Pope's weekly general audience of Feb. 2

(February 02, 2011) 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 in several languages. The general audience of Feb. 2^nd was held in the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall. An aide greeted the Pope on behalf of the English-speaking pilgrims, after which Pope Benedict spoke in English about Saint Teresa of Avila.

Listen:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Our catechesis today deals with Saint Teresa of Avila, the great sixteenth-century Carmelite reformer proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI. Teresa entered the Carmel in Avila at the age of twenty. Maturing in the spiritual life, she embraced the ideal of a renewal of her Order and with the support of Saint John of the Cross she founded a chain of reformed Carmels throughout Spain. Her highly influential writings, which include the Autobiography, The Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle, reveal her profound christocentric spirituality and her breadth of human experience. Teresa considered the evangelical and human virtues the basis of an authentic Christian life. She identified deeply with Christ in his humanity and stressed the importance of contemplation of his Passion and of his real presence in the Eucharist. She presents prayer as an intimate friendship with Christ leading to an ever greater union of love with the Blessed Trinity. In her life and in her death Teresa embodied an unconditional love for the Church. May the example and prayers of Saint Teresa of Avila inspire us to greater fidelity to prayer and, through prayer, to greater love for the Lord and his Church, and more perfect charity towards our brothers and sisters.
I am pleased to greet the groups who have come from England, Norway, Nigeria and the United States of America. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s Audience I cordially invoke God’s abundant blessings.

At the end of the general audience, Pope Benedict recalled Wednesday’s liturgical feast of the presentation of Jesus in the temple, Feb. 2nd, the day the Church marks as the World Day of Consecrated Life, now in its 15th year. “From my heart I bless each one of you and your journey in the Church,” the Pope told the men and women religious of the world. Wednesday’s general audience concluded with the Pope’s blessing.
Listen: