FROM 'BUONA NOTTE, BENEDETTO"
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Mio dolcissimo benedetto,
My eyes are filled with your image, my heart resounds with your words. I have just finished watching a replay of your audience this morning (2/22). I have never been at a (Papal) audience, but my emotions, just by the mere fact of your presence, are such that at the sound of the organ which announces your arrival, I tremble with emotion as though I were really in your presence.
The love which the faithful show you is great, their gestures of affection are numberless - there are those who are happy just to touch your garment, some succeed in actually touching you fleetingly, some make the sign of the Cross, and some burst into tears as you pass by. I try to calm myself, I understand that these are gestures of popular devotion which must have been addressed in the past to your predecessors. But I am new to these things. You are the Pope who has disturbed my heart and changed my life. So to me, it seems as if no one before you could have produced the effect that you have, with your charismatic gestures, your tireless teaching, with that smile that is so sweet it sends all who love you into ecstasy!
I cannot free my mind of those pictures that I saw recently on the Forum, in which you appear bathed in light, indeed you seem to be PURE LIGHT, as others have said. Benedetto, you are wondrous to my eyes, you have stolen my heart, and the only regret you leave me is that I am incapable of expressing fully what I feel for you.
Vallifra (who wants so much, instead of touching your garment, just for a micro-second to be able to brush against that rebel lock of hair which never seems to stay with the rest of your hair)
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This is from the day Sandro Magister called Benedict, the teaching Pope, "a doctor of the Church":
Silence!
Do not disturb the sleep of
JOSEPH RATZINGER
DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
Adored Joseph, the new Augustine, as Giotto did with Cimabue, you have joined and perhaps surpassed your model. It is easy for you to speak of love, because love is in every fiber of your being, you are woven of love, you are love.
Sleep, and may your sleep be light as millions of loving kisses brush against you....
................................
Today I read the translation of an article which appeared in the German press about the program of your coming trip to Bavaria. I do not know why, but I was seized by great melancholy, especially upon reading that they are preparing the garden of your house in Pentling just for your visit and that you will have some time for yourself (how much? a day, or maybe half...) so you can also visit your brother's house in Regensburg and pay your loving respects to your parents and Maria...
I look around me, at my home, and I am thinking: how could I live if I knew that I would never be able to come back to my home, or if ever, only as a stranger almost, and only for a few hours! Sweetest Joseph, what sacrifices the Church has asked of you! - Karol asked you, the other cardinals asked you, and we ask you, we who are your sheep needful of a kind but firm shepherd as you are.
When you return to your hometown, do not be sad. It may be only for a few hours, but it will be an unforgettable memory for your brother. The flowers in your garden will find a reason to be, just because your eyes will rest on them for a few moments. Your loved ones are looking down on you from heaven and will smile tenderly when they see their little Pepperl murmuring a prayer before their earthly remains.
The price that you must pay - to be far from everything that is dear to you during the years which should be the most serene and peaceful of your life - is unheard of, but knowing your boundless and infinite love for God, I know that you offer your sacrifices to him as a testimony of a dedication and a renunciation that has lasted all your life.
May the love which we your children continue to show you and to surround you with console you in some way! (Did you see today at St. Peter's? There were about 40,000 at the Angelus!)
We love you, Benedetto, blessed by God and by us all, thank you for your sacrifice. One day you will be repaid...
And now, sleep sweetly and dream of the flowers in Pentling...
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And from Eugenia, who tries heroically to write a letter every night, and who complained that after Valentine's Day, nobody else seemed to be writing "Benny" but her ...
Siano benedetti i tuoi occhi, affinchè tu possa vedere chiaramente,
Sia benedetta la tua bocca, affinchè tu possa dire sempre la verità,
Benedetto sia il tuo cuore affinchè tu possa essere ricolmo d'amore,
Benedetti siano i tuoi piedi, affinchè tu possa trovare sempre il tuo giusto cammino............
May your eyes be blessed, so they may see clearly,
May your mouth be blessed, so you will always speak the truth,
May your heart be blessed, so that you may always be full of love,
May your feet be blessed, so that you may always find the correct way...
I wish you a serene and tranquil night accompanied by all the love in the world.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 27/02/2006 23.48]