Pope’s Letter to Cardinal Ravasi
February 23, 2013: In a letter addressed to Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President
of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and the Papal retreat preacher this year, Pope
Benedict XVI said on Saturday: I wish with all my heart to express to my deep gratitude
for the service you have rendered to me and to the Roman Curia offering the meditations
of the Spiritual Exercises. The week of the Exercises is an even more intense time of silence and prayer, and this year's theme - the face of God and the face of man in the Psalm prayers - was particularly helpful. We have been able to tap into the source of pure water and plenty of God's Word, which you guided us to draw from the Book of Psalms, the place par excellence where the biblical Word becomes prayer, the Pope recalled.
Full of His knowledge and professional experience, you have proposed a fascinating journey through the Psalms, following a double movement: ascending and descending. The Psalms in fact geared primarily toward the face of God, to the mystery in which the human mind is wrecked, but the very Word of God allows us to see God himself is revealed in different ways.
At the same time, just like the light that shines from the Face of God, the Psalms make us look at the man's face, to recognize the truth in his joys and sorrows, anxieties and hopes.
It has allowed us to renew our faith. It is even more pertinent in this Year of faith and more so in the particular moment that I personally and the Apostolic See are living.
The Successor of Peter and his collaborators are called to give to the Church and to the world a clear testimony of faith, and this is only possible thanks to a deep and abiding immersion in dialogue with God. For many people even today ask: "Who will see good? "many reflect on their face and in their lives the light of the countenance of God.’
Pope concluded his letter expressing his satisfaction and assuring his grateful prayer for Cardinal Ravasi and for his service to the Church, and affectionately giving his Apostolic Blessing.
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