MESSAGES FOR PAPA

After some time, Vallifra is back with a Prayer to Jesus in place of her customary Good Night letters in BUONA NOTTE, BENEDETTO...

preghiera a Gesù

Gesù adorato

tu che puoi tutto
tu che sei Dio disceso in terra
tu che sei il cuore del mondo
tu che sei il Principio e la Fine
tu che sei la Ragione e la Fede

da umilissima serva in ginocchio ti supplico:

-proteggi con il massimo dell'amore Colui che sulla terra più lo merita
-proteggi con la tua grazia infinita Chi ha speso tutta la sua vita per celebrare il tuo nome
-proteggi con il tuo soffio divino la Creatura che più di ogni altra è fatta a tua immagine e somiglianza
-proteggi e conserva a lunga vita il tuo Pastore, cui guardano tutti i tuoi fedeli e molti anche fra coloro che fedeli non sono
-proteggi e conserva a lunga vita Benedetto, il Dolcissimo, l' Amore, il Bene di tutti, nostra vita, nostra scienza, nostra speranza, nostra gioia.

Ti supplico Gesù

risparmia a Benedetto le ansie
risparmia a Benedetto i dolori
risparmia a Benedetto l'incomprensione
risparmia a Benedetto le inutili attese

Tu che hai voluto fare di Lui il tuo figlio prediletto
Tu che hai voluto fare di Lui il tuo rappresentante in terra
Tu che gli hai concesso tutti quei doni per cui noi in Lui riconosciamo Te

TI PREGO

fa' che possa restare con noi il più a lungo possibile
fa' che sia amato
fa' che sia ascoltato

perchè solo Lui è la PAROLA VERA
perchè solo Lui ci comunica la VERA FEDE
perchè solo Lui ci dà l' AMORE

E LA PAROLA VERA, LA FEDE, L' AMORE ,O DOLCE CRISTO,
SEI TU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A translation:


Prayer to Jesus

Adored Jesus!

You who can do everything
who are God come down to earth
who are the heart of the world
who are the beginning and the end
who are reason and faith

as your most humble servant, I beg you on my knees:
- protect with a maximum of love He who deserves it most on earth
- protect with Your infinite grace he who has spent his whole life celebrating Your name
- protect with your divine breath the creature who more than anyone else was made in your likeness and image
- protect and grant long life to your shepherd, who watches over your faithful and even those who are not
- protect and grant long life to Benedict, il Dolcissimo, who is Love and Goodness for everyone, our life, our knowledge, our hope, our joy.

I beg of you, Jesus

keep him from anxieties
keep him from sorrows
keep him from misundertsandings
keep him from useless waiting

You who willed him to be your favorite son
You who willed him to be your representative on earth
You who gave him all the gifts by which we recognize You in him

I BESEECH YOU
Make him stay with us as long as possible
Make him be loved
Make him be heeded

Because only he brings us the TRUE WORD
Because only he communicates the TRUE FAITH
Because only he gives us LOVE

AND THE TRUE WORD, FAITH AND LOVE, SWEET CHRIST, IS YOU!

Papino... what a sweet word, papino, isn't it?, especially if we address it to such an extraordinary creature as you... You know, I don't think I'll ever stop thanking the Lord for the incredible gift of your person.
May you then, also tonight, get a quiet sleep and a truly peaceful rest, in order to find, tomorrow when you wake up, the strength and the courage to carry on straight along your path, that path that, with your guidance and your love, is becoming, little by little, ours as well...mine as well.
With my usual infinite love,
Sybella

[Modificato da Sybella 15/05/2006 0.13]

to our beloved Papino...
Goodnight to the greatest gift that we could ever hope to receive from Heaven (provided we have the grace and humility to understand it), despite all merely human pettiness. Goodnight to the tender shepherd of all, who found in his faith the strength to accept such a thankless task. Goodnight to the helmsman that will prevent this boat of Peter's, already adrift in the wind, from crashing on the rocks of indifference and nothingness.

I embrace you with infinite love,
Sybella

Very, very beautiful, moving and most apt prayers; thank you Vallifra (via Teresa) and Sybella.

May the Lord keep you exactly as you are: in love with Christ and with the faith, able to find, in your limitless culture and, at the same time, in your extraordinary simplicity, the words in all languages to speak straight to people's hearts.
May you carry on being a bulwark of strength and hope, maybe the last one, against this absurd world, repeating your 'No' for the well-being of our souls.
May we get to understand and love the incredible gift we have been given from above: your luminous mind and spirit, which - if only we can follow you - will know how to lead us by the hand to a safe haven.
Last but not least, may you teach us every day to love you - and to love each other - more.

