CELEBRATION OF
VESPERS WITH PRIESTS,
RELIGIOUS, SEMINARIANS AND DEACONS
ADDRESS OF
HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Church of the Most Holy Trinity, Fátima
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
“When the time had fully come,
God sent forth his Son born of woman, […] so that we might receive adoption as
sons” (Gal 4:4,5). The fullness of time came when the Eternal
broke into time; by the grace of the Holy Spirit the Son of the Most High was
conceived and became man in the womb of a woman, the Virgin Mary, type and
lofty model of the believing Church. The Church does not cease to beget
new sons in the Son, whom the Father willed to be the first-born of many
brothers. Each one of us is called to be with Mary and like Mary, a
humble and simple sign of the Church who offers herself constantly as a spouse
into the hands of her Lord.
To all of you who have given
your life to Christ I wish to express this evening the Church’s appreciation
and recognition. Thank you for your witness, often silent and certainly
not easy; thank you for your fidelity to the Gospel and to the Church. In
Jesus, present in the Eucharist, I embrace my brothers in the priesthood and
the deacons, the consecrated women and men, the seminarians and the members of
the movements and new ecclesial communities present. May the Lord reward,
as he alone can and does, all those who have made it possible for us to gather
together before the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. I mention
especially the Episcopal Commission for Vocations and Ministries, with its
President, Bishop António Santos, whom I thank for his greeting, full of
collegial and fraternal affection, at the beginning of Vespers. In this
“upper room” of faith which is Fatima, the Virgin Mother shows us the way to
place our pure and holy offering into the hands of the Father.
Let me open my heart and tell
you that the greatest concern of every Christian, especially of every
consecrated person or minister of the altar, must be fidelity, loyalty to one’s
own vocation, as a disciple who wishes to follow the Lord. Faithfulness
over time is the name of love, of a consistent, true and profound love for
Christ the Priest. “Since Baptism is a true entry into the holiness of
God through incorporation into Christ and the indwelling of his Spirit, it
would be a contradiction to settle for a life of mediocrity, marked by a
minimalistic ethic and a shallow religiosity” (John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Novo
Millennio Ineunte, 31). In this Year for Priests which is drawing to its
close, may grace in abundance come down upon you that you may live joyfully
your consecration and bear witness to your priestly fidelity grounded in the
fidelity of Christ. This evidently supposes true intimacy with Christ in
prayer, since it is the powerful and intense experience of the Lord’s love that
brings priests and consecrated persons to respond to his love in way that is
exclusive and spousal.
This life of special
consecration was born to keep the Gospel always before the People of God, as a
reminder which manifests, certifies and proclaims to the whole Church the
radical nature of the Gospel and the coming of the Kingdom. Dear
consecrated men and women, by your dedication to prayer, asceticism and growth
in the spiritual life, to apostolic action and mission, you are progressing
towards the heavenly Jerusalem, you are a foretaste of the eschatological
Church, solid in her possession and loving contemplation of God who is
love. How much we need this witness today! Many of our brothers and
sisters live as if there were nothing beyond this life, and without concern for
their eternal salvation. Men and women are called to know and love God,
and the Church has the mission to assist them in this calling. We know
well that God is the master of his gifts and that conversion is a grace.
But we are responsible for proclaiming the faith, the whole faith, with all its
demands. Dear friends, let us imitate the Curé of Ars who prayed to the
Lord in the following words: “Grant me the conversion of my parish, and I
accept to suffer all that you wish for the rest of my life”. And he did
everything to pull people away from their own lukewarm attitude in order to
lead them back to love.
There exists a deep solidarity
among all the members of the Body of Christ. It is not possible to love
Christ without loving his brothers and sisters. For their salvation John
Mary Vianney decided to become a priest: “to win souls for the good God”, as he
said when, at eighteen years of age, he announced his vocation, just as Paul
had said: “to win as many as I could” (1 Cor 9:19). The Vicar
General had told him: “there is not much love of God in the parish; you will
bring it there”. In his priestly passion, this holy parish priest was
merciful like Jesus in meeting each sinner. He preferred to insist on the
attractive aspect of virtue, on God’s mercy, in comparison to which our sins
are like “grains of sand”. He pointed to the merciful love of God which
had been offended. He feared that priests would become “insensitive” and
accustomed to the indifference of their faithful: “Woe to the Pastor – he would
warn – who remains silent while God is offended and souls are lost”.
