(23 June, 2010) Every week on Wednesday, the Pope holds a public meeting, called
the general audience, during which pilgrims and tourists who come to Rome have a chance
of seeing and hearing him speak. The Holy Father delivers a spiritual reflection
and greets various groups in their languages, including in English. The General
Audience of June 23rd was held indoors in the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall. It
began with aides taking turns reading a scripture passage in various languages.
One of the aides greeted the Pope on behalf of the English-speaking pilgrims, and
presented the various groups to him. Pope Benedict then delivered a reflection in
English.
Listen: Dear
Brothers and Sisters, In our catechesis on the Christian culture of the
Middle Ages, we turn once more to the teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas. The Summa
Theologiae, his masterpiece, reflects Thomas’s serene confidence in the harmony of
faith and reason, and in the ability of reason, enlightened by faith, to come to an
understanding of God and his saving plan. The Summa treats of the Triune God in himself,
in his work of creation, and in the person of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son, whose
humanity is the means by which we return to the Father. Thomas illustrates the working
of divine grace, which perfects our natural gifts and enables us, through the practice
of the virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to attain the eternal happiness for
which we were created. His description of Christ’s saving work stresses the importance
of the seven sacraments, and especially the Eucharist. These great theological truths
are also reflected in Thomas’s preaching which in a clear and simple way presents
the mysteries of the faith, the content of Christian prayer, and the demands of a
moral life shaped by the natural law and the Gospel’s new commandment of love. With
the Angelic Doctor, let us pray for the grace to love the Lord with all our heart,
and to love our neighbour, “in God and for God”. I offer a warm welcome
to the numerous student groups present, and in a special way to those taking part
in the programmes sponsored by the Foyer Unitas Lay Centre, the Anglican Centre of
Rome and the Midwest Theological Forum. I also thank the choirs for their praise
of God in song. Upon all the English-speaking visitors, especially those from Scotland,
Norway, Sweden, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, the Bahamas and the United
States of America, I invoke God’s abundant blessings.