As the first Lenten retreat of his pontificate drew to a close, Pope Leo XIV thanked Norwegian Bishop Erik Varden for “a profound, spiritual experience”. Source: OSV News.
“Your wisdom, this testimony of yours and of the monastic life of St Bernard, the richness of your reflections, will for a long time to come be a source of blessing for us, of grace, of encounter with Jesus Christ,” the Pope told Bishop Varden, with cardinals present.
In a weeklong retreat, Bishop Varden preached on the variety of topics, often reflecting on monastic life and the testimony of St Bernard of Clairvaux.
Pope Leo said on Friday, closing the retreat, that the words of St Bernard to his fellow monk and protege Bernard Paganelli, who became Pope Eugene III, will stay with him.
“Speaking of this morning, when he spoke of the election of Pope Eugene III, St Bernard said: ‘What have you done? God have mercy on you,’” Pope Leo said, reflecting on the day of his own election – May 8, when cardinals “were gathered here for the Eucharistic celebration” – in the same Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace as the retreat took place.
The Pope said, “Above is the inscription from St Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, which reads these words: ‘For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.’”
“So, in this context and with this spirit of communion,” the Pope said, “we all gather together to work together, yet sometimes very separately, and coming together in prayer is also – I think – a very important moment in our lives, reflecting on many issues that are important for our lives and for the Church.”
On the last afternoon reflection of his retreat on February 27, Bishop Varden spoke about communicating hope.
“Christ calls us to communicate hope to the world,” he said. “To have Christian hope is not necessarily to be an optimist. A Christian forswears wishful thinking, making a determined option for the real.”
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Pope Leo XIV concludes retreat urging Church to live the Gospel worthily (By Paulina Guzik, OSV News)
