VATICAN CITY, MARCH 17, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The priest who is currently preaching the spiritual exercises for Benedict XVI is underlining the «enormous significance» of the upcoming beatification of John Paul II.
Discalced Carmelite Father François-Marie Lethel is preaching this year’s Lenten retreat for the Pope and the Roman Curia on the theme «The light of Christ in the heart of the Church: John Paul II and the theology of the saints.» The spiritual exercises started Monday and will end Saturday.
In an interview published by L’Osservatore Romano today, the retreat preacher affirmed, «After the Pope asked me to preach these spiritual exercises, I recollected myself in prayer and it became clear to me the direction I should give the meditations: a spiritual preparation for the beatification of John Paul II.»
He noted that this event «will take place on May 1, the Sunday of the octave of Easter, the feast of Divine Mercy, the beginning of the Marian month and also the feast of St. Joseph the Worker.»
«I am convinced that it is an event of enormous significance for the Church and for the world,» Father Lethel said.
Thus, he added, it «calls for a profound spiritual preparation on the part of the whole people of God, and in an exemplary manner on the part of the Holy Father and his closest collaborators.»
Father Lethel affirmed, «John Paul II’s beatification is like the crowning of his extraordinary pontificate precisely under the sign of sanctity.»
Communion of saints
«To develop the theme,» he explained, «I chose an icon of the communion of saints: a picture of Blessed Friar Angelico, which represents the saints and the angels in heaven, who hold hands and form a sort of circle.»
«The saints hold hands and hold our hands to guide us on the path of sanctity,» the priest said.
He continued, «This is the meaning of the Lenten conversion: to commit ourselves ever more, ourselves entering also in this ‘circle of the saints.'»
For us, the preacher suggested, the circle is «led by Pope Karol Wojtyla, who holds hands with the two saints closest to him: St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, who inspired his ‘Totus Tuus,’ and St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the only saint proclaimed doctor of the Church during his pontificate.»
Father Lethel noted that the spiritual heritage of John Paul II «is totally concentrated in his grandiose Christocentric and Marian spirituality.»
He continued, «The fundamental affirmation is concentrated in the first words of ‘Redemptor Hominis:’ ‘Man’s Redeemer, Jesus Christ, is the center of the cosmos and of history,’ and in the great leitmotiv of ‘Gaudium et Spes:’ ‘Christ has united himself to each man.'»