Sybella

PS: Thank you, Wulfrune, for your kind words!

...you know, Papino, earlier I was thinking back to when it all started, when for the first time you entered my life, on that unforgettable 8th April, last year. I remember, as probably all the world does, that wonderful homily, sober and yet heartfelt, touching but very composed, that you had written and spoken to commemorate a friend, not only a Pope. In particular, one sentence, near the end, when you lifted many hearts turning them towards hope, speaking about the window of the Father's house and showing, with an elegant gesture of your hand, 'that' window in the Apostolic Palace, which was in those days disconsolately empty. In that moment I thought: 'the Holy Spirit knows very well what to do'...and a few days later, as in a fairy-tale of sorts, 'that' window became yours.
May you for many serene years, beloved Papino, keep on appearing not only at the window of the Apostolic Palace, but straight at the window of our own conscience.
With infinite love,
Sybella

[Modificato da Sybella 19/05/2006 10.26]

Today is 19 May....It's 13 months that you are in our life!!!

Thanks Benedict!!!

Our most beloved Holy Father -

Time flies, indeed, as you remarked one month ago on the first anniversary of your election to the Papacy. Many observers have said that you used the first year to sit back, observe and make your diagnoses before proceeding to act on the matters that you consider most urgent for the Church at this time.

That is true, in a way, except that on clearcut matters of doctrine such as the obligatory centrality of Christ in the Christian experience and way of life, especially in priests to begin with, and the non-negotiability of principles relating to human life, marriage between man and woman and the family, you have never hesitated to speak out, and speak out frequently.

Lately, some have said that you also needed the first year as an appropriate mourning period for your beloved predecessor, and that this period will 'officially' end when you visit Poland next week and trace the geographical and spiritual itinerary that John Paul went through on his way to Peter's Chair.

In this view, you are henceforth completely 'on your own', meaning you no longer have to tread on eggshells in certain sensitive matters that may impinge on your predecessor's record.

I think we saw that dramatically evidenced today in the ruling made public on Father Maciel. And we all rejoice for you, dear Holy Father, and are very proud indeed that you came to this decision, and that you also saw fit to temper justice with mercy.

These days, you have been the target of outrageous statements by Italian politicians who feel free to say whatever they wish to say about you and the Vatican but protest with great indignation whenever you restate Church principles on human life, marriage and the family. Of course, none of that has stopped you from re-stating these principles whenever you have the chance, as you did most eloquently when you addressed the Italian bishops conference yesterday.

That you always speak your mind is, of course, only one of the manifold virtues that we love and admire in you. How do we love you? We cannot count the ways....

Dearest Holy Father, we continue to offer you our infinite and unconditional love, admiration and esteem, as well as our prayers that God may keep you well and healthy and the 'gentle and firm Pastor" at the head of His Church for a long time to come.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.....

Your devoted Maria-Teresa

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 19/05/2006 16.28]

Teresa, what wonderful words, and I love the stupendous photo you have chosen.


Dear Holy Father - during the conclave many of your fans were convinced you would be chosen, but not me. I did not believe (in this life) that things can get that good. Well, they can and they do, and I was so glad to be proved wrong. I had such mixed feelings; wanting you to be our next Pope, feeling we would be so safe with you, but also knowing you would be forever separated from Germany and your Bavaria. You had sacrificed so much already in the 25 years you were at the CDF, the object of spiteful attacks and all kinds of lies; surely it was time for you to enjoy some leisure to read, write and enjoy the company of those dearest to you.

The more selfish part of me rejoiced loudly when the result was declared. I turned on the TV, not realising we had a new Pope yet, and a news strap declared it. At first I didn't believe it, it just didn't seem possible. I remember thinking 'this is the best day of my life' - anyway, it ranks with those moments of total happiness that come so rarely in life.

I remember your words 'do not leave me alone' - you will never be left alone, holy father. We are always with you, praying for you, offering our prayers and sacrifices for you. The great numbers who come to see you each week attest to the power of your spirituality, and the way you live the charism of Peter in the joy of priesthood. How could we leave you to the wolves?

Beloved Papino, thank you for all you have done, all you are doing. Praised be to God for having given you to us, and may He bless you richly and forever for your unstinting service to him and the Church. Alleluia, Amen.

Clare

Thank you so much, Teresa and Clare, for opening your hearts in these posts and letting all your love for Papa shine on all of us...
and yes, Clare, life CAN get this good sometimes...I was being selfish too (then again, I usually am, I know), but truly for me too the 19 April 2005 ranks among the best days I have ever lived to see...may we get so many more with our beloved Pope Benedict!!!
Sybella

The most beautiful sound I ever heard:
Papino, Papino, Papino, Papino.
All the beautiful sounds of the world in a single word:
Papino, Papino, Papino, Papino, Papino, Papino.

Papino, I've just met a man called Papino.
And suddenly that name will never be the same to me.
Papino! I've just met a man called Papino,
and suddenly I've found how wonderful a sound can be.
Papino! Say it loud and there's music playing.
Say it soft and it's almost like praying.
Papino, I'll never stop saying Papino!
The most beautiful sound I ever heard:
Papino!

(a bit different from „Maria“ West Side Sory)

SIMONE - THAT'S YOUR MOST INSPIRED 'SONG FOR PAPA' YET! I'LL BE SINGING IT ALL DAY NOW.

Dearest Papino,
even today you are the first and foremost of my thoughts, what's more, your presence and your words often come to the surface of my mind without my being aware of it...this is a sure sign, I think, of the room that you have - little by little - gained in my life.
Thanks to you, what was born as a mere intellectual interest for the profile and the works of Ratzinger the theologian has become a newly-discovered love for the faith, so strong that it has surprised me and seems to be fresher and newer as days go by. Despite all this, I know perfectly well that my path as a 'seeker for God' is still very long and that there will surely be obstacles and difficulties (besides, it wouldn't be fair - for any of us - to think we have 'arrived' at our destination).
I also know, anyway, that the change you have unconsciously started in me and in lots of people like me is irrevocable...as is my heartfelt gratitude.
May then the blessing of Jesus always accompany your steadfast steps as our loving and brave Shepherd. I hope to you it's a consolation to know that lots of people unfailingly pray every day for this.
Sybella

[Modificato da Sybella 20/05/2006 21.46]

...also for tonight, dearest Papino!
This morning I listened to your speech at the Regina Caeli: as always, you were able to merge your trenchant and moving words with the sweetest smile and the loveliest gesture...you know, Papino, I saw you do it in person, more than once, but still today I think that, when you throw your arms wide and then you put the palms of your hands together, as if you wished to gather us and wrap us up in your embrace, your fatherly tenderness is almost moving.
And it is as a daughter that I love you (even if you are a few years older than my father, it doesn't mean a thing), and I always feel I am near you with my thoughts and, above all, with my prayer. That prayer that even tonight becomes a Goodnight, to give you the certainty that you are not alone, and that lots and lots of people love you and wish you only the best.
So sleep peacefully, as from Heaven you are getting the protective blessing of Jesus and from lots of people, here on the Earth, you are getting an infinite love. Like mine.
Sybella

I know it's early for goodnight, but it's so nice to write for him...
Papino, I was wondering who knows what prayers you recite at the end of your industrious day, what are the personal thoughts you link to them, who knows whether your wishes and the hopes you entrust to Heaven are the same as many of us have...And surely, Papino, when your prayers - even for tonight - are finished, you may go and rest peacefully, in the hopeful certainty that the Lord has been listening.
You know, it would be lovely to be with you in this very private moment of communion with Jesus as well, because probably you would have a thing or two to teach us.
Anyway, we have to be content - and it's a great gift, to me totally unhoped for and definitely unexpected - to pray for you: so that your courage to think with your brain and with your heart, without compromises, does not fail, ever; so that you may carry on being - always - the pliable yet firm tool of the divine will that is moving history forward; so that your sweet, wise beauty, as a man and above all as a Pope, may stay with us to show what the Lord can really make in His creatures.
With love and gratitude,
Sybella

Here is my English translation of a moving short story that GABRIELLA.JOSEPHINE has written and dedicated to the sometimes neglected figure of Monsignor Georg, the eldest of the two Ratzinger brothers.
Sybella

