In Poland

All of the papal remarks from the Poland trip are up now:

To young people:

My friends, in the heart of every man there is the desire for a house. Even more so in the young person’s heart there is a great longing for a proper house, a stable house, one to which he can not only return with joy, but where every guest who arrives can be joyfully welcomed. There is a yearning for a house where the daily bread is love, pardon and understanding. It is a place where the truth is the source out of which flows peace of heart. There is a longing for a house you can be proud of, where you need not be ashamed and where you never fear its loss. These longings are simply the desire for a full, happy and successful life. Do not be afraid of this desire! Do not run away from this desire! Do not be discouraged at the sight of crumbling houses, frustrated desires and faded longings. God the Creator, who inspires in young hearts an immense yearning for happiness, will not abandon you in the difficult construction of the house called life

Read the rest. Pass it on. Such wisdom, laid out, as he always does, with clarity and complete applicability.

The homily for today's Mass - for Ascension Sunday.

too, Benedict XVI, the Successor of Pope John Paul II, am asking you to look up from earth to heaven, to lift your eyes to the One to whom succeeding generations have looked for two thousand years, and in whom they have discovered life’s ultimate meaning. Strengthened by faith in God, devote yourselves fervently to consolidating his Kingdom on earth, a Kingdom of goodness, justice, solidarity and mercy. I ask you to bear courageous witness to the Gospel before today’s world, bringing hope to the poor, the suffering, the lost and abandoned, the desperate and those yearning for freedom, truth and peace. By doing good to your neighbour and showing your concern for the common good, you bear witness that God is love.

I ask you, finally, to share with the other peoples of Europe and the world the treasure of your faith, not least as a way of honouring the memory of your countryman, who, as the Successor of Saint Peter, did this with extraordinary power and effectiveness. And remember me in your prayers and sacrifices, even as you remembered my great Predecessor, so that I can carry out the mission Christ has given me. I ask you to stand firm in your faith! Stand firm in your hope! Stand firm in your love! Amen!

From the remarks at Auschwitz-Birkenau:

Pope John Paul II came here as a son of the Polish people. I come here today as a son of the German people. For this very reason, I can and must echo his words: I could not fail to come here. I had to come. It is a duty before the truth and the just due of all who suffered here, a duty before God, for me to come here as the successor of Pope John Paul II and as a son of the German people - a son of that people over which a ring of criminals rose to power by false promises of future greatness and the recovery of the nation’s honour, prominence and prosperity, but also through terror and intimidation, with the result that our people was used and abused as an instrument of their thirst for destruction and power. Yes, I could not fail to come here. On 7 June 1979 I came as the Archbishop of Munich-Freising, along with many other Bishops who accompanied the Pope, listened to his words and joined in his prayer. In 1980 I came back to this dreadful place with a delegation of German Bishops, appalled by its evil, yet grateful for the fact that above its dark clouds the star of reconciliation had emerged. This is the same reason why I have come here today: to implore the grace of reconciliation - first of all from God, who alone can open and purify our hearts, from the men and women who suffered here, and finally the grace of reconciliation for all those who, at this hour of our history, are suffering in new ways from the power of hatred and the violence which hatred spawns.

Comments

[Lisa]

Hi, Amy ...

The English translation of Il Papa's speech at the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial is available at Zenit:

http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=89922

It is apparently the Vatican translation, so I hope this helps.

It is a magnificent speech -- simply magnificent.

I wept, when he walked alone through the Main Gate of Auschwitz, when he caressed the face of one of the Holocaust survivors, when he prayed before each of the memorial stones, and when the rainbow cut through the gloom of the skies above Oswiecim.

He chose his name well ... he is indeed, our Benediction.

[John W.]

The speech to the young people was so profound yet easy to comprehend. His tone is that he takes the concerns and fears of young people seriously but does not sugar coat everything or glosses it over difficulties. He speaks to the young as adults, who able to make a decision for Jesus and (with His grace, able to stand by the Lord through the good times and bad.

[Katy]

What a wonderfully strengthening talk, that first one. I am getting married soon, and it was (among other things) John Paul's words that set me on the path. How fitting that Benedict's should be there for me as I gather my courage for the final preparations. Thank you for this post.