Rome's Chief Rabbi Praises Ex Pope

Ex Pope Benedict's 2009 trip to Jerusalem (Image: Newsday)

Via Newsmax.com:

Rome’s Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni has high praise for Pope Benedict XVI, saying the pontiff showed great respect for Jews. In an interview with Fiamma Nirenstein in Italy after Benedict announced his resignation, Di Segni — who is also a professor specializing in diagnostic radiology — called the Pope “an honest interlocutor” who was “clear when speaking to Jews.

We received respect from him. “Mutual respect is actually what is needed. Benedict XVI presented it to us, and even more.” Di Segni praised the “withdrawn character of this Pope, the fact that he was less than a media icon, as well as his intellectual integrity.” He also said that “at a time when radical Islam is thriving, the Church is amicable.”

As for what he would like to see in the next Pope, the rabbi said he hopes “the new Pope won’t be hostile. [We welcome] a non-hostile Pope that favors an in-progress alliance with us.”

Heavy Snow in Jerusalem

Major Snow in Jerusalem

Even Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu got into the fun

Apparently transportation in Jerusalem was at a standstill

An Orthodox Jew in the Holy City 

Jewish children playing

Read about this anamoly of major snowfall, which has not occured for over 20 years in the UK Daily Mail.

Pictures courtesy of UK Daily Mail

The Presentation of Mary

Feast of the Presentation of Mary:

Mary’s presentation was celebrated in Jerusalem in the sixth century. A church was built there in honor of this mystery. The Eastern Church was more interested in the feast, but it does appear in the West in the 11th century. Although the feast at times disappeared from the calendar, in the 16th century it became a feast of the universal Church.

As with Mary’s birth, we read of Mary’s presentation in the temple only in apocryphal literature. In what is recognized as an unhistorical account, the Protoevangelium of James tells us that Anna and Joachim offered Mary to God in the Temple when she was three years old. This was to carry out a promise made to God when Anna was still childless.

Though it cannot be proven historically, Mary’s presentation has an important theological purpose. It continues the impact of the feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of the birth of Mary. It emphasizes that the holiness conferred on Mary from the beginning of her life on earth continued through her early childhood and beyond.

Comment:

It is sometimes difficult for modern Westerners to appreciate a feast like this. The Eastern Church, however, was quite open to this feast and even somewhat insistent about celebrating it. Even though the feast has no basis in history, it stresses an important truth about Mary: From the beginning of her life, she was dedicated to God. She herself became a greater temple than any made by hands. God came to dwell in her in a marvelous manner and sanctified her for her unique role in God's saving work. At the same time, the magnificence of Mary enriches her children. They, too, are temples of God and sanctified in order that they might enjoy and share in God's saving work.

Quote:

"Hail, holy throne of God, divine sanctuary, house of glory, jewel most fair, chosen treasure house, and mercy seat for the whole world, heaven showing forth the glory of God. Purest Virgin, worthy of all praise, sanctuary dedicated to God and raised above all human condition, virgin soil, unplowed field, flourishing vine, fountain pouring out waters, virgin bearing a child, mother without knowing man, hidden treasure of innocence, ornament of sanctity, by your most acceptable prayers, strong with the authority of motherhood, to our Lord and God, Creator of all, your Son who was born of you without a father, steer the ship of the Church and bring it to a quiet harbor" (adapted from a homily by St. Germanus on the Presentation of the Mother of God).

Memorial of the Presentation:

Today the Church celebrates the memorial of the Presentation of Mary. The three feasts of the birthday of Our Lady, the holy Name of Mary and her Presentation in the Temple correspond in the Marian cycle with the first three feasts of the cycle of feasts of our Lord: namely, Christmas, the Holy Name of Jesus, and His Presentation in the Temple (February 2).

Presentation of Mary

"Sacred Scripture contains no text concerning the event commemorated in today's liturgy. For something of a historical background one may consult the apocryphal works, particularly the Protoevangel of St. James (ch. 4:1ff). After an angel had revealed her pregnancy, Anna is said to have vowed her future child Mary to the Lord. Soon after birth the infant was brought to the sacred precincts at which only the best of Israel's daughters were admitted. At the age of three she was transferred to the temple proper (7:2). According to legend, here she was reared like a dove and received her nourishment from the hand of an angel (8:1).

"In the East, where the feast, celebrated since the eighth century, is kept as a public holiday, it bears the name, 'The Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple'. It was introduced at Rome by a Cypriotic legate to the papal court of Avignon in 1371. In 1472, Sixtus IV extended its observance to the whole Church. Abolished by Pius V, it was reintroduced some years later (1585)."

