Papa Benedetto, we remember and give thanks for you

In addition to celebrating his 86th birthday last Tuesday, 16 April, today marks the eighth anniversary of the selection of Josef Aloysius Ratzinger to succeed Bl. Pope John Paul II as the Vicar of Christ, the Bishop of Rome. He walked faithfully in the shoes of the Galilean fisherman until 28 February of this year. As much as I love Pope Francis, I still miss Papa Benedetto and take great comfort in the fact that he is praying for us, climbing that mountain the Lord has summoned him to climb.

I remember how moved I was that day, moved to tears. Since my last two posts were on the necessity and the nature of the Church, here are some amazing words from Benedict XVI's last General Audience in St. Peter's Square- 27 February 2012:

The Pope belongs to everyone and so many persons feel very close to him. It is true that I receive letters from world leaders – from heads of state, from religious leaders, from representatives of the world of culture, and so on. But I also receive many many letters from ordinary people who write to me simply and from the heart, and who show me their affection, an affection born of our being together with Christ Jesus, in the Church. These people do not write to me in the way one writes, for example, to a prince or some important person whom they do not know. They write to me as brothers and sisters, as sons and daughters, with a sense of a very affectionate family bond. Here one can sense palpably what the Church is – not an organization, an association for religious or humanitarian ends, but a living body, a communion of brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ, which makes us all one