This section features select texts by Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI on various celebrations throughout the liturgical year. We started with a Pentcost homily given by Ratzinger, posted along with the launch of this website. Additional texts will be posted following the Church's liturgical calendar.
For the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord on 6 August, we present an address given by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 at Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer residence, at the midday Angelus. In his address, Benedict XVI interprets the Transfiguration of the Lord as an anticipation of the Paschal Mystery.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This Sunday, Mark the Evangelist recounts that Jesus took Peter, James and John with him up a high mountain and was transfigured before them, becoming so dazzlingly bright that they were "whiter than the work of any bleacher could make them" (Mk 9: 2-10).Today, the liturgy invites us to focus our gaze on this mystery of light.
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The faithful pray the Aneglus with Pope Benedict XVI at Castel Gandolfo. Photo taken in May 2005.
The Transfiguration invites us to open the eyes of our hearts to the mystery of God's light, present throughout salvation history. At the beginning of creation, the Almighty had already said: "Fiat lux - let there be light!" (Gn 1: 2), and the light was separated from the darkness.
Like the other created things, light is a sign that reveals something of God: it is, as it were, a reflection of his glory which accompanies its manifestations. When God appears, "his brightness was like the light, rays flashed from his hand" (Heb 3: 3ff.).
Light, it is said in the Psalms, is the mantle with which God covers himself (cf. Ps 104[103]: 2). In the Book of Wisdom, the symbolism of light is used to describe the very essence of God: wisdom, an outpouring of his glory, is "a reflection of eternal light" superior to any created light (cf. Wis 7: 27, 29ff.). In the New Testament, it is Christ who constitutes the full manifestation of God's light. His Resurrection defeated the power of the darkness of evil forever.
With the Risen Christ, truth and love triumph over deceit and sin. In him, God's light henceforth illumines definitively human life and the course of history: "I am the light of the world", he says in the Gospel, "he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (Jn 8: 12).
picture alliance / Stefano Spaziani | Stefano Spaziani
"On the transfigured face of Jesus a ray of divine light which he held within shines forth," Benedict affirmed in his address on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
In our time too, we urgently need to emerge from the darkness of evil, to experience the joy of the children of light! May Mary, whom we commemorated yesterday with special devotion on the annual Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilica of St Mary Major, obtain this gift for us.
May the Blessed Virgin also obtain peace for the peoples of the Middle East, overwhelmed by fratricidal fighting! We know well that peace is first and foremost God's gift to be implored insistently in prayer, but at this time let us also remember that it is a commitment for all people of good will. May no one shirk this duty!
Thus, in the face of the bitter observation that so far the voices asking for an immediate ceasefire in that tormented region have gone unheard, I feel the urgent need to renew my pressing appeal in this regard, asking everyone to make an effective contribution to build a just and lasting peace. I entrust this renewed appeal to the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin.
After the Angelus:
He first said in Italian: I now address my customary greeting to the foreign pilgrims who are gathered here to join in our prayer. I must recall on this Sunday, when the Feast of the Transfiguration is celebrated, that other similar Sunday when the pilgrims who had gone to Castel Gandolfo for the Sunday Angelus were unable to take part in the Marian prayer with Pope Paul VI because in those very hours his state of health had deteriorated: as you know, the great Pontiff fell asleep in the Lord in the evening hours of that 6 August 1978. Let us remember him on this anniversary, our hearts grateful to God who gave him to his Church in the most important years of the Council and the post-conciliar period.
... in French: My dear French-speaking pilgrims, I extend to you my warmest welcome. Today, as the Church celebrates the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, may you turn to Christ and contemplate the mystery of his love for mankind. Then you can bring to today’s world the message of hope that calls on us to remember that with the Lord and following him, suffering and death are not the end of existence, but the passage to eternal beatitude. I impart to you my apostolic blessing.
…in English: With great affection I greet the English-speaking visitors gathered for this Angelus prayer. Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration, when Jesus revealed the glory of his divine nature. May this luminous mystery be a source of lasting joy and hope for all who put their trust in the Lord's promises. God bless you and your families!
... in German: With a joyful heart I welcome the German-speaking visitors to Castel Gandolfo. Today the Church’s liturgy celebrates the Transfiguration of Christ, to which the Apostles Peter, James, and John were eyewitnesses. God reveals his beloved Son, to whose word and whose instruction the disciples are to listen. Therefore, give space in your hearts to the word of Jesus, and thus advance on the path of a living communion with God and mankind. May God’s goodness and mercy accompany you during this holiday season and in everything you do.
Osservatore Romano/Romano Siciliani/KNA
Benedict XVI taking a walk beside a pond with waterlilies in the gardens at Castel Gandolfo on 16 September 2006. In the background is a statue of the Blessed Mother.
... in Spanish: I greet the Spanish-speaking pilgrims who join me in praying the Angelus. I invite you all to contemplate the divine glory that shines in Christ in the mystery of the Transfiguration that we celebrate today, fortifying you in faith and strengthening you in hope – that hope which makes us persevere in our search for peace. Have a pleasant Sunday.
... in Polish: I greet all of you from Poland. Today we celebrate the Transfiguration of the Lord. We praise Christ, who revealed his divine nature (cf. Phil 2:6), and faithfully accept the Father’s call: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him” (Mk 9:7). May God bless you!
... and finally, in Italian: Finally, I extend a warm welcome to the Italian-speaking pilgrims. In particular, I would like to thank the residents of Castel Gandolfo for their generous gift on the occasion of the “Peach Festival”. I would also like to greet the young people of the “Movimento Giovanile Salesiano” from the Triveneto who are here on their “In the Footsteps of Faith” pilgrimage to Rome, the faithful from the parishes of San Nicolò all’Arcivescovado in Messina and San Marco Evangelista in Cavernago. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom we address the Angelus, help us to always respond faithfully to the call to holiness that Christ extends to every Christian. Thank you for being here.
I wish you all a good Sunday!
Copyright 2006 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Headings, subheadings, and quotations are editorial insertions.