Read more about this feast day here, here and here.

Assumption of the Virgin Mary

Assumption of Mary:

On November 1, 1950, Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary to be a dogma of faith: “We pronounce, declare and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma that the immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory.” The pope proclaimed this dogma only after a broad consultation of bishops, theologians and laity. There were few dissenting voices. What the pope solemnly declared was already a common belief in the Catholic Church.

We find homilies on the Assumption going back to the sixth century. In following centuries the Eastern Churches held steadily to the doctrine, but some authors in the West were hesitant. However, by the thirteenth century there was universal agreement. The feast was celebrated under various names (Commemoration, Dormition, Passing, Assumption) from at least the fifth or sixth century.

Scripture does not give an account of Mary’s Assumption into heaven. Nevertheless, Revelation 12 speaks of a woman who is caught up in the battle between good and evil. Many see this woman as God’s people. Since Mary best embodies the people of both Old and New Testament, her Assumption can be seen as an exemplification of the woman’s victory.

Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians 15:20 Paul speaks of Christ’s resurrection as the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Since Mary is closely associated with all the mysteries of Jesus’ life, it is not surprising that the Holy Spirit has led the Church to belief in Mary’s share in his glorification. So close was she to Jesus on earth, she must be with him body and soul in heaven.

Comment:

In the light of the Assumption of Mary, it is easy to pray her Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55) with new meaning. In her glory she proclaims the greatness of the Lord and finds joy in God her savior. God has done marvels to her and she leads others to recognize God’s holiness.

She is the lowly handmaid who deeply reverenced her God and has been raised to the heights. From her position of strength she will help the lowly and the poor find justice on earth and she will challenge the rich and powerful to distrust wealth and power as a source of happiness.

Quote:

“In the bodily and spiritual glory which she possesses in heaven, the Mother of Jesus continues in this present world as the image and first flowering of the Church as she is to be perfected in the world to come.

Likewise, Mary shines forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come (cf. 2 Peter 3:10), as a sign of certain hope and comfort for the pilgrim People of God” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 68).

The Assumption:

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which falls annually on August 15. In one of only two dogmas ever declared infallible by the pope, Pius XII definitively taught a reality of faith that slowly became better understood after centuries of theological reflection and liturgical celebration: “the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”

What does Mary’s assumption have to do with our own human experience? Although she was the mother of God and thus the pinnacle of human existence, Mary lived a most ordinary life, a life with which we can all identify. She cooked dinner nightly, she cleaned the house, she was married and she raised a son. Her chores were perhaps even more strenuous than ours: she washed all the family’s clothes by hand (clothes which she likely sewed herself), she cleaned her home without aid of a vacuum, and she stoked the fire to stay warm.

Above all, she experienced the emotional highs and lows of human life: she married a holy man and gave birth to a son; but she also buried her husband and endured the ultimate tragedy for any parent: she watched her innocent son die a torturous and agonizing death.

Yes, we lowly creatures share the same earthly experiences that our august, holy, and pious heavenly mother lived. The feast of the assumption reminds us that our common human experiences are oriented to experience in her ultimate glory, eternal life in Heaven. It is a feast of faith that showcases the ultimate promise of our Lord that earthly experiences are not the end; something far beyond what even the greatest saints can imagine awaits us.

On this day we are called to put aside our electronic distractions for a few moments and raise our hearts to contemplate the glory promised to us for following the will of God and the shining example of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The readings for the Mass of the assumption encourage such contemplation. The first reading, from the Book of Revelation, points us immediately to our holy Mother in Heaven: “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

But, as the gospel relating Mary’s “Magnificat” reminds us, Heaven is not a pious thought unrelated to human experience; rather it is the final fulfillment of all the longings and desires of our human life:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

For he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. . . .He has come to the help of his servant

Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.

On November 1, 1950, Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption:

The Assumption

Now toward the end of the summer season, at a time when fruits are ripe in the gardens and fields, the Church celebrates the most glorious "harvest festival" in the Communion of Saints. Mary, the supremely blessed one among women, Mary, the most precious fruit which has ripened in the fields of God's kingdom, is today taken into the granary of heaven. — Pius Parsch

The Assumption is the oldest feast day of Our Lady, but we don't know how it first came to be celebrated.

Its origin is lost in those days when Jerusalem was restored as a sacred city, at the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (c. 285-337). By then it had been a pagan city for two centuries, ever since Emperor Hadrian (76-138) had leveled it around the year 135 and rebuilt it as Aelia Capitolina in honor of Jupiter.

