Still no dice on the transcript, but Msgr. Raymond East, delivering the homily at the Archdiocese of Washington's annual Mass in Celebration of the Work of the Spirit in the New Movements and Ecclesial Communities and Third Orders (whew!) at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, noted that Benedict told the ordinands that there was something special about the evening mass of Pentecost, because it has the flavor of the disciples huddled fearfully in the cenacle towards evening, when suddenly . . .Haaaa (loud exhaling noise), the breath of God was upon them. Msgr. then went on to develop the Pentecost theme relative to the new movements. But back to the Pope.
In his remarks today, Benedict seemed to return to two themes that recur in his Ratzinger-writings: forgiveness in the homily to the ordinands:
"The sacrament of penance is one of the treasures of the Church, as only in forgiveness is the genuine renewal of the world effected. Nothing can improve the world, if evil is not overcome," he added. "And evil can only be overcome with forgiveness. Of course, it must be effective forgiveness. But this forgiveness can only be given to us by the Lord, a forgiveness that does not remove evil only with words, but that really transforms it," he stressed.
And in his Regina Caeli address, he spoke again about the Church being crushed by the weight of her own structures if she is not filled with holy members:
In his brief message, the Pope linked Pentecost to the ordination of the new priests, reminding the faithful that "without the Holy Spirit, the Church would be reduced to a merely human organization, with the weight of its very structures."
Curtsy to www.Zenit.org for the excerpts.
