Thursday, February 28, 2013

the Pope says goodbye

Dear Friends and Family,

I’m sure many of you watched it just now – the Pope’s trip to Castel Gandolfo and his last appearance in public. He spoke to us without using papers –from his heart – giving thanks once more and saying that from now on, “I’ll be just a simple pilgrim”.

Sunset in Rome - February 28th
The sun is setting here in Rome, setting also on the era of a great Pope, our dear Benedict.

May God bless him and keep him, and may God bless you all!
Brother Kevin

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Pope Benedict's Last Audience


Dear Friends and Family,


Talk about early rising! We were up at 5am and at Saint Peter’s by 6:30. By 7:30 the crowds waiting to get into the square for the Pope’s last General Audience were mounting into the thousands, so they let everyone in early. For some reason the metal detector I was waiting in front of broke down, so by the time I made it into the square, almost all the seats were taken. I waited in the back of the square for a little, but then it was too much – “Pope Benedict’s last public appearance?!?! – I’m not getting stuck in the nosebleeds this time!”

Crowd waiting to get in
Crowd during the crush to get in
Miraculously the guards let me through three barriers and into the front section. I ambled up to the front and lo and behold – there was an extra seat. Turns out I was seated between two marvelous Irish Priests both named Kevin! So that explains the picture of the “3 Kevins”.

3 Kevins!
The forecast was rain, but “powerful sun” might have been a better call. There wasn’t a cloud in sight – it was one of those gloriously sunny and mild Roman days.

German Cardinal and Countryman
During normal Wednesday audiences, people chant a lot. This time around people were chanting before, during, and after.

Every news channel on the planet must have been there. They were interviewing people all over the place. After the audience, I wandered around listening to the news anchors report, and I was amazed at how positive many of them were.
Beautiful Day at Saint Peter's!
When the Pope arrived, they drove him all around the square so that everyone could see him up close one last time. (see diagram) The only thing he stopped for were babies – Pope Benedict always stops for babies!

The place was packed – I’ve heard estimates around 150,000, and that sounds right. The road in front of Saint Peter’s was full of people too.

His talk seemed to me kind of like his last will and testament – thanking God for His abundant care, thanking his collaborators for their help, and thanking all of us who support him with our prayers and support – and our letters! He asks us to all have a “vision of faith”, to see that the Lord is ever near us, and to entrust our future to him.

It’s really worth it to read his whole speech – see below. If not, at least read the shortened version I put together. We interrupted him with clapping throughout, and gave him a standing ovation that would not have ended if they hadn’t stopped us.

It was just so nice to sit there and be with the Holy Father in this important moment of his life and of the Church’s life. With the beautiful blue sky and St Peter’s and the Pope both sparkling white, it seemed kind of like what heaven must be like – time stops, all is peace, and you feel in your heart that truly “it is good to be here.”

I recorded the Pope’s last blessing and attached it to this message. Before this one, they announced that the blessing travels to all our family and friends, so there you have it – if you’re reading this, you get the Pope’s last Blessing!!!
Pope Benedict heads out
They whisked him away pretty quickly after the audience, and there’s a little video of that too. It was sad to see him go. Many people cried. It really is like losing a father, though you have the consolation that this father is and will be so close to your spiritually.
Interview
New Report
Tomorrow Benedict will meet privately with the Cardinals, and then at 5pm he flies to Castel Gandolfo. At 8pm, he becomes “Pope Emeritus”.

Tonight as I write this the stars are all out, but front and center is a gigantic full moon. It’s golden. Even the heavens are wishing Benedict well.

Let’s stay spiritually right next to our beloved Pope as he makes his way through his last day in the shoes of Saint Peter.

God bless you,
Brother Kevin

Abbreviated Talk of Pope Benedict:

