Pope Benedict XVI used his second to last Angelus to tell thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square that Lent is a “spiritual battle.” Lent, he said, “always involves a battle, a spiritual battle, because the spirit of evil naturally opposes our sanctification and seeks to divert us from the way of God.” Pope Benedict has just 11 days left as head of the Catholic Church until his almost unprecedented resignation takes effect Feb. 28. Over 35,000 people have officially registered with the Pontifical Household to bid him farewell. The Pope, speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace, explained that the Lenten “spiritual battle” is the reason why the Gospel of the first Sunday of Lent relates each year to Jesus’ temptations in the desert. He reflected on the Sunday gospel, which tells how Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil after having received the Holy Spirit in his baptism at the Jordan river. “Upon starting his public ministry, Jesus had to expose and reject the false images of the Messiah that the tempter proposed,” said the Pope. “But these temptations are false images of man and during all times undermine the conscience, disguised and proposed as affordable, effective and even good,” he added. Pope Benedict said the evangelists Matthew and Luke reveal three temptations of Jesus, but differ only in the order in which they present them. He said the core of these temptations is always to exploit God for some lowly ends, giving more importance to success or to material goods. “The tempter is sneaky: he does not go directly to evil, but to a false good, making one believe that the true reality is power and that this meets one’s basic needs,” said the pontiff. “God becomes secondary in this way, (he) ultimately becomes unreal because he no longer matters and thus vanishes,” he added. Pope Benedict said that faith is what is ultimately at stake in temptations because God is at stake. “But in hindsight we are at crossroads -- do we want to follow the ‘I’ or God? The individual interest or the real good and what is really good?” said the Pope. “As the Fathers of the Church teach us, temptations are part of the ‘descent’ of Jesus in our human condition and in the abyss of sin as well as of its consequences,” he said. He explained that Jesus is “the hand that God has tended to man, the lost sheep, to bring him back to safety.” But the pontiff said we do not have to fear facing the fight against the spirit of evil since “Jesus took our temptations to give us his victory. The important thing is that we do this with him, with the Victor,” he said. Pope Benedict said Lent is a time of “conversion and penance” and a “favorable time to rediscover faith in God as the criterion of our life and the life of the Church. The Church, which is mother and teacher, calls all her members to be renewed in the spirit, to re-orientate closely to God, denying pride and selfishness in order to live in love,” he said. He then greeted the pilgrims in different languages. He told the Italian pilgrims their attendance in such large numbers is “a sign of affection and spiritual closeness that I have been shown these days.”
I am just beginning to dive into the beautiful, ancient devotion to the Five Wounds of Jesus, and I wanted to share a bit of the journey with you. It can feel a little overwhelming at first to look at the Crucifix this closely, but I’ve found such a gentle guide in St. Bernard of Clairvaux . In his Jubilee Rhythm on the Passion, Bernard doesn't treat the wounds of Jesus as distant historical facts or sights to be avoided. Instead, he approaches them with the tenderness of a friend, speaking directly to the feet, hands, side, and face of our Lord. For someone like me who is just starting out, his rhythm teaches that prayer isn't just about reciting words; it’s a holy hide-and-seek. Bernard invites us to literally hide ourselves within these wounds, seeing them as clefts in the rock where we can find shelter when our own lives feel turbulent or heavy. As I start this process, I’ve been practicing what I call gazing and greeting. Following Bernard’s lead, I look at the Crucifix an...