Bishop Stika has asked that each Mass offered this Sunday throughout the Diocese of Knoxville use the prayers for the dead for a pope for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who entered into eternal life on December 31st.
This gives us the ability to reflect upon the certainty of death and the need to pray for those who have gone before us. So often we forget about the souls of the faithful departed for whom we should pray. Let us realize that those in Purgatory need our prayers for in this state they are being purified in order that they may be made clean for the Kingdom of Heaven.
As those left upon earth we must strive to be servants of the Lord. In the Book of Isaiah we are told, “The Lord said to me: You are my servant.” Saint John the Baptist realized this servitude for he pointed out that “a man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.” The one to whom he refers is Christ who is the Messiah.
Therefore, we are called to be servants of the Lord in all things. It is easy to turn inward upon self and desire to serve self. We see this through a culture which is always wanting more and where we always want to be the one who is in charge. To be a servant requires that we be found humble of heart for through servitude we realize our dependence upon another.
It was on April 19, 2005 that Benedict’s papacy began. He was a well regarded theologian if not the greatest theologian of our our modern era. He was a man who was called upon to sit upon the Chair of Saint Peter and through all humility he never desired this call. Nevertheless, he took the papacy upon himself as a humble servant of the Lord.
Through his many works we can see how he called all people into an encounter with truth. The truth that he desired that all would encounter throughout the whole world was that of Christ. The motto that he took for his papacy was, “Cooperators of the truth.” May we be cooperators of the truth by opening our heart unto the Lord and living for Him.
Let us always be found to be servants of the Lord. Servants who are willing to live for Him and the truth that He brings unto the world. Let us always cooperate with this truth in order that all may come to know of Christ and His mercy.
Let us continue to pray for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI that all the angels and saints may escort him to Heaven this day.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in Peace. Amen.
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