Pope Benedict in English - Weekly General Audience
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Our encounter today gives me the opportunity to retrace
the steps of my recent Pastoral Visit to France. After a warm welcome in Paris, I
met with men and women from the world of culture, with whom I reflected on the monastic
ideal of seeking God—quaerere Deum—as the bedrock of European culture. I wished
to emphasize that meditation on the Scriptures opens our minds and hearts to the Logos,
God’s Creative Reason in the flesh. In the magnificent Cathedral of Notre-Dame,
I gathered with bishops, priests, religious and seminarians, sharing with them
the treasures of the Holy Spirit and the Cross. My brief stop at the Institut
de France was followed by the joyful Eucharistic celebration on the Esplanade
des Invalides. I then made my way to Lourdes to join thousands of pilgrims in
this Jubilee year commemorating the apparitions of Our Lady to Saint Bernadette.
The Holy Mass near the Grotto of Massabielle providentiallycoincided
with the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, the perennial sign of the “mystery
of death and of glory”. The Cross demonstrates that God so loved the world that he
gave us his only Son. It teaches us that there is no genuine love without suffering,
and no gift of life without pain. Lourdes is thus a school of faith and hope because
it is a school of charity and service. I am deeply grateful to God and to all who
made this trip a blessed, memorable success. Thank you!