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

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Death
 


Once Christ is risen, the gravitational pull of love is stronger than that of hatred; the force of gravity of life is stronger than that of death.

 
Homily
Easter Vigil
St Peter's Basilica
11 April 2009

 
 
 
Death
 


‘I am deeply grieved, even to death’… Jesus’ fear and anguish sums up the full horror of man in the face of his own death, the certainty that it is inescapable and a perception of the burden of evil that touches our lives.

 
General Audience
Paul VI Hall
1 February 2012

 
 
 
Death
 


We are afraid of death because we are afraid of that nothingness, of leaving this world for something we don’t know, something unknown to us. And, then, there is a sense of rejection in us because we cannot accept that all that is beautiful and great, realized during a lifetime, should be suddenly erased, should fall into the abyss of nothingness. Above all, we feel that love calls and asks for eternity and it is impossible to accept that it is destroyed by death in an instant.

 
General Audience
Paul VI Audience Hall
2 November 2011

 
 
 
Death
 


Risen from the dead, Jesus is the Lord to whom God subjects all enemies, including death itself.

 
Angelus Address
St Peter's Square
2 December 2007

 
 
 
Death
 


In the face of death we cannot but experience feelings and thoughts dictated by our human condition. And we are always surprised and overwhelmed by a God Who came so close to us as not to pause, even before the abyss of death. He crossed that abyss and remained in the grave for two days. But here, the mystery of the 'third day' arises. Christ assumed our mortal flesh unto its ultimate consequences, that it might be invested with the glorious power of God by the vent of the life-giving Spirit which transforms and regenerates.

 
Prayer
The Vatican Grottos
2 November 2011

 
 
 
Death
 


Recall the prayer uttered on the most holy night of Easter: "Father we share in the light of your glory through your Son the light of the world … inflame us with your hope!" (Blessing of the Fire). And so, in solemn procession with our lighted candles we pass the light of Christ among us. It is "the light which dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy, casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride" (Exsultet).
This is Christ's light at work. This is the way of the saints. It is a magnificent vision of hope - Christ's light beckons you to be guiding stars for others, walking Christ's way of forgiveness, reconciliation, humility, joy and peace.

 
Address
St. Joseph's Seminary, New York
19 April 2008

 
 
 
Death
 


Christ strode through the gate of our final loneliness; in his passion He went down to the abyss of our abandonment. Where no voice can reach us anymore, there is he. Hell is thereby overcome, or, to be more accurate, death, which was previously hell, is hell no longer. Neither is the same any longer, because there is life in the midst of death, because love dwells in it.

 
'Introduction to Christianity'
Joseph Ratzinger

 
 
 
Death
 


St. Paul reminded the Christians of Ephesus that, before they accepted the Good News, they had had 'no hope' and had been 'without God in the world'. The religion of the Greeks, the pagan cults and myths were unable to throw light on the mystery of death. Indeed, one ancient inscription read: 'How quickly we fall back from nothing to nothing'. If we eliminate God, if we eliminate Christ; the world falls into emptiness and darkness.

 
Angelus Address
St. Peter's Square
6 November 2011

 

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