In Last Discourse at Lourdes Pope Calls All to be Saints

This was a very inspiring address.  In it the Holy Father spoke with great eloquence on Christ’s desire to be one with us and how He left us the sacrament of His love in the Holy Eucharist. In view of the persecution of Catholics in so many parts of the world, the pope stressed, as he has done many times before, that we must love Christ enough to give Him our very lives.  And, he spoke beautifully of the Blessed Mother.

From Zenit: LOURDES, France, SEPT. 15, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The only thing that separates a saint from a sinner is that a saint looks less at himself and more at Christ and his love, says the Pope.

The Pope offered a commentary on the Eucharist on Sunday night at the conclusion of the Eucharistic procession in the prairie at the Marian shrine in Lourdes.

The Holy Father visited Lourdes this weekend to participate in the celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of the Marian apparitions there. He returned to Rome today.

“Let us accept; may you accept to offer yourselves to him who has given us everything, who came not to judge the world, but to save it, accept to recognize in your lives the presence of him who is present here, exposed to our view. Accept to offer him your very lives,” the Pontiff said in his short address.

Benedict XVI noted that some 2,000 years ago Mary accepted “to give everything, to offer her body so as to receive the Body of the Creator.”

“Everything came from Christ, even Mary,” added the Pope. “Everything came through Mary, even Christ.” The full article is here.