ST. JOSEMARIA ON LOVE FOR THE POPE.
“When you are old, and I have gone to render my account to God, you will tell your brothers how the father loved the Pope with all his soul, with all his strength.”
St. Josemaría, Notes taken from his preaching, October 26, 1958
“Since we are children of God, our greatest love, our greatest esteem, our deepest veneration, our most submissive obedience, our greatest affection has to be… for the Pope. Always remember that after God and our Mother Holy Mary, in the hierarchy of love and authority, comes the Pope. Therefore, I often say: “thank you, my God, for the love for the Pope that you have placed in my heart.”
St. Josemaria, Letter of January 9, 1932, no. 10.
Every day you must grow in loyalty towards the Church, the Pope and the Holy See… with a love that should be always more theological.
St. Josemaria, The Forge, no. 353
Love for the Roman Pontiff must be in us a delightful passion, for in him we see Christ. If we talk and listen to our Lord in prayer, we will go forward with a clear gaze that will permit us to perceive the action of the Holy Spirit, even when faced with events we do not understand, or which produce suffering or sorrow.
St. Josemaria, In Love with the Church, 13
I venerate with all my strength the Rome of Peter and Paul, bathed in the blood of martyrs, the centre from which so many have set out to propagate throughout the world the saving word of Christ. To be Roman is not to be provincial, but authentically ecumenical. It means desiring to enlarge one’s heart, to open it to all mankind with the redemptive zeal of Christ, who seeks all men and takes in all men, for he has loved all men first.
St. Josemaria, In Love with the Church, 11
Through two thousand years of history, the apostolic succession has been preserved in the Church. (…) And, among the Apostles, Christ himself made Simon the object of special attention. ‘You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church! I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren.’
Peter moves to Rome and there establishes the see of primacy of the Vicar of Christ. For this reason it is in Rome that the apostolic succession is seen most clearly. And for this reason Rome is quite properly called ‘the Apostolic See’.
St. Josemaria, In Love with the Church, 12
The Catholic Church is Roman. I savor that word, Roman! I feel completely Roman, since Roman means universal, Catholic. For it leads me to love tenderly the Pope, il dolce Cristo in terra, the sweet Christ on earth, as Saint Catherine of Siena, whom I count as a most beloved friend, liked to repeat. (…)
Offer your prayer, your atonement, and your action for this end: ut sint unum! – that all of us Christians may share one will, one heart, one spirit. We may all go to Jesus, closely united to the Pope, through Mary.
We help to make that apostolic continuity more evident in the eyes of all men by demonstrating with exquisite fidelity our union with the Pope, which is union with Peter. Love for the Roman Pontiff must be in us a delightful passion, for in him we see Christ. If we talk with the Lord in prayer, we will go forward with a clear gaze that will permit us to perceive the action of the Holy Spirit, even in the face of events we do not understand or which produce sighs or sorrow.
St. Josemaria, In Love with the Church, 11
Thank you, my God, for that love for the Pope you have placed in my heart.
St. Josemaria, The Way, 573
Catholic, apostolic, Roman! I want you to be very Roman. And to be anxious to make your ‘path to Rome’, videre Petrum – to see Peter.
St. Josemaria, The Way, 520
Offer your prayer, your atonement, and your action for this end: ut sint unum! — that all of us Christians may share one will, one heart, one spirit. This is so that omnes cum Petro ad Iesum per Mariam — that we may all go to Jesus, closely united to the Pope, through Mary.
St. Josemaria, The Forge, no. 647
Welcome the Pope’s words with a religious, humble, internal and effective acceptance. And pass them on!
St. Josemaria, The Forge, no. 133
Faithfulness to the Pope includes a clear and definite duty: that of knowing his thought, which he tells us in Encyclicals or other documents. We have to do our part to help all Catholics pay attention to the teaching of the Holy Father, and bring their everyday behaviour into line with it.
St. Josemaria, The Forge, no. 633
“You must love, venerate, pray and mortify yourself for the Pope, and do so with greater affection each day. He is the foundation stone of the Church and, throughout the centuries, right to the end of time, he carries out among men that task of sanctifying and governing which Jesus entrusted to Peter”
St. Josemaria, The Forge, no. 134
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Thanks and God bless you and your loved ones! Fr. Rolly Arjonillo.
