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 4th
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