Italian
Commitment to prayer brings us closer to God in every stage of life. It is not about standing still, but about journey and action.
VATICAN CITY. Exactly twelve years have passed since that second Sunday of Lent on February 24, 2023, the day when Pope Benedict XVI appeared at the window of his study in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City to recite the Angelus with the faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square. And greeting all those present, he said: “Today, the second Sunday of Lent, we have a particularly beautiful Gospel, that of the Transfiguration of the Lord.”
Evangelist Luke particularly emphasizes the fact that Jesus was transfigured while praying: His is a profound experience of relationship with the Father during a sort of spiritual retreat that Jesus lives on a high mountain in the company of Peter, James, and John, the three disciples always present in moments of the Master’s divine manifestation (Lk 5:10; 8:51; 9:28). The Lord, who had just foretold his death and resurrection (9:22), offers the disciples a preview of his glory. And even in the Transfiguration, as in the baptism, the voice of the Heavenly Father resounds: “This is my Son, the Chosen One; listen to him!” (9:35)”. These are some of the words spoken by the Pope during the Angelus.
After saying this, Benedict XVI highlighted the important teaching that can be drawn from the Gospel passage. “First of all, the primacy of prayer, without which all the commitment of apostolate and charity is reduced to activism.” For this reason, “during Lent we learn to give the right time to prayer, both personal and communal, which gives breath to our spiritual life.” Furthermore, prayer is not a way to isolate oneself from the world and its contradictions, as Peter would have liked to do on Mount Tabor, but rather prayer leads back to the path, to action. “Christian existence – as I wrote in the Message for this Lent – consists in a continuous ascent of the mountain of encounter with God, and then descending to bring the love and strength that derive from it, in order to serve our brothers and sisters with the same love of God” (n. 3).
And here is where the Pope comes to the point of his speech. A passage that has become important for the history of the Church and the world: “Dear brothers and sisters, I feel this Word of God addressed to me in a particular way, at this moment of my life. Thank you! The Lord is calling me to ‘go up the mountain,’ to dedicate myself even more to prayer and meditation.” But this “does not mean abandoning the Church,” rather, “if God is asking me this it is precisely so that I can continue to serve it with the same dedication and love with which I have tried to do so until now, but in a way more suited to my age and my strength.”
Pope Benedict XVI concluded the Angelus by invoking the intercession of the Virgin Mary: “may she help all of us to always follow the Lord Jesus, in prayer and in charitable works.” After the Angelus, he thanked the faithful present in various languages, and addressing the Polish people, he recalled the Gospel of the day, saying that this passage of the Scriptures “leads us to Mount Tabor, where Christ revealed to the disciples the splendor of his divinity and gave the certainty that through suffering and the cross we can reach the resurrection. We must be able to see His presence, His glory, and His divinity in the life of the Church, in contemplation, and in the events of each day.” Thanking the Italian-speaking faithful for their affection and sharing, he concluded: “Especially in prayer, at this particular moment for my person and for the Church. I wish everyone a good Sunday and a good week. Thank you! In prayer, we are always close.”
