Selected quotes of Pope Benedict XVI offered daily for prayer and reflection….

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The Incarnation
 


“The Word became flesh”. Before this revelation we once more wonder: how can this be? The Word and the flesh are mutually opposed realities; how can the eternal and almighty Word become a frail and mortal man? There is only one answer: Love. Those who love desire to share with the beloved, they want to be one with the beloved, and Sacred Scripture shows us the great love story of God for his people which culminated in Jesus Christ.

 
URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE
Christmas 2010

 
 
 
The Incarnation
 


God is always faithful to his promises, but he often surprises us in the way he fulfils them. The child that was born in Bethlehem did indeed bring liberation, but not only for the people of that time and place - he was to be the Savior of all people throughout the world and throughout history. And it was not a political liberation that he brought, achieved through military means: rather, Christ destroyed death for ever and restored life by means of his shameful death on the Cross. And while he was born in poverty and obscurity, far from the centers of earthly power, he was none other than the Son of God.

 
Radio Broadcast
'Thought for the Day'
BBC Radio
24th December 2010

 
 
 
The Incarnation
 


With the Incarnation of the Son of God, eternity entered time and human history was opened to absolute fulfillment in God. Time was, so to speak, "touched" by Christ, the Son of God and of Mary, and received from him new and surprising significance: it became a time of salvation and grace. In this same perspective, we must consider the time of the year that is ending and of that which is beginning so that we may put the most different events of our life important or small, simple or undecipherable, joyful or sad under the sign of salvation and hear the call God is addressing to us in order to lead us toward a goal that lies beyond time itself: eternity.

 
Homily
First Vespers
Solemnity, Mary the Mother of God
St Peter's Basilica
31 December 2009

 
 
 
The Incarnation
 


Let us adore him in silence, while he, still a mere infant, seems to comfort us by saying: Do not be afraid, "I am God, and there is no other" (Is 45:22). Come to me, men and women, peoples and nations, come to me. Do not be afraid: I have come to bring you the love of the Father, and to show you the way of peace.

 
URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE
Christmas 2008

 
 
 
The Incarnation
 


The shepherds were told that they would find the child in a manger for animals, who were the rightful occupants of the stable. Reading Isaiah (1, 3), the Fathers concluded that beside the manger of Bethlehem there stood an ox and an ass. At the same time they interpreted the text as symbolizing the Jews and the pagans – and thus all humanity – who each in their own way have need of a Savior: the God who became a child.

 
Homily
The Nativity of the Lord
St Peter's Basilica
24 December 2006

 
 
 
The Incarnation
 


God has entered time for us. He who is the Eternal One, above time, he has assumed our time and raised it to himself on high. Christmas has become the Feast of gifts in imitation of God who has given himself to us. Let us allow our heart, our soul and our mind to be touched by this fact!

 
Homily
The Nativity of the Lord
St Peter's Basilica
24 December 2006

 
 
 
The Incarnation
 


In the fullness of time…
Wisdom took on a human Face, the Face of Jesus.

 
Homily, First Vespers
Vatican Basilica
17 December 2009

 
 
 
The Incarnation
 


The one true God, "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob", is not a God who is there in Heaven, unconcerned with us and our history, but he is the-God-who-comes. He is a Father who never stops thinking of us and, in the extreme respect of our freedom, desires to meet us and visit us; he wants to come, to dwell among us, to stay with us.
His "coming" is motivated by the desire to free us from evil and death, from all that prevents our true happiness.
God comes to save us.

 
Homily at Vespers
First Sunday of Advent
Vatican Basilica
2 December 2006

 

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