Pope Benedict XVI on Aug. 28, 2010. Credit: L'Osservatore Romano
COMMENTARY: His Holy Saturday life ended on Dec. 31 — what might this secular and liturgical date suggest to us in God’s providence?
Father Raymond J. de Souza is the founding editor of Convivium magazine.
A life shaped by the sacred liturgy began with a birthday — April 16, 1927 — coinciding with a liturgical date, Holy Saturday. Benedict XVI’s last birthday, in 2022, his 95th, was also a Holy Saturday.
“I have always been filled with thanksgiving for having had my life immersed in this way in the Easter mystery, since this could only be a sign of blessing,” Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote in his 1998 memoirs, Milestones.
“To be sure, it was not Easter Sunday but Holy Saturday, but, the more I reflect on it, the more this seems to be fitting for the nature of our human life: We are still awaiting Easter; we are still not standing in the full light, but walking toward it in full trust.” …