Quotes and news
This week’s Quotes and News is dedicated to excerpts chosen by Fr Joe Borg from the answers Pope Benedict XVI gave on Good Friday to seven questions submitted from around the world, that included a young Japanese girl, a Muslim mother from the Ivory...
This week’s Quotes and News is dedicated to excerpts chosen by Fr Joe Borg from the answers Pope Benedict XVI gave on Good Friday to seven questions submitted from around the world, that included a young Japanese girl, a Muslim mother from the Ivory Coast and seven Christian students from Iraq. This first – but probably not last – question-and-answer session with the Pope was broadcast live on RAI 1.
Innocent suffering
A seven-year-old girl from Japan, asked about suffering.
Pope: “Why do you have to suffer so much while others live in ease? We do not have the answers but we know Jesus suffered as you do, an innocent, and that the true God who is revealed in Jesus is by your side.
“Even if we do not have answers, and are still sad, God is by your side and this will help you. And be aware that, one day, we will understand that this suffering was not in vain, but behind it was a plan of love.”
The presence of love
An Italian mother wanted to know whether her son’s soul is still in him although he has been in a vegetative coma since Easter Sunday 2009.
Pope: “Certainly his soul is still present in his body. I am also sure this hidden soul feels your love deep down, even if unable to understand your words. He feels the presence of love. Your presence next to him for hours every day, is the true act of a love of great value because this presence enters into the depth of that hidden soul. Your act is also a witness of faith in God, of faith in man, of faith, let us say, of commitment to life, of respect for human life, even in the saddest situations.”
The strength of love
A Muslim woman asked about the deep divisions in the Ivory Coast.
Pope: “Jesus, whom you also believe in as a prophet, was always a man of peace. It could be expected that, when God came to earth, He would be a man of great power, destroying the opposing forces…
“Not at all. He came in weakness. He came with only the strength of love, totally without violence, even to going to the Cross. This is what shows us the true face of God, that violence never comes from God, never helps bring good, but is destructive and not the path to escape difficulties. He is a strong voice against every type of violence.”
Our Mother, Mary
On the meaning of Jesus’ words to his mother while on the Cross.
Pope: “These words are, above all, very human. We see Jesus as a true man who makes an act of love for his mother, entrusting her to John so that she might be safe.… Therefore, Jesus acts as a human with a deeply human sentiment.
“This seems very beautiful to me. … In John, Jesus entrusts all of us, the whole Church, all future disciples, to his mother, and his mother to us. … More and more, humanity and Christians have understood that the mother of Jesus is their mother, and more and more they have entrusted themselves to the Mother.”