Dear brother priests, in this
place, which Mary has made special, keep before your eyes her vocation as a
faithful disciple of her Son Jesus from the moment of his conception to the
Cross, and then beyond, along the path of the nascent Church, and consider the
unheard-of grace of your priesthood. Fidelity to one’s vocation requires
courage and trust, but the Lord also wishes that you join forces: that you be
concerned for one another and support one another fraternally. Moments of
common prayer and study, and sharing in the demands of the priestly life and
work, are a necessary part of your life. It is a fine thing when you
welcome one another into your homes with the peace of Christ in your
hearts! It is important to assist one another with prayer, helpful advice
and discernment! Be especially attentive to those situations where there
is a certain weakening of priestly ideals or dedication to activities not fully
consonant with what is proper for a minister of Jesus Christ. Then is the
time to take a firm stand, with an attitude of warm fraternal love, as brother
assisting his brother to “remain on his feet”.
The priesthood of Christ is
eternal (cf. Heb 5:6), but the life of priests is limited. Christ
has willed that others continue in time the priestly ministry that he
instituted. Keep alive in your hearts, and in others around you, the
desire to raise up – in cooperation with the grace of the Holy Spirit – new
priestly vocations among the faithful. Trustful and persevering prayer,
joyful love of one’s own vocation and commitment to the work of spiritual
direction will allow you to discern the charism of vocation in those whom God
calls.
Dear seminarians, who have
taken the first step towards the priesthood and are preparing in the major
seminary or in houses of formation, the Pope encourages you to be conscious of
the great responsibility which you will have to assume. Carefully examine
your intentions and your motivations. Devote yourselves with a steadfast
heart and a generous spirit to your training. The Eucharist, which is the
centre of Christian life and the school of humility and service, should be your
first love. Adoration, piety and care for the Most Holy Sacrament during
these years of preparation will lead you one day to celebrate the Sacrifice of
the Altar in an edifying and devout manner.
Along this path of fidelity,
beloved priests and deacons, consecrated men and women, seminarians and
committed lay persons, may the Blessed Virgin Mary guide us. With her and
like her, we are free so as to be saints; free so as to be poor, chaste and
obedient; free for all because detached from all, free from self so that others
may grow in Christ, the true Holy One of the Father and the Shepherd to whom
priests, as his presence, lend their voice and their gestures; free to bring to
today’s world Jesus who died and rose again, Jesus who remains with us until
the end of time and who gives himself to all in the Most Holy Eucharist.
PRAYER TO OUR
LADY
Esplanade of the Shrine of Our Lady of
Fátima
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Holy
Father:
Our Lady,
Mother of all men and women,
I come before you as a son
visiting his Mother,
and I do so in company
with a multitude of brothers and sisters.
As the Successor of Peter,
to whom was entrusted the mission
of presiding in the service
of charity in the Church of Christ
and of confirming all in faith and in hope,
I wish to present to your
Immaculate Heart
the joys and hopes
as well as the problems and sufferings
of each one of these sons and daughters of yours
who are gathered in the Cova di Iria
or who are praying with us from afar.
Mother
most gentle,
you know each one by name,
you know each one’s face and personal history,
and you love them all
with maternal benevolence
that wells up from the very heart of Divine Love.
I entrust and consecrate them all to you,
Mary Most Holy,
Mother of God and our Mother.
Cantors
and Assembly:
We sing to
you and we praise you, O Mary (v. 1)
Holy
Father:
The
Venerable Pope John Paul II,
who visited you three times here in Fatima
and thanked the “unseen hand”
that rescued him from death
in the assassination attempt on 13 May
in Saint Peter’s Square almost thirty years ago,
wanted to offer to the Shrine of Fatima
a bullet which gravely wounded him
and was placed in the crown of the Queen of Peace.
It is a profound consolation
to know that you are crowned
not only with the silver
and gold of our joys and hopes,
but also with the “bullet”
of our anxieties and sufferings.
I thank you, beloved Mother,
for the prayers and sacrifices
that the shepherd-children
of Fatima offered for the Pope,
led by the sentiments
that you inspired in them in the apparitions.
I also thank all those who,
every day,
pray for the Successor of Peter
and for his intentions,
that the Pope may be strong in faith,
bold in hope and zealous in love.
Cantors
and Assembly:
We sing to
you and we praise you, O Mary (v. 2)
Holy
Father:
Beloved
Mother of us all,
here in your Shrine at Fatima I consign
the Golden Rose
that I have brought from Rome
as a homage of gratitude from the Pope
for the marvels that the Almighty
has worked through you
in the hearts of so many who come as pilgrims
to this your maternal home.
I am sure that the shepherd-children of Fatima,
Blessed Francisco and Jacinta
and the Servant of God Lucia of Jesus,
are united with us at this hour of prayer and jubilation.
Cantors
and Assembly:
We sing to
you and we praise you, O Mary (v. 5).
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Copyright 2010 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana