POPE TO SEMINARIANS: YOU ARE A REASON FOR
CONSOLATION
VATICAN CITY, FEB 5, 2005 (VIS) - This evening
in the Paul VI Hall, members of the community of the Pontifical
Major Seminary of Rome participated in their traditional meeting
for the feast of their patroness, Our Lady of Trust. During the
gathering, the choir and orchestra of the diocese of Rome played
a piece inspired by the title of John Paul II's Apostolic Letter,
"Mane nobiscum Domine."
Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, substitute for General Affairs of
the Secretariat of State, read the address prepared by the Pope
who followed the ceremony from his room in Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic.
"For me," the Pope writes, "you are a reason for
consolation, because you represent a privileged sign of the Lord's
love for His cherished Church which is in Rome."
"'To contemplate the face of Christ, and to contemplate it
with Mary, is the 'program' which I have set before the Church at
the dawn of the third millennium, summoning her to put out into
the deep on the sea of history with the enthusiasm of the new evangelization.'
You have chosen to take these words of mine as the theme for reflection
for your feast day."
The Holy Father goes on to affirm that "in the year of the
Eucharist, celebrating Mary means, for you, putting the sacrifice
of her divine Son at the center of attention, a sacrifice that becomes
sacramentally present whenever Mass is celebrated."
After recalling Jesus' words to St John before His death on the
Cross: "behold, your mother!" John Paul II writes: "I
also repeat to you today: behold, your mother, who must be loved
and imitated with complete trust, so that you become priests capable
of pronouncing, not once but always, the decisive word of faith:
'here I am,' 'Fiat.' May the prayer, 'Mater mea, fiducia mea!' be
the profound and simple synthesis of your days, days you pass contemplating
Christ with Mary!"
The Pope concludes his address by expressing this desire to all
the young people present, especially to those considering the priestly
vocation, to altar boys and parish youth groups. "Dear young
people, the Lord passes and calls, be ready to collaborate with
Him."
AC/.../ROMAN MAJOR SEMINARY VIS 050207 (380)
