Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - In the evening of 1 February, on the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of Trust to whom Major Seminary of Rome is dedicated, the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI paid a visit to the college where he presided the celebration of Vespers and met the Seminary community. After expressing his “great joy” at being at the Seminary, the Pope addressed seminarians and parents. To the “Dear seminarians” the Pope said: “precisely because the gift of being adopted sons of God has illuminated your life, you feel a desire to share this gift with others. You are here for this reason, to develop your filial vocation and to prepare for your future mission as apostles of Christ. This twofold growth allows you to savour the joy of life with God the Father, making you ever more keenly aware of the urgency to be messengers of the Gospel of His Son Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit who renders you attentive to these profound realities and makes you love them.”
Turning to the student's parents Benedict XVI said: “Dear parents, probably you were the most surprised of all for what took place and still is taking place in your sons. Perhaps you imagined a different mission for them than the one for which they are now preparing. Who knows how often you think about them: looking back on when they were children and then boys; to the time when they showed the first signs of a vocation; or, in some cases, the contrary, to the years in which your sons appeared to be distant from the Church … inevitably the vocation of children becomes in a way the vocation of the parents too … you find yourselves sharing in your son's marvellous adventure. Although the life of the priest may appear not to attract the interest of most people, in actual fact this is the most interesting and most necessary for the world, the adventure to reveal and render present that fullness of life to which all aspire”.
Speaking again to the Seminarians the Holy Father underlined two aspects of their formation: “first of all a certain detachment from ordinary life, a degree of ‘desert’, so the Lord may speak to your heart. His voice in fact is not noisy, it is soft, it is the voice of silence. To be heard it demands an atmosphere of silence. This is why the Seminary offers space and time for daily prayer … At the same time it asks you to devote long hours to study: praying and studying you will build in you the man of God you should be and which people expect the priest to be. There is a second aspect of your life: in your years at Seminary, you live together; your formation to the priesthood includes also this community aspect, which is of great importance. The Apostles were formed together, as they followed Jesus. Your communion is not limited to the present, it concerns the future as well: in the pastoral activity awaiting you must be united as in one body, in an ordo, the order of priests, who, together with the bishop, care for the Christian community”.
The Pope concluded his homily with a call to holiness: “All this reminds you that God calls you to be saints, that holiness is the secret for the success of your priestly ministry. From now on holiness must be the goal of your every decision and option. Entrust this desire and daily commitment to Mary, Mother of Trust!... walk the path of the Seminary with your souls open to the truth, to transparency and dialogue with those who guide you and this will enable you to respond simply and humbly to the One who calls you, freeing you from the danger of realising only your own personal project”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 4/2/2008; righe 41, parole 631)
