Pope Benedict also spoke about St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Bernard, who Pope Pius VIII labeled the “Honey-Sweet Doctor” for his eloquence, traveled throughout Europe defending the Christian faith. The Holy Father added, “He was also remembered as a Doctor of Mariology, not because he wrote extensively on Our Lady, but because he understood her essential role in the Church, presenting her as the perfect model of the monastic life and of every other form of the Christian life.”
Pope Benedict recounted that tomorrow the Church celebrates the feast of St. Pius X, Friday, the memorial of the Queenship of Mary, and Saturday, the feast of St. Rose of Lima.
Pope Benedict said that the Church offers human beings the possibility of walking in the company of the saints. Hans Urs von Balthasar wrote that the saints represent a real way for us to access Jesus. French writer Jean Guitton explained that the each saint reflects the light of God’s holiness. The Holy Father added that it is important “to cultivate knowledge and devotion to the saints, along with daily meditation on the Word of God and a child-like love for Our Lady”.
During the morning, Benedict XVI went to the church of St. Thomas of Villanova, in Castel Gandolfo. In his homily, he emphasized the importance of the feast of the Assumption, of this "ability to look up to heaven and to God, the true reality and the bridge to a new world", in the face of the "sad spectacle of so much false joy and tormented suffering" that reigns in our society, learning "from Mary how to be witnesses of hope and consolation".
