Pope lays achievements, concerns at feet of Mary

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Roses and thorns: Pope lays achievements, concerns at feet of Mary

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

ROME (CNS) -- Laying a basket of white roses at the foot of a statue of Mary, Pope Benedict XVI said Catholics can lay everything at the feet of their heavenly mother.

"Symbolically, these roses can express everything beautiful and good that we have done during the year," the pope said during his visit to the center of Rome Dec. 8 for the traditional ceremony alongside the statue of the Immaculate Conception near the Spanish Steps.

"But, as the saying goes, 'Every rose has its thorn,' and the stems of these stupendous white roses are not lacking thorns, which represent the difficulties, sufferings and ills that have marked and still mark the lives of people and of our community," the pope said.

Under brilliantly sunny skies, bundled up against a crisp chill, thousands of Romans and tourists jammed the square around the Spanish Steps to see the pope and pray with him.

Offering the roses to Mary, the pope also entrusted to her his special prayers for children, particularly those who are sick, disadvantaged or suffering because of family problems.

He prayed for elderly people living alone, for the sick, for immigrants struggling to build a new life in a new country, for families who barely make ends meet and especially for people who recently have lost their jobs.

"Mary, teach us to be in solidarity with those who are in difficulty, to bridge the increasingly vast social disparities; help us cultivate a livelier sense of the common good," Pope Benedict prayed..........

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/sto...ns/0806144.htm
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2 Timothy 3:13
But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.