Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States was a blessing to the Church and to the country as a whole. During his short time, the Pontiff delivered many important addresses containing messages that were deeply moving and deeply profound. To truly unlock the wisdom in the texts, they need to be read and reread. However, there were several messages that seemed especially important. A few are presented below with quotes from Pope Benedict XVI. All quotations are taken from the texts of the Holy Father's addresses, which can be found here:
Documents from the Papal Visit to the U.S.

Pope Benedict emphatically reminded us that faith is not simply a Sunday affair. It must be lived every moment of every day. Your behaviors and beliefs should be so interwoven that they are one. Being Catholic also means thinking and acting in union with the Church. You cannot be a "cafeteria Catholic" accepting some teachings but rejecting others. You cannot be an "American Catholic" hoping to change the Church of Christ to be more in tune with a particular culture or place.

"To the extent that religion becomes a purely private affair, it loses its very soul."

"Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted."

"It means overcoming every separation between faith and life, and countering false gospels of freedom and happiness.
It also means rejecting a false dichotomy between faith and political life."

"Far from a Catholic approach to 'thinking with the Church', each person believes he or she has a right to pick and choose, maintaining external social bonds but without an integral, interior conversion to the law of Christ. Consequently, rather than being transformed and renewed in mind, Christians are easily tempted to conform themselves to the spirit of this age [cf. Rom 12:3]. We have seen this emerge in an acute way in the scandal given by Catholics who promote an alleged right to abortion."

Prayer was a constant message during the Holy Father's visit. Reading his words reminds us of the importance of making time for prayer and encourages us to evaluate the role prayer plays in our own lives. Do you remember morning and evening prayers? Do you pray before meals…even when in restaurants or with non-Catholic friends? Do you pray as a family?

"What matters most is that you develop your personal relationship with God. That relationship is expressed in prayer. God by his very nature speaks, hears, and replies. Indeed, Saint Paul reminds us: we can and should 'pray constantly' (1 Thess 5:17). Far from turning in on ourselves or withdrawing from the ups and downs of life, by praying we turn towards God and through him to each other, including the marginalized and those following ways other than God's path (cf. Spe Salvi, 33). As the saints teach us so vividly, prayer becomes hope in action. Christ was their constant companion, with whom they conversed at every step of their journey for others.

"There is another aspect of prayer which we need to remember: silent contemplation. Saint John, for example, tells us that to embrace God's revelation we must first listen, then respond by proclaiming what we have heard and seen (cf. 1 Jn 1:2-3; Dei Verbum, 1). Have we perhaps lost something of the art of listening? Do you leave space to hear God's whisper, calling you forth into goodness? Friends, do not be afraid of silence or stillness, listen to God, adore him in the Eucharist. Let his word shape your journey as an unfolding of holiness."

"If we open ourselves through prayer to the power of the Spirit, He will give us the gifts we need to carry out our daunting task, so that we need never 'be anxious how to speak or what to say' " (Mt 10:19).

"Prayer itself, born in Catholic families, nurtured by programs of Christian formation, strengthened by the grace of the sacraments, is the first means by which we come to know the Lord's will for our lives. To the extent that we teach young people to pray, and to pray well, we will be cooperating with God's call. Programs, plans and projects have their place; but the discernment of a vocation is above all the fruit of an intimate dialogue between the Lord and his disciples. Young people, if they know how to pray, can be trusted to know what to do with God's call."

"We need to rediscover the joy of living a Christ-centred life, cultivating the virtues, and immersing ourselves in prayer."

"Time spent in prayer is never wasted, however urgent the duties that press upon us from every side. Adoration of Christ our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament prolongs and intensifies the union with him that is established through the Eucharistic celebration (cf. Sacramentum Caritatis, 66). Contemplation of the mysteries of the Rosary releases all their saving power and it conforms, unites and consecrates us to Jesus Christ (cf. Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 11, 15). Fidelity to the Liturgy of the Hours ensures that the whole of our day is sanctified and it continually reminds us of the need to remain focused on doing God's work, however many pressures and distractions may arise from the task at hand."

"Saint Paul speaks, as we heard in the second reading, of a kind of prayer which arises from the depths of our hearts in sighs too deep for words, in 'groanings' (Rom 8:26) inspired by the Spirit. This is a prayer which yearns, in the midst of chastisement, for the fulfillment of God's promises. It is a prayer of unfailing hope, but also one of patient endurance and, often, accompanied by suffering for the truth. Through this prayer, we share in the mystery of Christ's own weakness and suffering, while trusting firmly in the victory of his Cross. With this prayer, may the Church in America embrace ever more fully the way of conversion and fidelity to the demands of the Gospel. And may all Catholics experience the consolation of hope, and the Spirit's gifts of joy and strength."

