The Apostles by Pope Benedict XVI

From March 15, 2006 to February 14, 2007, His Holiness gave a catecheses during his weekly General Audiences. These have been gathered together and placed in book form. I found this slim volume at my local library and snatched it up. I am so very glad I did.
The more I read Pope Benedict the more I love him. He writes clearly and beautifully. I'm only in the middle of Chapter 5, but he wrote some amazing things I want to share with you. (Both of you).
In Chapter 3 he writes about Communion in Time: Tradition. He writes that that by being in Communion with Christ and His Church "all believers of the past and of the future form with us a single great Communion". It made me reflect on the vastness of what we call the Catholic Church, that it is bigger than just here and now. Much, much bigger.

About Tradition itself he writes:

"Apostolic Tradition is not a collection of things or words, like a box of dead things. Tradition is the river of new life that flows from the origins, from Christ down to us, and makes us participate in God's history with humanity"

What an excellent image of Tradition: a living river flowing down to us to make the past present in a sense.
In his Chapter on the Apostle Peter he makes an interesting point. Peter wanted the Messiah to "impose His power and transform the world instantly." But Jesus took another way, one of suffering and humility. This spoke to me very loudly. We want God to change the world NOW! But that's not His way. He writes

"This is the great alternative that we must learn over and over again; to give priority to our own expectations, rejecting Jesus, or to accept Jesus in the truth of His mission and set aside all of our too human expectations."

How true! See, I just love this Pope!