FOR GEORG

Here I have, in front of me, a lovely picture, which I found by chance in the Internet and which I like to watch every now and then, almost furtively.
It is the portrait of a priest: his rich, sleek white hair, his half-lens spectacles perched on the tip of his nose, and beyond them his intense eyes, with their deep gaze, are staring straight towards the onlooker.
He is sitting on a stool in front of a piano, his knees just parted.
In the half-light of the shot the shiny buttons of his cassock evocatively reflect the light of a flash.
He leans his right hand on the keyboard: his fingers, made slender by the long-standing practice, are open on the keys as if he were ready to play, or rather, as if he had just been interrupted.
The white cuffs of his shirt stand out, in stark contrast.
Behind him there is an open score.
No. It’s not him.
Even if they say he looks like him a lot.
Looking better I notice, in amazement, that he really has the same hands, the same fingers and even the same nails!
Even his eyes are really lovely. Very dark, and a little dimmed by age.
Seen standing, with his head slightly bent, and the small book he holds under his arm, he shows he has the same height, the same long legs; if you look at him greeting, with his right hand lifted and his amiable and discreet smile, he uncannily looks like him.
He is his brother.
According to some, as like him as two peas in a pod.
The same firm features with their tender expression, the same penetrating gaze and even the same voice.
The same calling. The same choice in life.
I remember my reaction, almost annoyed, when I learnt that the Cardinal had a brother who was a priest too.
Two graceful young men, with a profound expression and already wearing the cassock, are posing composedly in an old family portrait. To see it again, now, makes me deeply think.
“My brother doesn’t care about becoming Pope, at all!” said the monsignor, interviewed in the drawing room of their house, muttering in German in front of the TV, with the white remote control in his hand, some days before the Conclave began.
Famous last words!
I knew that the events would have proved him wrong.
Sometime ago I could listen to a piece of sacred music coming from one of his compositions: it was a wonderful “Sanctus”!
The two brothers share a passion for music, but also (so they say) even…for strudel!
They have always been very close.
This summer they were to spend a few weeks together in the summer residence, Castelgandolfo. It even seemed that they had been waiting for him in Val d’Aosta as well.
The thought was comforting. I was happy for them both.
Instead, things went differently, and one night some frightening news startled me.
“He has been hospitalised, but everything will be fine, you’ll see!” I kept on repeating, to relieve my distress.
That selfsame night, crouching in the silence of my kitchen, I wrote him a fictitious letter.
I managed to grab some sleep, maybe an hour, no more. I was worried about them both, wishing I could hold them close in the same embrace.
We saw him again a few days later, in his bed at the “Gemelli”, maybe the same bed in which Wojtyla had been, on his wrist the plaster for the phleboclysis. The Pope was near him.
Thinking about that chip they inserted under his skin and that he wore getting back to Regensburg, I might say: “Souvenir d’Italie!”
With moved thankfulness, I am thinking of their mother, Maria.
Now, we can all share a brother with Georg!


Trieste, 8 December 2005

Suor GABRIELLA.JOSEPHINE
Ordine Benedettino delle Suore delle Sante Coccole al Romano Pontefice

"OMNIA POSSUNT IN EO QUI ME CONFORTAT"
"BENEDIKT ICH LIEBE DICH"




This is the picture that inspired Gabriella.

PS: I'm posting this here (even if this is 'for Georg'), but don't you think that it would be nice to have a fan fiction thread in this English-speaking section?
Syb

Christmas is far away, I know, but GABRIELLA.JOSEPHINE wished to share with you a lovely and tender short story about a child who became Pope and his teddy-bear, written by her sister Papa_ya 61. The English version (and, alas, all possible mistakes) is mine.
Sybella

PEPPERLIN'S CHRISTMAS
With his nose pressed against the chilly glass, his cheeks reddened by the emotion, the child with the tender blue eyes was staring at the teddy-bear, holding his breath, his elbows leaning on the sill.
His brother Georg, a bit older than him, tugged at the hem of his jacket, telling him: “Now let’s go, Pepperlin, let’s go back home! Dinner will be ready!”
Their house was right opposite the toy-shop where the teddy-bear had been displayed some days before, together with few other toys and various other goods.
Its shaggy honey-coloured fur and its small dark eyes had cast winking, darting looks at little Joseph since it had unexplainably appeared in that corner of the shop-window, together with a price tag that the child, not even two years old, could not read yet.
As for Georg, he too had noticed the bear with childish pleasure, but, being a very clever and sensitive boy, he had guessed that it had entered so much his little brother’s heart as to become “his”.
The roads, the trees, the houses of that corner of Bavaria had been covered in snow for months.
In some points, the road leading from the front door to the shop was icy. All the same, the two little brothers, hand in hand, went every day to pay a visit to the teddy bear and, bravely defying the gusts of wind full of ice and snow, stood silently there, to cast furtive glances beyond that glass.
The shop-assistant had noticed them and one night, coming out of the door, had invited them to come in and had with them an amused chat. Now the two children had one more reason to be happy: they knew that the bear had a name as well: Teddy!
So, a sweet dialogue without words had begun between Teddy and Pepperlin.

