Mumbai (AsiaNews) - "Only someone like Benedict XVI, in such intimacy with Jesus Christ and seeking God's will, would have had the courage to make such a choice", says Sister Gemma, prioress of the cloistered Carmelite monastery in Mumbai, welcoming the news of the resignation of Benedict XVI, announced by the Pope yesterday morning.
When she found out, the nun told AsiaNews
that, "I was speechless and I cried." But even if the news was
"very painful," she adds, "I felt spiritually close to the Holy
Father. He must have spent many nights in prayer, in deep pain and torment,
seeking God's will and the courage to carry it out".
Benedict XVI, notes Sister Gemma, "is an intellectual, a brilliant
thinker, and above all a contemplative. With my sisters we waited impatiently
for his homilies and catechesis during the audience and weekly Angelus."
"In announcing his resignation - notes the nun - Benedict XVI says he is
doing so with full freedom.' This total surrender to the will of the Father is
a sign of his faith. The Year of Faith, which he opened in October, and
now his resignation, are powerful testimonies to the faith of the Holy Father
and the consistency of his life, his prayer and his ministry. "
According to Sister Gemma, with this announcement, "the Holy Father has
revealed his weakness to the world." So, until February 28 the nuns will
intensify their prayers for the pope: "Starting tomorrow we will be on
retreat for 10 days, to ask God to teach us and instruct us in the footsteps of
Pope Benedict XVI to pray that like our Pope we find ourselves in an intimate
embrace with Christ, to understand the will of God and have the courage to do
it. "