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Skriven 2007-05-15 06:52:50 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service (Press Release)
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                               VIS-Press releases

THE CHURCH IS OUR HOME

VATICAN CITY, MAY 12, 2007 (VIS) - Today at 6 p.m. (11 p.m. in Rome), Benedict
XVI arrived at the shrine of Aparecida to pray the Rosary with priests,
religious, seminarians and deacons of Brazil. Also participating in the event
were representatives of the Fifth General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin
America and the Caribbean, and tens of thousands of pilgrims.

After the recitation of the Glorious Mysteries and the singing of the "Salve
Regina," the Pope pronounced his homily. Through the praying of the Rosary, he
said, "the divine Comforter seeks to initiate us in the knowledge of Christ
that issues forth from the clear source of the Gospel text.

"For her part," he added, "the Church of the third millennium proposes to offer
Christians the capacity for 'knowledge of God's mystery, of Christ, in Whom are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge'." In this, "Mary Most Holy, the
pure and immaculate Virgin, is for us a school of faith."

Benedict XVI then went on to greet priests, saying: "What great challenges,
what difficult situations you have to face, with such generosity, self-denial,
sacrifices and renunciations! ... The witness of a priestly life well lived
brings nobility to the Church, calls forth admiration among the faithful, and
is a source of blessings for the community; it is the best way to promote
vocations. ... It is true collaboration in building the Kingdom of God!" The
Pope also recalled elderly and infirm priests, pointing out how their
"conformation to Christ Suffering and Risen is the most fruitful apostolate."

"Your exuberance, enthusiasm, idealism and encouragement to face new
challenges," said the Holy Father addressing deacons and seminarians, "serve to
give the People of God a renewed openness, make the faithful more dynamic and
help the community to grow, to progress, and to become more trusting, joyful
and optimistic. ... Always keep before your eyes the figure of Jesus, the Good
Shepherd, Who 'came not to be served but to serve.' ... Be like the first
deacons of the Church: men of good reputation, filled with the Holy Spirit,
with wisdom and with faith.

"And you, seminarians," he added, "remember that the seminary is the cradle of
your vocation and the first place where you experience communal life. I ask
you, with God's help, to be holy, faithful and happy priests in the service of
the Church."

Addressing the consecrated men and women present, the Pope described them as
"an offering, a present, a divine gift that the Church has received from her
Lord" and thanked them, for "the unreserved, total, definitive, unconditional
and impassioned love, ... manifested in silence, in contemplation, in prayer
and in the most varied activities that you undertake ... in favor of humanity
and especially of the poorest and most abandoned.

"All this," he added, "calls forth in the hearts of the young the desire to
follow Christ the Lord more closely and radically, and to offer their lives so
as to bear witness before the men and women of our day to the fact that God is
love, and that it is worth allowing oneself to be conquered and entranced in
order to devote one's life exclusively to Him."

Benedict XVI also recalled the fact that "religious life in Brazil has always
been important and has had a key role in the work of evangelization, from the
very beginnings of the colonial era." In this context, he mentioned the figures
of St. Antonio de Santa Ana Galvao, the first native-born Brazilian saint, and
St. Pauline, foundress of the Little Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.

"How important it is to maintain our sense of belonging to the Church, which
leads us to grow and to mature as brothers and sisters, children of the one God
and Father," the Holy Father concluded. "The Pope therefore wants to say to all
of you: The Church is our home! This is our home! ... Anyone who accepts Christ
... is assured of peace and happiness, in this life and in the next! ... It is
worth being faithful, it is worth persevering in our faith!"
PV-BRAZIL/ROSARY/APARECIDAVIS 070514 (700)

SUMMARY

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