Countdown to the Conclave, Day 10: Construction in the Sistine Chapel Points to the Work of the Next Pope

3/8/2013

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clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek. The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the eve of the French Revolution - when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain. But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church."

"Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret."

"And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of faith."

"She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man's home, where he will find life and hope beyond death."

"But in all of the changes at which one might guess the Church will find her essence afresh and with full conviction in that which was always at her center: faith in the triune God, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, the presence of the Spirit until the end of the world."

The next occupant of the Chair of Peter has construction and infrastructure work to do. The workers preparing the Sistine Chapel provide a sign pointing to the work of the next pontificate.

Let us pray for the wisdom of heaven to guide the Cardinal electors at this pivotal and prophetic moment in the history of the Church - and the world into which she is sent to continue the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: conclave, cardinals, sistine chapel, papal election, Rome, Vatican, Countdown to conclave, Deal W Hudson, Deacon Keith Fournier

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1 - 4 of 4 Comments

Anshu Anthony
2 months ago
I pray that may the cardinals totally depend on Holy Spirit while choosing New Pope
Wayne Tedford
2 months ago
I pray that the new pope will hold on to sacred traditions that have been passed on and not over react to the liberal forces or concepts that are so prominent today. May the Holy Spirit and our Blessed Virgin Mary guide the cardinals in the most important conclave in the past 100 years.
Peter D. Aglione
2 months ago
I pray that the right man may be chosen to become Christ's Vicar on Earth and to lead the Church in the 21st century.
I pray that the role of women be recognized enough in the Church that they may be made deacons, priests, bishops, and even cardinal members of the Curia.
I pray also that the new Vicar of Christ on Earth may bring about the re-uniting of the Eastern and Western divisions of all the Apostolic and holy Churches of Christ, Catholic and Orthodox as well as the Protestant Churches.
May this happen through the influence of the Holy Spirit and thus reverse the great sin that brought about the terrible schism of 1054 A.D.
Tom McGuire
2 months ago
The image of the Church as shelter goes against the New Evangelization that requires all the faithful to go out and as Cardinal Wuerl says to engage with those in the secular culture. My friends in China are not living in the Church as a shelter. The challenges to faith experienced in the United States are nothing compared to what the challenges to their faith.

Yes to loss of privilege and to arrogance as many in the Synod on the New Evangelization said. Does becoming smaller mean driving faithful people out of the Church because of diverse theological positions?

Today's Second Reading in the Divine Office said it so well: "If the sacrament of the Lord's passion is to work its effect in us, we must imitate what we receive and proclaim to mankind what we revere. The cry of the Lord finds a hiding place in us if our lips fail to speak of this, though our hearts believe in it. So that his cry may not lie concealed in us it remains for us all, each in his own measure, to make known to those around us the mystery of our new life in Christ." If we are in a shelter sacrament of the Lord's passion will be concealed.

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