God has chosen us, be grateful to Him: Pope to Seminarians

February 09, 2013: Pope Benedict XVI kept a traditional yearly appointment on Friday evening, when he visited Rome’s Major Seminary to offer a lectio divina with the students, faculty and staff. Following the reading from the 1^st letter of Peter, Pope Benedict offered a reflection on the text, without the aid of written remarks. Noting that the 1st Letter of Peter was addressed directly to the Churches in Asia, the Pope spoke of it as a sort of, “first encyclical”, through which the 1st Bishop of Rome speaks to the whole Church in every age.

Pope Benedict went on to explain and defend the authenticity of Peter’s authorship of the letter, which he said contains profound ecclesiological insights regarding the Petrine office itself. The Pope also reflected on several key terms and themes of the letter, including those of heredity, the Christian vocation to joy at being chosen by God, the relationship of the Christian – a citizen of the Heavenly Jerusalem – to the civil authority and his duty, his rights and responsibilities in the temporal order, as well as his proper attitude to earthly citizenship.

In any case, we can conclude that the letter itself tells us that Peter was not only writing this letter, but it expresses the faith of a Church that is already on the way of faith, a faith that is more mature. He does not talk as individualistic genius, but he speaks within the communion of the Church.

Addressing the students and staff, the Pontiff said ‘God has chosen us, be grateful to him’. We are elected. God has always known, before we were born, God wanted me as a Christian, as a Catholic, he wanted me as a priest. God thought of me, sought me out of millions, saw me and elected me, not for my merits but for his goodness, he wanted me to be the bearer of his mission. we must be grateful and happy for this, added the Pontiff.