For 200 years, every memory of Jesus was obliterated from the city, and the sites made holy by His life, death and Resurrection became pagan temples.

After the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 336, the sacred sites began to be restored and memories of the life of Our Lord began to be celebrated by the people of Jerusalem. One of the memories about his mother centered around the "Tomb of Mary," close to Mount Zion, where the early Christian community had lived.

On the hill itself was the "Place of Dormition," the spot of Mary's "falling asleep," where she had died. The "Tomb of Mary" was where she was buried.

At this time, the "Memory of Mary" was being celebrated. Later it was to become our feast of the Assumption.

For a time, the "Memory of Mary" was marked only in Palestine, but then it was extended by the emperor to all the churches of the East. In the seventh century, it began to be celebrated in Rome under the title of the "Falling Asleep" ("Dormitio") of the Mother of God.

Soon the name was changed to the "Assumption of Mary," since there was more to the feast than her dying. It also proclaimed that she had been taken up, body and soul, into heaven.

That belief was ancient, dating back to the apostles themselves. What was clear from the beginning was that there were no relics of Mary to be venerated, and that an empty tomb stood on the edge of Jerusalem near the site of her death. That location also soon became a place of pilgrimage. (Today, the Benedictine Abbey of the Dormition of Mary stands on the spot.)

At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, when bishops from throughout the Mediterranean world gathered in Constantinople, Emperor Marcian asked the Patriarch of Jerusalem to bring the relics of Mary to Constantinople to be enshrined in the capitol.

The patriarch explained to the emperor that there were no relics of Mary in Jerusalem, that "Mary had died in the presence of the apostles; but her tomb, when opened later . . . was found empty and so the apostles concluded that the body was taken up into heaven."

In the eighth century, St. John Damascene was known for giving sermons at the holy places in Jerusalem. At the Tomb of Mary, he expressed the belief of the Church on the meaning of the feast: "Although the body was duly buried, it did not remain in the state of death, neither was it dissolved by decay. . . . You were transferred to your heavenly home, O Lady, Queen and Mother of God in truth."

All the feast days of Mary mark the great mysteries of her life and her part in the work of redemption. The central mystery of her life and person is her divine motherhood, celebrated both at Christmas and a week later (Jan. 1) on the feast of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

The Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8) marks the preparation for that motherhood, so that she had the fullness of grace from the first moment of her existence, completely untouched by sin. Her whole being throbbed with divine life from the very beginning, readying her for the exalted role of mother of the Savior.

The Assumption completes God's work in her since it was not fitting that the flesh that had given life to God himself should ever undergo corruption. The Assumption is God's crowning of His work as Mary ends her earthly life and enters eternity. The feast turns our eyes in that direction, where we will follow when our earthly life is over.

The feast days of the Church are not just the commemoration of historical events; they do not look only to the past. They look to the present and to the future and give us an insight into our own relationship with God. The Assumption looks to eternity and gives us hope that we, too, will follow Our Lady when our life is ended.

In 1950, in the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary a dogma of the Catholic Church in these words: "The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven."

With that, an ancient belief became Catholic doctrine and the Assumption was declared a truth revealed by God.

Today's Gospel reading:

Lk 1:39-56

Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”

And Mary said:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.”

Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home.

Papal Videos-Bethleham

Source: CNA



Source: Vatican You Tube



Source: CNA

Papal Videos-Western Wall & Chief Rabbis

Source: Vatican You Tube

Benedict XVI at the Western Wall

May 12: Pope Benedict XVI places a note into a crack of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site in Jerusalem. (AP)

Read accompanying Fox News report here.



Video Hat Tip: A Catholic View

Catholic News Service Reports:

VATICAN CITY — Here is the Vatican text of Pope Benedict XVI’s written prayer he left during a visit to Jerusalem’s Western Wall:

God of all the ages,

on my visit to Jerusalem, the “City of Peace”, spiritual home to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, I bring before you the joys, the hopes and the aspirations, the trials, the suffering and the pain of all your people throughout the world.

God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
hear the cry of the afflicted, the fearful, the bereft; send your peace upon this Holy Land, upon the Middle East, upon the entire human family; stir the hearts of all who call upon your name, to walk humbly in the path of justice and compassion.

“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him” (Lam 3:25)!

