Pope Benedict XVI presided over daytime prayer – the hora media – on Saturday
morning in the cathedral basilica of St Mary Nascent in Milan, on the first full day
of his pastoral visit to the city that this weekend is hosting the VII World Meeting
of Families. Listen:
In his homily,
the Holy Father spoke of liturgical prayer – the official, public praise of God –
as the highest expression of the mystery of the Church. “Our lips, our hearts and
our minds,” he said, “are, in the prayer of the Church, interpreters of the needs
and aspirations of all humanity.” The Pope called the daily prayer of the Liturgy
of the Hours, “an essential task of the ordained ministry in the Church,” all of whose
members together constitute God’s very own family.
Pope Benedict went on to
say, “Through the Divine Office, which prolongs the central mystery of the Eucharist
throughout the day, priests are especially united to the Lord Jesus, living and working
in time.”
Pope Benedict encouraged seminarians – many of whom were present
for the daytime office in Milan’s cathedral on Saturday - to learn to enjoy the prayer
right now and live their time in seminary with commitment, saying, “If Christ, in
order to build up His Church, places Himself in the hands of the priest, these priests
must in turn entrust themselves to Him without reserve.”
“Love for the LORD
Jesus,” said Pope Benedict, “is the soul and the reason for the priestly ministry,
just as it was also the premise upon which He assigned Peter the mission of feeding
his flock.
The Holy Father also had words of gratitude, praise and encouragement
for consecrated men and women religious, calling on them to look to the future with
confidence, relying on the faithfulness of God and the power of His grace, which,
he said, “is able to work ever new wonders.”
Calling on the intercession of
the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the vast array of saints who have emerged from the
bosom of the Church in Milan throughout the centuries, Pope Benedict prayed that God,
“Giver of all gifts, might make the ministry of priests ever fruitful." He asked God,
"to strengthen the witness of consecrated persons." Finally, Pope Benedict prayed
that God might renew all Christian families according to His plan, "that they might
be places of grace and holiness, fertile ground for vocations to the priesthood and
consecrated life."