Pope: Lenten meeting with Roman clergy

Pope Benedict XVI met with the pastors of Roman parishes on Thursday in Paul VI hall, where he led them in lectio Divina based on a reading from the beginning of the 4^th chapter of the Letter of St. Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians, and gave them a guidebook to the spiritual life specially prepared for priests of the diocese.

The spiritual centrepiece of this year’s traditional annual Lenten meeting with the clergy of Rome was lectio Divina – the ancient practice of prayerful reading from scripture, followed by prayerful reflection and exposition of the passage.

The Holy Father chose the first sixteen verses of the fourth chapter of St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians as his text - text that begins with an exhortation to holiness of life:

I therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called, with all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity. (Eph. 4:1-2)

In his reflections on the passage, which he offered without any prepared remarks, Pope Benedict focused on a pair of major areas of concern: the first was the lack of attentiveness toward the voice of the Lord that calls, which he described as a source of great suffering for the Church in our time, in both the East and the West; the second was religious illiteracy, which he called a serious problem, and one he appealed to parish priests to combat by doing everything they can to make Christ known, exhorting everyone to a recovery of the content of the Faith.

Finally, the Holy Father presented the priests of his diocese with a text titled, “Chosen by God for Men” – a text published by the Pauline Press with a presentation by the Cardinal-vicar of the Rome diocese, Agostino Vallini, intended as a guide to the spiritual life for Roman priests, “so that they might grow in the joy of their common vocation and in the unity of the priesthood.” Listen