..for the Pope, as usual. We’ll work backwards. From today’s Angelus:

Human existence is a journey made in “twilight” rather than in “full light”. Thus, especially in the Lenten period, there is the need to “listen to Christ, like Mary”. Benedict XVI today reminded pilgrims in St Peter’s Square, before the Angelus, that the period before Easter was a time especially dedicated to “listening to the Lord, who always speaks to us”. And he specified: “Listening to him in his Word, preserved in the Holy Scripture. Listening to him in the very events of our lives, seeking to read the messages of Providence in them. Listening to him, finally, in our brothers, especially the lowly and the poor, in who Jesus himself asks for our concrete love.”

Almost as if he were sharing with those present the fruit of the Spiritual Exercises which ended yesterday, preached by Cardinal Marco Cè, Patriarch Emeritus of Venice, the Pope said the Lord, especially in this time of Lent, “expects more attention from us”. This attention to the Word of God is necessary to face up to daily life. “Human existence is a journey of faith and, as such, it progresses more in twilight than in full light, and is not without moments of shadows and even pitch darkness,” said the Pontiff. “While we are down here, our relationship with God unfolds more in listening than in vision; and contemplation takes place, so to speak, with closed eyes, thanks to the inner light lit in us by the Word of God.”

There are many striking things about Benedict. What always interests and affects me the most is what seems to be his deep understanding of life in the world and his almost effortless ability to bring the Scriptures and the tradition to bear on that life, effectively and powerfully. When he spoke in his opening homily as Pope about the "deserts" of contemporary life…and here. There’s no abstraction, distant from the realities of human life. He weaves it all together, showing us, time after time, what this thing we call "faith" is, truly.

Last night, there was a gathering of youth at St. Peter’s – well, in the Paul VI Hall, actually:

First, he prayed with them

And then they processed – to Piazza Navona, I think. (Hey! I’ve walked that journey! Not with a torch, though…)