{"id":291,"date":"2012-06-13T16:24:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-13T16:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/pope-explains-how-to-let-god-work-wonders\/"},"modified":"2012-06-13T16:24:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-13T16:24:00","slug":"pope-explains-how-to-let-god-work-wonders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/pope-explains-how-to-let-god-work-wonders\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope explains how to let God work wonders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Vatican City, Jun 13, 2012 \/ 10:24 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Pope Benedict XVI says that the life of St. Paul shows that God can work wonders through those who grow ever closer to him in prayer.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAs our union with the Lord grows and our prayer becomes more intense, we too come to focus on the essential and to understand that it is not the power of our own means that creates the Kingdom of God, but God who works miracles through our very weakness,\u201d the Pope said\u00a0during the June 13 general audience in the Vatican\u2019s Paul VI Hall.<\/p>\n

\tContinuing his recent weekly exploration of the lessons taught by the prayer life of St. Paul, Pope Benedict turned to the apostle\u2019s experience of contemplative prayer as recorded in his Second Letter to the Corinthians.<\/p>\n

\tHe noted that in \u201cdefending the legitimacy of his apostolate, Paul appeals above all to his profound closeness to the Lord in prayer, marked by moments of ecstasy, visions and revelations,\u201d and yet, at the same time, he also \u201cwillingly boasts of his weakness, in order that the power of Christ might dwell in him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tSt. Paul uses this approach because he is eager for his readers to understand how \u201call the difficulties we meet in following Christ,\u201d including \u201csuffering, difficulty and persecution,\u201d can be overcome \u201cby opening ourselves trustingly to the action of the Lord,\u201d the Pope said.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tThe example of his life and trials should remind all Christians that it is \u201cat the moment we feel our own weakness that the power of God becomes manifest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThus, \u201cin a world in which we risk relying only on the power of human means,\u201d St. Paul calls us to \u201crediscover and bear witness to the power of prayer, through which we grow day by day as our lives are conformed to that of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tPope Benedict recalled that the Protestant theologian and 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Albert Schweitzer described St. Paul as \u201ca mystic and nothing more than a mystic,\u201d since the Apostle was a man so \u201ctruly enamored of Christ and so united to him as to be able to say: Christ lives in me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe lesson for our own lives, suggested the Pope, is to follow his example and \u201cremain constant and faithful in our relationship with God, especially in moments of aridity, difficulty and suffering.\u201d
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tOnly then will we be able to face difficulties as St. Paul did, \u201cin the conviction that we can do all things through him who gives us strength.\u201d
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tThe Pope added that by giving more room to prayer \u201cwe will see our lives transformed and animated by the real power of God's love.\u201d
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tHe observed that this was the experience of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta who in her contemplation of Jesus \u201cdiscovered the ultimate reason and incredible strength to recognize him in the poor and abandoned, despite her fragile figure.\u201d
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tThis is because, contrary to the suggestion of some, contemplation of Jesus Christ in prayer \u201cdoes not distance us from reality\u201d but \u201cmakes us ever more involved in human affairs\u201d because the Lord draws us to himself in prayer, enabling us \u201cto remain close to all our brothers and sisters in his love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vatican City, Jun 13, 2012 \/ 10:24 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI says that the life of St. Paul shows that God can work wonders through those who grow ever closer to him in prayer.<\/p>\n

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