Peres Warmly Welcomes Holy Father

“I’m very happy to be here in Israel and to be so cordially welcomed, and to receive these gifts… We are very close to the Jewish Nation; your faith is our faith.” Pope Benedict XVI

Arutz Sheva reports:

(IsraelNN.com) For the first official stop on his itinerary, Pope Benedict XVI called on President Shimon Peres in the official Presidential Residence in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon. The ceremonies included a choral presentation, and a ritual planting of an olive tree by the president and the pope.

President Peres greeted the Pope warmly, expressing happiness “that you are the pope at this important time.” Peres also said he was “very, very moved by your remarks at the airport. I want to thank you from the depth of my heart.”

The Pope responded, “I’m very happy to be here in Israel and to be so cordially welcomed, and to receive these gifts… We are very close to the Jewish Nation; your faith is our faith.”

Symbolic Gifts - Menorah, and Bible

Peres gave him two gifts: a nano-Bible – the entire 24 books of the Bible, from Genesis to Chronicles, written on a chip no bigger than a grain of sand - and a painting of a Menorah (candelabrum). The gift of a Menorah is symbolic both in that it is a symbol of the State of Israel, and in that the original Menorah from the Second Holy Temple is believed by many to be hidden in Vatican crypts, following the Roman sacking of the Temple some 1,930 years ago.

Peres then sat down with the Pope, and proceeded to refer to the agreement that Israeli and Vatican representatives have been attempting to negotiate for more than a decade. The talks revolve around Church demands for an exemption from Israeli property taxes, as well as other property demands. These include the outright transfer of six properties around the country to Church ownership, and a measure of control over the Last Supper Room above King David’s Tomb on Mount Zion, Jerusalem.

Peres said, “As you know, we tried to conclude as much as we could before your visit—“ At this point, the cameras and microphones were cut off, and the conversation continued away from the public eye.

Many Israeli groups are suspicious of the papal visit because of this very issue. Peres himself has been involved in these talks for many years; just last week he was reported as having pressured Interior Minister Eli Yishai to agree to sign away the six properties.

In his official address at the ceremony, Peres said, “The State of Israel greets you today most warmly, and welcomes you with an open heart… It is with deep appreciation that we welcome you. We are attentive to your message… We see in you a promoter of peace, a great spiritual leader, a potent bearer of the message of peace to this land and to all others.”

With what some view as his trademark optimism, and what others see as myopia, the president said, “The peoples of our region have tired of wars. We shall leave the divisions to history, and the new history we shall write in letters of faith and peace.”

“Spiritual leaders can pave the way for political leaders,” Peres said. “They can clear the mine-fields that obstruct the road to peace. The spiritual leaders should reduce animosity, so that political leaders do not resort to destructive means.” (Read entire article)

Photos courtesy of Reuters-Day Life

Read coverage of NYC Israeli Consulate's coverage of Pope's meeting with Pres. Peres here.

Benedict XVI Arrives in Israel

Pictures courtesy of Sky News

As per CNS, these are the Pope's remarks at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel:

Mr President,

Mr Prime Minister,

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for your warm welcome to the state of Israel, a land which is held holy by millions of believers around the world. I am grateful to the president, Mr. Shimon Peres, for his kind words, and I appreciate the opportunity that has been offered to me to come on pilgrimage to a land that is hallowed by the footsteps of patriarchs and prophets, a land that Christians hold in particular veneration as the setting for the events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I take my place in a long line of Christian pilgrims to these shores, a line that stretches back to the earliest centuries of the church’s history and which, I am sure, will continue long into the future. I come, like so many others before me, to pray at the holy places, to pray especially for peace — peace here in the Holy Land, and peace throughout the world.

Mr. President, the Holy See and the state of Israel have many shared values, above all a commitment to give religion its rightful place in the life of society. The just ordering of social relationships presupposes and requires a respect for the freedom and dignity of every human being, whom Christians, Muslims and Jews alike believe to be created by a loving God and destined for eternal life. When the religious dimension of the human person is denied or marginalized, the very foundation for a proper understanding of inalienable human rights is placed in jeopardy.

Tragically, the Jewish people have experienced the terrible consequences of ideologies that deny the fundamental dignity of every human person. It is right and fitting that, during my stay in Israel, I will have the opportunity to honor the memory of the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah, and to pray that humanity will never again witness a crime of such magnitude. Sadly, anti-Semitism continues to rear its ugly head in many parts of the world. This is totally unacceptable. Every effort must be made to combat anti-Semitism wherever it is found, and to promote respect and esteem for the members of every people, tribe, language and nation across the globe.

