(January 25, 2012) Every week on Wednesday, the Pope holds a public meeting, called
the general audience, during which pilgrims and tourists who come to Rome have a chance
of seeing and hearing him speak in several languages. The general audience of Jan.
25th was held indoors in the Paul VI audience hall in the Vatican. It began with
the reading in several languages of a passage from John’s Gospel on Jesus’ prayer
for unity at the Last Supper. An aide greeted the Pope on behalf of the English speaking
pilgrims introducing the various groups to him. Pope Benedict then delivered a discourse
in English.
Listen: Dear
Brothers and Sisters, In our continuing catechesis on Christian prayer,
we now turn to the priestly prayer which Jesus offered at the Last Supper (cf. Jn
17:1-26). Against the backdrop of the Jewish feast of expiation Yom Kippur, Jesus,
priest and victim, prays that the Father will glorify him in this, the hour of his
sacrifice of reconciliation. He asks the Father to consecrate his disciples, setting
them apart and sending them forth to continue his mission in the world. Christ also
implores the gift of unity for all those who will believe in him through the preaching
of the apostles. His priestly prayer can thus be seen as instituting the Church,
the community of the disciples who, through faith in him, are made one and share in
his saving mission. In meditating upon the Lord’s priestly prayer, let us ask the
Father for the grace to grow in our baptismal consecration and to open our own prayers
to the needs of our neighbours and the whole world. Let us also pray, as we have
just done in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, for the gift of the visible unity
of all Christ’s followers, so that the world may believe in the Son and in the Father
who sent him. I offer a warm welcome to the students of the Bossey Graduate
School of Ecumenical Studies in Switzerland, and I offer prayerful good wishes for
their work. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s
Audience I cordially invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace!