Weekly Meditation

Pope Benedict has completed his visit to our country and returned to the Vatican. Surely we have sentiments of respect. gratitude and love for his bringing us the message of "Christ our hope" and challenging us to embrace and live that message. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life -- the Way we can safely follow, the Truth we can rely on, the Life in which we share. This gives such authenticity to putting our hope in Christ.

We continue living these 50 days of Easter with revitalized awareness of Christ our hope. We participate in the victory of Jesus' resurrection and cherish the gift of new life he gives us now and the promise of eternal life to come.  Pope Benedict has urged us to know Jesus better and to develop a closer friendship with him.  Jesus' Mother Mary can help us do that. We might use the prayer the pope gave us at the conclusion of his first encyclical "God is Love."

Holy Mary, Mother of God, you have given the world its true light, Jesus your Son -- the Son God.  You abandoned yourself completely to God's call and thus became a wellspring of the goodness which flows forth from him. Show us Jesus.  Lead us to him. Teach us to know and love him, so that we too can become capable of true love and be fountains of living water in the midst of a thirsting world.

Bishop William R. Houck
President Emeritus, Catholic Extension