During my stay in Jerusalem, I will have the pleasure of meeting many of this country’s distinguished religious leaders. One thing that the three great monotheistic religions have in common is a special veneration for that holy city. It is my earnest hope that all pilgrims to the holy places will be able to access them freely and without restraint, to take part in religious ceremonies and to promote the worthy upkeep of places of worship on sacred sites. May the words of Isaiah’s prophecy be fulfilled, that many nations shall flow to the mountain of the house of the Lord, that he may teach them his ways, that they may walk in his paths — paths of peace and justice, paths that lead to reconciliation and harmony (cf. Is 2:2-5).

Even though the name Jerusalem means “city of peace”, it is all too evident that, for decades, peace has tragically eluded the inhabitants of this holy land. The eyes of the world are upon the peoples of this region as they struggle to achieve a just and lasting solution to conflicts that have caused so much suffering. The hopes of countless men, women and children for a more secure and stable future depend on the outcome of negotiations for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

In union with people of good will everywhere, I plead with all those responsible to explore every possible avenue in the search for a just resolution of the outstanding difficulties, so that both peoples may live in peace in a homeland of their own, within secure and internationally recognized borders. In this regard, I hope and pray that a climate of greater trust can soon be created that will enable the parties to make real progress along the road to peace and stability.

To the Catholic bishops and faithful here present, I offer a special word of greeting. In this land, where Peter received his commission to feed the Lord’s sheep, I come as Peter’s successor to minister among you. It will be my special joy to join you for the concluding celebrations of the Year of the Family, due to take place in Nazareth, home of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. As I said in my Message for the World Day of Peace last year, the family is the “first and indispensable teacher of peace” (no. 3), and hence it has a vital role to play in healing divisions in human society at every level.

To the Christian communities in the Holy Land, I say: by your faithful witness to him who preached forgiveness and reconciliation, by your commitment to uphold the sacredness of every human life, you can make a particular contribution to ending the hostilities that for so long have afflicted this land. I pray that your continuing presence in Israel and the Palestinian Territories will bear much fruit in promoting peace and mutual respect among all the peoples who live in the lands of the Bible.

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, once again I thank you for your welcome and I assure you of my sentiments of good will. May God give his people strength! May God bless his people with peace!

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Pope Retraces Moses Steps

CNA reports:

Amman, Jordan, May 9, 2009 / 04:52 am (CNA).- Standing on the mountain where Moses was shown the Promised Land, Pope Benedict XVI said on Saturday morning, “It is appropriate that my pilgrimage should begin on this mountain.” This holy place, he said, should remind all Christians to “undertake a daily exodus from sin and slavery to life and freedom.”

Mt. Nebo, where tradition holds that Moses climbed to see the Promised Land before he died, was the scene of a prayer service and the beginning of Pope Benedict's Holy Land pilgrimage earlier this morning.

A crowd of about 50 dignitaries, Franciscan religious brothers and sisters and a handful of bishops gathered in the remains of a third century church as the Holy Father led the ceremony.

Speaking to the group, Pope Benedict noted the fittingness of starting his pilgrimage “where Moses contemplated the Promised Land from afar.” “The magnificent prospect which opens up from the esplanade of this shrine invites us to ponder how that prophetic vision mysteriously embraced the great plan of salvation which God prepared for his People,” he said.

“Like Moses, we too have been called by name, invited to undertake a daily exodus from sin and slavery towards life and freedom, and given an unshakeable promise to guide our journey. In the waters of Baptism, we have passed from the slavery of sin to new life and hope.”

The Holy Father also emphasized that Christians are called to welcome the coming of Christ's Kingdom by “doing our small part, in fidelity to the vocation that each of us has received … .”

On a clear day one can see Jerusalem from Mount Nebo, and perhaps looking ahead to his journey there on Monday, Pope Benedict said that “The ancient tradition of pilgrimage to the holy places also reminds us of the inseparable bond between the Church and the Jewish people.”

Noting that the Church has “long commemorated” the patriarchs and prophets, the Holy Father prayed that “our encounter today [will] inspire in us a renewed love for the canon of Sacred Scripture and a desire to overcome all obstacles to the reconciliation of Christians and Jews in mutual respect and cooperation in the service of that peace to which the word of God calls us!”

Following his address, the faithful prayed the “Our Father” and received a blessing from Benedict XVI.

Before leaving the mountain, Pope Benedict walked to a precipice overlooking the Jordan valley and gazed in the direction of Jerusalem for a few minutes. He then departed by car to the new Catholic University of Madaba, where he blessed its cornerstone.