[Kolokotronis]

This is beautifully patristic,

[lightman]

"God, on the other hand," he taught, "does not ever pass and we all exist in accordance with His love. We exist because he loves us, because he has thought of us and he called us to life. We exist in the thoughts and in the love of God. We exist in all of our reality, not only in our 'shadow'."

Writing as a Western Christian learning to appreciate the treasures of the East, I believe that this is what the Orthodox mean when they pray Memory Eternal!

[Salvation]

Expanding on the idea of the "celestial glory" to which Mary arrived, Pope Benedict noted that people today are conscious that by "'heaven' we are not referring to just any place in the universe, to a star or something similiar" but "to something much bigger and more difficult to define with our limited human concepts.

Not as man thinks, but as God thinks.

[arielguard]

If Pope Benedict keeps teaching like this he’ll end up hated by the world...oh. Never mind. 8-)

[eleni121]

The Lord does not abandon us and neither should we as we pray for those departed from us.

Saint John Chrysostom says:

“Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice [Job 1:5], why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them” (Homilies on First Corinthians 41:5 [A.D. 392]).