Two days to go till Christmas and all the village of Marktl was adorned for the celebration.
It was a quiet, starry night. Georg and Pepperlin went out of the gate and, as usual, their mother accompanied them with her gaze for some long moments. But now her eyes were more tender than usual; in particular, they came to rest with pride on the eldest of her two sons.
With his bright eyes slightly half-closed, he greeted her with a smile.
The two brothers crossed the family’s vegetable garden filling it with their childish laughter and, throwing pebbles and small sticks soaked with chill at each other, came in front of the shop again.
But…Teddy wasn’t there anymore!
Pepperlin let out a scream and, heedless of his brother who kept on repeating him not to cry because the teddy bear would have surely come back, threw himself down on the ground, beating it furiously with his small fists.
Then he burst into violent tears that lasted till they got home, where Georg had to drag him like a puppy chained to an unbearable pain.
That night, in his small bed, the child stared for hours, his eyes moist with tears, at the objects in the room, plunged into a mocking half-light, till sleep came and calmed his anguish, bringing back his beloved Teddy in a dream.

Sitting down to table with his family and the neighbours who had come to celebrate with them, every now and them Pepperlin would sadly lower his eyes, thinking of his teddy bear and imagining it was happy among so many other bears like him, perhaps near a lovely Christmas tree, like the one in front of him.
From time to time, he would furtively slip away, to have a look at the gifts under the tree, he would admire them all with curiosity, till he would meet the forbidding gaze of the adults. Then he would climb back on his eight-year-old sister Maria’s lap.
The church bells struck midnight.
At that tolling, after having said their prayers, the children leapt to their feet. There was a great excitement: wishes, kisses, colourful wrappings flying.
Pepperlin barely listened to his brother reciting a nursery rhyme followed by a burst of applause, because he was attracted to a big parcel that had drawn his attention all the evening. Seeing this, his parents, amused, urged him to take it. The child clutched it, avidly ripped the wrapping, and clumsily turned it upside down several times, till he got a cardboard box out of it. He flung himself on the cover, ripped it and, with everyone cheering, his heart in his mouth, he pulled out what was inside: Teddy!

Christmas Eve, 2005.
Sitting with some lofty prelates down to an elegantly laid table, to have a simple dinner before celebrating the solemn Midnight Mass, Pope Benedict half-closes his blue eyes, thinking back of that Christmas, so many years ago.
He is filled with homesickness for that cosy and cheerful atmosphere. But it’s just a moment: now his family is the whole world, all Men are his brothers!
And Teddy? Where can it be? That faraway Christmas night it had been sitting for hours on the floor, in the middle of the drawing room.
Now it has flown to Bear Paradise!
Because we know it: for every child there is a teddy bear and for every teddy bear there is a place in Heaven!
And we know that even popes were children once!


Papa_ya 61


Suor GABRIELLA.JOSEPHINE
Ordine Benedettino delle Suore delle Sante Coccole al Romano Pontefice

"OMNIA POSSENT IN EO QUI ME CONFORTAT"
"BENEDIKT ICH LIEBE DICH"

Dear Papa,
ill pray most specially for you and your apostolic trip to Poland.we know the Lord is with you and will guide you always.
have enough rest before the trip and always remeber we are here for you.
May you continue to inspire people with your ministry as Pope and lead them to our Lord Jesus Christ.

hugs

Thanks for that story Sybella!!! It was soooo incredibly sweet... it brought tears to my eyes. Indeed for every child there is a Teddy bear and all Teddy bears go to Heaven... a comforting thought!

I love that sweet story about the bear. That is probably exactly how it all happened too. I bet Papa still has that bear some place. Maybe that's why he is going back to Pentling in Sept., to retrieve the bear. Teddy bears are known to be incredibly brave. They are fierce protectors of their owners. Papa probably feels the need for some protection from all those casting stones at him. Besides, Teddy bears are nice to cuddle. Sorry, girls.

[Modificato da benefan 25/05/2006 5.19]