REGINA CAELI TODAY
Praying for more vocations
and honoring two new Blesseds
The Holy Father led the Regina Caeli prayers at noon from his study window overlooking St. Peter's Square, during which he asked the faithful on this World Day of Prayer for Vocations to pray that more people would hear Christ’s call to the priesthood. In English, he said:
Today’s Gospel highlights the figure of Christ the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his flock. Today we also pray for vocations to the priesthood: may more young men hear Christ’s call to follow him more closely, and offer their lives to serve their brothers and sisters. God’s peace be with you all!
After the prayers, he reminded the faithful of two beatifications which took place today.
At the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls, Giuseppe Toniolo) (1846-1918, who has been called 'God's economist', for having put into practice the principles of Leo XIII's social encyclical Rerum Novarum. Born in Treviso, northern Italy, he became a university professor in many of Italy' leading universities, including Oadua and Pisa, where he spent his last years.
In Coutacnes, France, Pierre-Adrien Toulorge (1757-1793, a Premonstratensian priest, was beatified in recognition of his martyrdom during the Reign of Terror in France.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Shortly before now, the Eucharistic celebration at St. Peter's Basilica, during which I ordained nine new priests of the Diocese of Rome, ended. Let us give thanks to God for this gift, a sign of his faithful and provident love for the Church.
Let us draw close spiritually to these new priests and let us pray that they may fully accept the grace of the Sacrament which has conformed them to Jesus Christ, Priest and Shepherd.
And let us pray so that all young people may be attentive to the voice of God who speaks to their heart interiorly, calling them to detach themselves from everything in order to follow him.
This is the purpose to which today's World Day of Prayer for Vocations is dedicated. Indeed, the Lord always calls, but many times, we do not listen. We are distracted by many things, by other, more superficial voices. And then, we are afraid to listen to the voice of the Lord, because we think that it may deprive us of our freedom.
In fact, each of us is the fruit of love: certainly, the love of our parents, but more profoundly, the love of God. The Bible says: If even your mother can forget you, I will never forget you because I know you and I love you (cfr Is 49,15).
The moment I become aware of this, my life changes - it becomes a response to this love, greater than any other, and in this way, my freedom is fully realized.
The young people whom I consecrated as ppriests today are not different from other young people, except that they have been profoundly touched by the beauty of God's love, and they could do no less than to respond with their ehole life.
How did they encounter God's love? They met it in Jesus Christ: in his Gospel, in the Eucharist, and in the community of the Church. In the Church one discovers that the life of every man is a story of love. Sacred Scripture shows this clearly, and it is confirmed by the testimonials of the saints.
St. Augustine's statement in his Confessions is exemplary, when he addresses God and says: "Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside... You were with me, but I was not with you... You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness" (X, 27.38).
Dear friends, let us pray for the Church, for every local community, so that they may be like an irrigated garden in which all the seeds of vocation that God sows in abundance may germinate and mature.
Let us pray so that this garden may be cultivated everywhere, in the joy of feeling that we are all called, in the variety of our gifts.
In particular, families are the first environment in which one 'breathes' the love of God, who gives us an interior strength even in the midst of the difficulties and trials of life. Whoever lives in his family the experience of God's love receives an inestimable gift which will bear fruit in its time.
May all this be obtained for us by the Blessed Virgin Mary, model of free and obedient acceptance to the divine call, Mother of every vocation in the Church.
After the prayers, he said this:
I address a special greeting to the pilgrims who are gathered at the Basilica of St. Paul outside thw Walls, where this morning, Giuseppe Toniolo was proclaimed Blessed. Living in the 19th and 20th centuries, he was a husband and father of seven, a university professor and educator of young people, economist and sociologist, passionate servant of communion in the Church.
He applied the teachings of the encyclical Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII; he promoted Catholic Action, the Catholic University of Sacro Cuore, the Settimani Sociali [Social Consciousness Weeks] for Italian Catholics, and an institute of international law on peace.
His message is of great relevance especially in our time. Blessed Toniolo shows the way of the primacy of the human being and solidarity. He wrote: "Above and beyond the legitimate good and interests of single nations and States, there is an indissoluble element that coordinates and unites everyone, namely, the duty of human solidarity".
Also beatified today, in Coutances, France, was the priest Pierre-ADrien Toulorge of the Premonstratensian Order, who lived in the second half of the 18th century. Let us give thanks to God for thisluminous 'martyr for the truth'.
I greet the participants in the European meeting of university students, organized by the Diocese of Rome on the first anniversary of the beatification of Pope John Paul II.
Dear young people, continue confidently on the path of the new evangelization in the universities. Tomorrow evening, I will be with you spiritually for the prayer vigil that will be held in Tor Vergata, near the great Cross that marks the site of World Youth Day in 2000. Thank you for your presence.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/04/2012 11:22]