 Dec 09 - RV) At the end of his general Wednesday Pope Benedict XVI encouraged
young people, to ''escape sin and plan your future in generous service to God and
neighbour.''
The Pope then
indicated some examples: St. John Mary Vienney patron of this year for priests and
St. Pius of Pietrelcina, whom he described as ''extraordinary figures of Apostles
of the confessional'''.
The Pope was drawing attention to the 25th
anniversary of promulgation of the apostolic exhortation “Reconciliatio et paenitentia'',
a call to the importance of Sacrament of Penance in the life of the Church.''
A
sacrament he also recommended to newly-weds, inviting them ''to create a family of
faith and a constant climate mutual understanding,'' as well as priests and all Christians.
In
his catechesis this Wednesday Pope Benedict continued his lessons on the great theologians
of the Middle Ages. This week he spoke of William of Saint-Thierry, a close friend
of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who said that only love for God and neighbour gives
meaning to our choices:
“William took active part in the twelfth-century
movement of monastic renewal and, after serving as abbot of Saint-Thierry, he entered
the Cistercian monastery of Signy. A central theme of his writings is the nature
and power of love, seen as the ultimate vocation and the driving force of the human
spirit”.
Pope Benedict said that for William, this innate human drive finds
perfection in the love of the triune God, the source and goal of all love. As the
culmination of a process of purification and integration of the affections, the love
of God brings supreme human fulfilment, and a profound experiential knowledge of both
God and the world about us.
“In William’s celebrated phrase, Amor ipse
intellectus est – love itself brings knowledge. By contemplation of the mysteries
of the faith, we grow in the image of God and, by uniting our will to his, we become
one with him”.
The Advent atmosphere permeated this weeks audience as pilgrims
and visitors to the square attempted to catch glimpses of the Vatican nativity scene
currently being built in the heart of the square. Further underlining the coming
festive season at the end of the audience, the Italian Federation of Bakers and confectioners
presented Pope Benedict with a stock of panetone, the traditional Italian Christmas
cake, to distribute to the poor this Christmas.