The Holy Father's final homily in Sydney

The theme of World Youth Day is "You shall receive power" and the Holy Father describes how the gift of the Spirit affects change in our hearts.
"Through the grace of the Church's sacraments, that power also flows deep within us, like an underground river which nourishes our spirit and draws us ever nearer to the source of our true life, which is Christ. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who died a martyr in Rome at the beginning of the second century, has left us a splendid description of the Spirit's power dwelling within us. He spoke of the Spirit as a fountain of living water springing up within his heart and whispering: "Come, come to the Father" (cf. Ad Rom., 6:1-9).
Yet this power, the grace of the Spirit, is not something we can merit or achieve, but only receive as pure gift. God's love can only unleash its power when it is allowed to change us from within. We have to let it break through the hard crust of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age. Only then can we let it ignite our imagination and shape our deepest desires. "
I love how Pope Benedict always uses traditional means to call us beyond the spiritual desert of modern society in a positive way, yet without missing the fact that this is a culture of death, which must be overcome.
May those of us who hear this homily allow the Holy Spirit transform our lives so that we become living reflections of God's mercy on earth.
Read the entire homily here.
HT Catholic.org

Walking through Holy Week with Jesus

Fr Tom Euteneuer has a meditation for each day of Holy Week to help us embrace the Sacred Mysteries of our Catholic Faith. I will not be posting this week.
A Blessed Holy Week and a Joyous Easter to all.
HT Catholic Exchange

Good News Film Reviews

Scott Nehring of Nehring the Edge, which hosts the Carnival of Cinema, has a new blog, Good News Film Reviews. Here's a sample of how Scott thinks:

"The First Step is to Watch Where You're Going
Should I see this movie? That question is the usual opening line to most folk’s thought processes towards cinema. The question has a couple of meanings depending on where one stands. . . The Christian when they pose the question can mean these things as well. They can also mean “Will this film sully my soul, sour my resolve and propel me on a theological downward spiral from which I will eternally plummet?”

Prayer to St. Benedict

Glorious Saint Benedict, sublime model of virtue, pure vessel of God's grace! Behold me humbly kneeling at your feet. I implore you in your loving kindness to pray for me before the throne of God. To you I have recourse in the dangers that daily surround me. Shield me against my selfishness and my indifference to God and to my neighbor. Inspire me to imitate you in all things. May your blessing be with me always, so that I may see and serve Christ in others and owrk for His kingdom. Graciously obtain for me from God those favors and graces which I need so much in the trials, miseries and afflictions of life. Your heart was always full of love, compassion and mercy toward those who were afflicted or troubled in any way. You never dismissed without consolation and assistance anyone who had recourse to you. I therefore invoke your powerful intercession, confident in the hope that you will hear my prayers and obtain for me the special grace and favor I earnestly implore. {mention your petition} Help me, great Saint Benedict, to live and die as a faithful child of God, to run in the sweetness of His loving will, and to attain the eternal happiness of heaven.
Amen.
I have a special love for St. Benedict, as my college, St. Anselm was Benedictine, and my daughters have just returned from camp with the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the St. Benedict Center in Still River, Ma. He is the founder of monasticism and his Rule is still bearing fruit today.