“I would like my greetings and my thanks, then, to reach everyone…

At this point I would like to thank from my heart all the many people around the world who in recent weeks have sent me touching tokens of attention, friendship and prayer. Yes, the Pope is never alone, now I experience this again in so great a way that it touches my heart. The Pope belongs to everyone and many people feel very close to him. It is true that I receive letters from the great ones of the world - from Heads of State, religious leaders, representatives of the world of culture and so on. But I also receive many letters from ordinary people who write to me simply from their heart and make me feel their affection, born from being together with Christ Jesus, in the Church. These people do not write to me the way one writes, for instance, to a prince or a to great person that one does not know. They write to me as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, with the sense of a very affectionate family tie. Here one can touch firsthand what the Church is - not an organization, not an association for religious or humanitarian purposes, but a living body, a community of brothers and sisters in the Body of Jesus Christ, who unites us all. To experience the Church in this way and to be able almost to touch with your hands the power of its truth and its love, is a source of joy, in a time when many speak of its decline. But we see how the Church is alive today!
I thank each and everyone for the respect and understanding with which you have accepted this important decision. I will continue to accompany the journey of the Church through prayer and reflection, with the dedication to the Lord and to His Spouse, with which I have tried to live every day until now and with which I want to live forever. I ask you to remember me before God, and above all to pray for the Cardinals, who are called to so important a task, and for the new Successor of Peter: may the Lord accompany him with the light and the power of his Spirit.

Let us invoke the maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, that she accompany each of us and the whole ecclesial community; we entrust ourselves to Her, with deep confidence.

Dear friends! God guides His Church, he sustains her always, and especially in difficult times. Let us never lose this vision of faith, which is the only true vision of the Church and the world. In our heart, in the heart of each of you, may there always be the joyous certainty that the Lord is near us, he does not abandon us, he is near us and surrounds us with his love. Thank you!”

 Full Talk of Pope Benedict:

“Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood!

Distinguished Authorities!

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Thank you for coming in such large numbers to this last General Audience of my pontificate.

A heartfelt thanks! I am truly moved! And I see the Church alive! And I think we should also thank the Creator for the beautiful weather that He is giving us today while we’re still in winter.

As the Apostle Paul in the biblical text that we have heard, I too feel in my heart that I must above all thank God, who guides and builds up the Church, who sows his Word and thus nourishes the faith in his People. At this moment my heart expands to embrace the whole Church throughout the world, and I thank God for the "news" that in these years in the Petrine ministry I have been able to receive about the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love that circulates in the Body of the Church and makes it live in love, and about the hope that opens us and directs us towards the fullness of life, towards the heavenly homeland.

I feel that I carry everyone in prayer, in a present that is God’s, where I recall every meeting, every trip, every pastoral visit. I gather everyone in prayer to entrust them to the Lord, so that we may have full knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, and so that we may comport ourselves in a manner worthy of Him, of His love, bearing fruit in every good work (cf. Col 1:9-10).

At this time, I feel great trust, because I know, all of us know, that the Word of the truth of the Gospel is the strength of the Church, it is its life. The Gospel purifies and renews, it bears fruit, wherever the community of believers listens and receives the grace of God in truth and lives in charity. This is my trust, this is my joy.

When, on April 19 almost eight years ago, I agreed to take on the Petrine ministry, I felt this certainty firmly, and it has always accompanied me. At that moment, as I have already stated several times, the words that resounded in my heart were: Lord, why are you asking this of me and what are you asking of me? It is a great weight you are placing on my shoulders, but if this is what You ask, at your word I will let down the nets, confident that You will guide me, even with my weaknesses. And eight years later I can say that the Lord has truly guided me, He has been close to me, I could feel His presence every day. It has been a stretch of the Church's journey, which has had moments of joy and light, but also difficult moments; I felt like St. Peter and the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of ​​Galilee: the Lord has given us many days of sunshine and gentle breeze, days when the fishing has been plentiful, and there were also times when the water was rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church, and the Lord seemed to sleep. But I always knew that the Lord is in the boat, and I always knew that the boat of the Church is not mine, not ours, but it is His. And He will not let her sink, it is He who leads it, certainly also through the men he has chosen, because so He has willed it. This was and is a certainty, that nothing can obscure. And that is why today my heart is filled with gratitude to God because He has never left me or the Church without His consolation, His light, His love.

We are in the Year of Faith, which I wanted to strengthen our faith in God in a context that seems to put it more and more into the background. I would like to invite everyone to renew their firm trust in the Lord, to trust like children in the arms of God, certain that those arms support us always and are what allow us to walk every day, even when fatigued. I would like everyone to feel loved by that God who gave his Son for us and has shown us his boundless love. I want everyone to feel the joy of being Christian. A beautiful prayer to be recited daily in the morning says: "I adore you, my God, I love you with all my heart. Thank you for having created me, for having made me Christian..." Yes, we are happy for the gift of faith; it is the most precious thing, that no one can take from us! We thank God for this every day, with prayer and with a coherent Christian life. God loves us, but expects that we too love Him!

But it is not only God that I want to thank at this time. A Pope is not alone in guiding the barque of Peter, even if the primary responsibility is his; and I have never felt alone in carrying the joy and weight of the Petrine ministry; the Lord has put next to me many people, with generosity and love for God and the Church, they have helped me and have been close to me. First of all you, dear Brother Cardinals: your wisdom, your advice, your friendship has been precious to me; my collaborators, starting with my Secretary of State who has accompanied me faithfully over the years, the Secretary of State and the whole of the Roman Curia, as well as all those who, in various fields, give their service to the Holy See: there are many faces who do not appear, they remain in the shadow, but precisely in this silence, in their daily work, in a spirit of faith and humility, they have been a solid and reliable support for me. A special thought to the Church of Rome, my diocese! I cannot forget the Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, consecrated persons and the entire People of God: in the pastoral visits, in encounters, in the audences, in my travels, I have always perceived great care and deep affection, but I also have loved each and every one, without exception, with that pastoral charity which is the heart of every pastor, especially the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of the Apostle Peter. Every day I have remembered each of you in my prayers, with a father's heart.

I would like my greetings and my thanks, then, to reach everyone: the heart of a Pope extends to the whole world. And I would like to express my gratitude to the Diplomatic Corps at the Holy See, which makes present the great family of nations. Here I also think of all those who work for a good communication and I thank them for their important service.

At this point I would like to thank from my heart all the many people around the world who in recent weeks have sent me touching tokens of attention, friendship and prayer. Yes, the Pope is never alone, now I experience this again in so great a way that it touches my heart. The Pope belongs to everyone and many people feel very close to him. It is true that I receive letters from the great ones of the world - from Heads of State, religious leaders, representatives of the world of culture and so on. But I also receive many letters from ordinary people who write to me simply from their heart and make me feel their affection, born from being together with Christ Jesus, in the Church. These people do not write to me the way one writes, for instance, to a prince or a to great person that one does not know. They write to me as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, with the sense of a very affectionate family tie. Here one can touch firsthand what the Church is - not an organization, not an association for religious or humanitarian purposes, but a living body, a community of brothers and sisters in the Body of Jesus Christ, who unites us all. To experience the Church in this way and to be able almost to touch with your hands the power of its truth and its love, is a source of joy, in a time when many speak of its decline. But we see how the Church is alive today!

In recent months, I felt that my strength had decreased, and I asked God earnestly in prayer to enlighten me with His light to make me take the right decision not for my sake, but for the good of the Church. I have taken this step in full awareness of its seriousness and also its novelty, but with profound peace of mind. Loving the Church also means having the courage to make tough choices, difficult ones, having always before oneself the good of the Church and not oneself.

Here allow me to return once again to April 19, 2005. The seriousness of the decision also lay precisely in the fact that from that moment on I was busy always and forever with the Lord. Always - whoever assumes the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs always and totally to everyone, to the whole Church. His life is, so to speak, totally deprived of its private dimension. I experienced, and I am experiencing it now, that one receives life when one gives it. I said before that many people who love the Lord also love the Successor of Saint Peter and are fond of him, that the Pope truly has brothers and sisters, sons and daughters all over the world, and that he feels safe in the embrace of their communion; because he no longer belongs to himself, he belongs to all and all belong to him.

The "always" is also a "forever" - there is no return to the private sphere. My decision to forgo the exercise of active ministry, does not revoke this. I will not return to private life, to a life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences and so on. I am not abandoning the cross, but remain in a new way with the Crucified Lord. I no longer carry the power of the office for the government of the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St. Peter's bounds. St. Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, will be for me a great example in this. He showed us the way to a life which, active or passive, belongs wholly to the work of God.

I thank each and everyone for the respect and understanding with which you have accepted this important decision. I will continue to accompany the journey of the Church through prayer and reflection, with the dedication to the Lord and to His Spouse, with which I have tried to live every day until now and with which I want to live forever. I ask you to remember me before God, and above all to pray for the Cardinals, who are called to so important a task, and for the new Successor of Peter: may the Lord accompany him with the light and the power of his Spirit.

Let us invoke the maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, that she accompany each of us and the whole ecclesial community; we entrust ourselves to Her, with deep confidence.

