Pope Benedict XVI Celebrates 60^th Anniversary of Ordination

(June 28, 2011) This Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI is celebrating the "high point of his life" as he marks the 60th anniversary of his priestly ordination. Joseph Ratzinger was ordained at age 24, together with his brother Georg, and more than 40 candidates, at the cathedral of Freising, near Munich, by Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber. "Adsum," meaning, “here I am,” were the words the young Ratzingers pronounced in Latin before God and the people. As the universal Church relives that day on Wednesday, the Pope has not wished it to be a moment of personal exaltation. Rather, it has been designated a day to promote thanksgiving to God for the gift of the priesthood and to ask him to call forth new vocations. The Pope remembers that day when the Cardinal laid his hands on him, a little bird, perhaps a lark that flew up from the high altar in the cathedral and trilled a little joyful song was indeed the sign of assurance from the Lord. The whole Church is celebrating the day as a time of prayer for priests. The Congregation for the Clergy has invited the faithful to mark the anniversary with 60 hours of Eucharistic adoration to express to the Pontiff, gratitude, affection, and communion in the service of God and his Church and, above all, in that "shining of the Truth on the world," which he calls us to. The congregation proposed that the prayer vigil can culminate on July 1, feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Day of Prayer for Priests. Thus, the dicastery proposes, a special homage that could be rendered to the Pontiff with an extraordinary wreath of prayer and of supernatural unity.