"To all of you I say: bear witness to hope. Nourish your witness with prayer."


Click For a list of the Pope's prayer intentions.

Freedom is a term that is used in many different ways by many different people. Pope Benedict reminds us of its true meaning and our responsibility to teach and defend freedom, particularly in the face of relativism and secularism.

"Have you noticed how often the call for freedom is made without ever referring to the truth of the human person? Some today argue that respect for freedom of the individual makes it wrong to seek truth, including the truth about what is good. In some circles to speak of truth is seen as controversial or divisive, and consequently best kept in the private sphere. And in truth's place - or better said its absence - an idea has spread which, in giving value to everything indiscriminately, claims to assure freedom and to liberate conscience. This we call relativism. But what purpose has a 'freedom' which, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false or wrong? How many young people have been offered a hand which in the name of freedom or experience has led them to addiction, to moral or intellectual confusion, to hurt, to a loss of self-respect, even to despair and so tragically and sadly to the taking of their own life? Dear friends, truth is not an imposition. Nor is it simply a set of rules. It is a discovery of the One who never fails us; the One whom we can always trust. In seeking truth we come to live by belief because ultimately truth is a person: Jesus Christ. That is why authentic freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in…"

"'Authority'" ...'obedience'. To be frank, these are not easy words to speak nowadays. Words like these represent a 'stumbling stone' for many of our contemporaries, especially in a society which rightly places a high value on personal freedom. Yet, in the light of our faith in Jesus Christ - 'the way and the truth and the life' - we come to see the fullest meaning, value, and indeed beauty, of those words. The Gospel teaches us that true freedom, the freedom of the children of God, is found only in the self-surrender which is part of the mystery of love. Only by losing ourselves, the Lord tells us, do we truly find ourselves (cf. Lk 17:33). True freedom blossoms when we turn away from the burden of sin, which clouds our perceptions and weakens our resolve, and find the source of our ultimate happiness in him who is infinite love, infinite freedom, infinite life. 'In his will is our peace"".

"Real freedom, then, is God's gracious gift, the fruit of conversion to his truth, the truth which makes us free (cf. Jn 8:32). And this freedom in truth brings in its wake a new and liberating way of seeing reality."

Each and every one of us is called to holiness and to sainthood. Every day should be another step in the conversion of our hearts. We must know our faith and live our faith. That means spending time with the Bible. It means knowing all that the Church teaches and being able to articulate those teachings to others. It means participating in the life of the Church, especially in the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist. It means evangelizing and caring for our brothers. It means ensuring the Catholic education and upbringing of our children.

"So let us lift our gaze upward! And with great humility and confidence, let us ask the Spirit to enable us each day to grow in the holiness that will make us living stones in the temple which he is even now raising up in the midst of our world. If we are to be true forces of unity, let us be the first to seek inner reconciliation through penance. Let us forgive the wrongs we have suffered and put aside all anger and contention. Let us be the first to demonstrate the humility and purity of heart which are required to approach the splendor of God's truth."

"Much progress has been made in developing solid programs of catechesis, yet so much more remains to be done in forming the hearts and minds of the young in knowledge and love of the Lord."

"Let us trust in the Spirit's power to inspire conversion, to heal every wound, to overcome every division, and to inspire new life and freedom. How much we need these gifts! And how close at hand they are, particularly in the sacrament of Penance! The liberating power of this sacrament, in which our honest confession of sin is met by God's merciful word of pardon and peace, needs to be rediscovered and reappropriated by every Catholic. To a great extent, the renewal of the Church in America and throughout the world depends on the renewal of the practice of Penance and the growth in holiness which that sacrament both inspires and accomplishes."

"Does this not bring to mind our need to see all things with the eyes of faith, and thus to grasp them in their truest perspective, in the unity of God's eternal plan? This requires, as we know, constant conversion, and a commitment to acquiring 'a fresh, spiritual way of thinking' (cf. Eph 4:23). It also calls for the cultivation of those virtues which enable each of us to grow in holiness and to bear spiritual fruit within our particular state of life. Is not this ongoing 'intellectual' conversion as necessary as 'moral' conversion for our own growth in faith, our discernment of the signs of the times, and our personal contribution to the Church's life and mission?"

"Have courage! You too can make your life a gift of self for the love of the Lord Jesus and, in him, of every member of the human family."