Zenit has two goodies this evening from Pope Benedict's address to the Priests and Deacons of Rome. One of the most interesting things he told them was that because of Rome's closeness to the Vatican, the Diocese of Rome has an obligation to be exemplary. He thanked them for their hard work and apostolate, said that the time of loss of confidence seemed to be past, and then urged them to keep in mind that in order to be exemplary, a priest has to make prayer his first priority --before apostolate or anything else. Especially prayer before the Eucharist.
It's a very lovely address, but RC2 is even more intrigued by his spontaneous comments. Evidently this took place in the same event, but after some representatives of the group offered some testimonies and questions. Read the whole thing to get a sense of the depth of thought that just springs spontaneously to his lips, but RC2 especially appreciated this:
"Romano Guardini correctly said 70 years ago that the essence of Christianity is not an idea but a Person. Great theologians have tried to describe the essential ideas that make up Christianity. But in the end, the Christianity that they constructed was not convincing, because Christianity is in the first place an Event, a Person. And thus in the Person we discover the richness of what is contained. This is important.
And here I think we also find an answer to a difficulty often voiced today regarding the missionary nature of the Church. From many comes the temptation to think this way regarding others: "But why do we not leave them in peace? They have their authenticity, their truth. We have ours. And so, let us live together in harmony, leaving all persons as they are, so that they search out their authenticity in the best way." But how can one's personal authenticity be discovered if in reality, in the depth of our hearts, there is the expectation of Jesus, and the genuine authenticity of each person is found exactly in communion with Christ and not without Christ? Said in another way: If we have found the Lord and if he is the light and joy of our lives, are we sure that for someone else who has not found Christ he is not lacking something essential and that it is our duty to offer him this essential reality?
We then leave what will transpire to the direction of the Holy Spirit and the freedom of each person. But if we are convinced and we have experienced the fact that without Christ life is incomplete, is missing a reality, the fundamental reality, we must also be convinced that we do harm to no one if we show them Christ and we offer them in this way too the possibility to discover their true authenticity, the joy of having discovered life."
