More
than one hundred and fifty thousand people attended His Holiness Pope Benedict
XVI's second-to-last Angelus in St. Peter's Square on 17 February 2013. The
Pope, who appeared at the window of his study at noon, focused his Sunday
meditation on Lent, "a time of conversion and penitence in preparation for
Easter."
"The
Church, who is mother and teacher," he said, "calls on all of her
members to renew their spirit, to reorient themselves toward God, renouncing
pride and selfishness in order to live in love. In this Year of Faith, Lent is
a favourable time to rediscover faith in God as the fundamental criterion of
our lives and the life of the Church. This always implies a struggle, spiritual
combat, because the spirit of evil, naturally, opposes our sanctification and
tries to turn us from God's path. …"
"As
the Church Fathers teach us, temptation forms part of Jesus' 'descent' into our
human condition, into the abyss of sin and its consequences. It is a descent
that Jesus follows to its very end, even to death on the cross and the hell of
extreme distance from God. … As St. Augustine teaches, Jesus has taken
temptation from us in order to give us victory over it. Therefore we too have
no fear of facing the battle against the spirit of evil. What is important is that
we face it with him, with Christ the Victor," the pontiff concluded.
After
the Marian prayer the Pope thanked everyone for their prayers and affection,
which he has felt in these days. "I ask," he said, "that you
continue to pray for me and for the next Pope, as well as for the spiritual
exercises that I will begin with the members of the Roman Curia this
afternoon."
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