Dear friends! God guides His Church, he sustains her always, and especially in difficult times. Let us never lose this vision of faith, which is the only true vision of the Church and the world. In our heart, in the heart of each of you, may there always be the joyous certainty that the Lord is near us, he does not abandon us, he is near us and surrounds us with his love. Thank you!”

[Translation by Peter Waymel/ZENIT News Agency]

Monday, February 25, 2013

Benedict's last Sunday Angelus Address

Dear Friends and Family,

Yesterday the Holy Father gave his last Sunday Angelus Address from his study window.

Saint Peter's Square February 24th - Pope Benedict's Last Angelus
I arrived an hour and a half before, and Saint Peter’s Square was already almost filled with people: priests, nuns, babies, old folks, large families, tourists… you name it. Lots of people asked where the Holy Father would be coming out, so I pointed them to his study window, top floor, second from the right. There were all kinds of groups with banners wishing the Holy Father well, and one banner that said, “Pope Benedict for Pope, Again!” Everybody cheered when they opened the Pope’s window before the talk, and they really thundered when he finally appeared.

He spoke about Sunday’s Gospel – the Transfiguration – and how our daily prayer must be the inspiration behind who we are and all we do. He feels that this gospel applies well to him, since he is now going up the mountain to a life of prayer. He said he will “serve the Church with the same dedication and the same love” but “in a way that is more adapted to my age and my strength.”

There were even people on the roof!
For me it was another confirmation that the Holy Father humbly knows himself and his own limits, and is not afraid to make even the hardest of decisions. Back in 2005, he was asked by God to give his own plans up, and he accepted. Now in 2013 he’s not giving up on himself or on the Church, he’s just confidently entrusting the future to God.

Saint Peter's Square Explanation
I took some pictures and attached them to this email. It had been raining all morning, but brother sun poked his head out for the occasion. There’s a shot of a little Italian boy playing soccer with his dad while waiting for the Pope. I drew a diagram of the square, with the Sistine chapel chimney marked. There’s also a video, which, though a bit jittery, gives you a good idea of how many people were there. It starts out with Pope Benedict’s blessing (he still sings it in Latin – how’s that for 85!) and I’m sure many graces pass along to all who watch it.
Italian Boy Playing Soccer

Next stop, Benedict’s last public appearance on Wednesday. I’ll keep you posted!

God bless,
Brother Kevin




Sunday, February 24, 2013

a view from the cobblestones

Dear Family and Friends,

I went to mass with my fellow seminarians at Saint Peter’s Basilica this morning. The news crews are already getting things set up to cover the papal conclave. Some have roof-top studios, others are building scaffolding on street corners. Inside Saint Peter’s itself, everything seems the same. (though there were a ton of relics on the altar in honor of yesterday’s feast of the Chair of Saint Peter – the main feastday of the Basilica)
TV Crews on Rooftops
Pope Benedict finished his week-long spiritual retreat this morning. On Wednesday, he’ll give his last public audience in Saint Peter’s Square. So many people have asked for tickets that the Vatican has decided not to issue them, and instead it will be first-come, first-serve. I’ve heard estimates that around 500,000 people will be showing up, though who knows. I’ll definitely be there, even if it means a seat on the street.
Scaffolding in Streets
On Thursday the 28th at 5pm, the pope will take a helicopter to his summer residence in nearby Castel Gandolfo. At 8pm, his resignation will go into effect, and I’m sure he’ll be one very happy, relieved man.

Saint Peter's Square
I’ll try to keep you updated on what I’m seeing and hearing here with “a view from the cobblestones”. Let’s say a prayer for Pope Benedict each of these last days of his pontificate!

God bless you,
Brother Kevin
Praying at the Main Altar


Thursday, February 14, 2013

10 months left!

Dear Friends and Family,

Today marks 10 months till my (God-willing) ordination as a priest on December 14th. Wow! It’s getting close!

Yesterday I went with the whole seminary to Pope Benedict’s last mass in public. He seemed to be doing just fine. We (as in everyone in the whole basilica) gave him a huge standing ovation towards the end that I think would never have ended if he hadn’t stopped us.

Pope Benedict on the way out of his last public mass as Pope
It will be sad to lose him – I for one always loved reading and listening to his writings and speeches – but I trust he has made the right decision. Let’s pray that the Cardinals choose the one God wants to fill Saint Peter’s shoes.

Have a great Lent!
Brother Kevin