VATICAN CITY, FEB. 27, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI will be praying in March that all nations grow in appreciation of the dignity and value of women and their roles in society.
The Apostleship of Prayer announced this general intention chosen by the Pope.
The Holy Father also chooses an apostolic intention for each month. In March, he will pray for Church unity in China, as enjoined in the letter he sent to the Chinese faithful in 2007.
The intention reads: "That all the bishops, priests, consecrated persons, and laity of the Catholic Church in China may strive to be instruments of unity, communion and peace."
Also the Holy Father wrote and asked to live this Lent season :"as a period of conversion and reconciliation of all Christians, so that the noble aspirations of the human heart can be fulfilled and an
authenticPeace prevail among peoples and communities."
The Pontiff pointed out that Lent "invites us to fight with every effort to do the good, precisely because we know how difficult it is for men to seriously decide to practice Justice."
The Holy Father affirmed, that even if we obtain "a fair distribution of wealth and a harmonious organization of society," some things will never disappear, such as "the pain of illness, of misunderstanding and loneliness, of the death of loved ones, of the experience of our own limitations."
The Lord, he says, "abhors injustices and condemns those who commit them," but "respects the freedom of the individual, and for this reason allows them to exist, because they are part of the human condition after original sin."
Benedict XVI added that Christ's Heart, full of Love for man led Him to carry, along with the cross, all these torments: our suffering, our sorrow, our hunger and thirst for Justice.
May God bless and keep the Holy Father !
