BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL
AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
[Video]
Munus
sanctificandi
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
During my recent visit to Turin, I prayed before
the sacred Shroud, which invites us to contemplate the face of Christ and to
ponder the mystery of his death and resurrection. As members of Christ’s Body,
the Church, all the baptized are called to share in his saving work. In these
final days of the Year for Priests, however, I would
like to return to the specific ministry of the priest and, today, to his ministry
of sanctification. Holiness, as we know, is proper to God, who is himself
absolute truth, goodness, love and beauty. As ministers of Christ, priests
bring us into life-giving contact with the mystery of God’s holiness. Thanks to
the priest’s preaching of the Gospel and his celebration of the sacraments, we
are enabled to approach God and to be transformed gradually into the divine
image. In the celebration of the sacraments, and in particular the Eucharist
and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Christ’s sanctifying work is constantly
made present and effective. In their devout celebration of the sacraments,
priests sanctify the faithful and are themselves sanctified and configured ever
more closely to Christ. I ask all of you to pray for priests and their ministry
of sanctification, that they may be true shepherds according to God’s heart.
* * *
I offer a cordial welcome to
the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims present at today’s Audience. My warm
greetings go to the teachers and students of the Institute of Saint Joseph in
Copenhagen. Upon all of you, including those from England, Scotland, Canada,
Indonesia and the United States of America, I invoke Almighty God’s blessings
of joy and peace!
* * *
I send cordial greetings to
all who will be taking part in the Congress on the Family in Jönköping, Sweden,
later this month. Your message to the world is truly a message of joy, because
God’s gift to us of marriage and family life enables us to experience something
of the infinite love that unites the three divine persons – Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. Human beings, made in the image and likeness of God, are made for
love – indeed at the core of our being, we long to love and to be loved in
return. Only God’s love can fully satisfy our deepest needs, and yet through
the love of husband and wife, the love of parents and children, the love of
siblings for one another, we are offered a foretaste of the boundless love that
awaits us in the life to come. Marriage is truly an instrument of salvation,
not only for married people but for the whole of society. Like any truly
worthwhile goal, it places demands upon us, it challenges us, it calls us to be
prepared to sacrifice our own interests for the good of the other. It requires
us to exercise tolerance and to offer forgiveness. It invites us to nurture and
protect the gift of new life. Those of us fortunate enough to be born into a
stable family discover there the first and most fundamental school for virtuous
living and the qualities of good citizenship. I encourage all of you in your
efforts to promote a proper understanding and appreciation of the inestimable
good that marriage and family life offer to human society. May God bless all of you.
©
Copyright 2010 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana