New priests lie in front of Pope Benedict XVI as he leads a mass in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican May 15, 2005. Benedict XVI ordained 21 new priests on Sunday. REUTERS/Danilo Schiavella
Posted on 05/16/2005 10:25:07 AM PDT by NYer
Vatican City, May. 16, 2005 (CNA) - Yesterday, a 20-minute late Pope Benedict greeted some 40,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the noontime Regina Coeli prayer, beaming about his ordination of 21 new priests immediately before, and discussed the profound relationship between the Spirit and institution of the Church.
The Holy Father asked the crowd "to please excuse me for the great delay. I had the grace to ordain 21 priests and such a harvest for God lasts quite a bit of time, therefore, thank you for your understanding."
He said that the ordination Mass "marks a moment of important growth for our community. It receives life, in fact, from these ordained ministers, above all through the service of the Word of God and the Sacraments.”
“This therefore is a festive day for the Church of Rome”, he said. “And for the new priests this is in a special way their Pentecost: I repeat my greetings to them and pray that the Holy Spirit will always accompany their ministry."
Pope Benedict discussed "the happy coincidence between Pentecost and the priestly ordinations [which] invites me to underscore the indissoluble tie that exists, in the Church, between the Spirit and the institution.”
“I referred to this last Saturday when I took possession of the chair of the bishop of Rome at St. John Lateran. The chair and the Spirit are intimately linked in reality, as are the charism and the ordained ministry. Without the Holy Spirit the Church would be reduced to a merely human organization, weighed down by her very structures.”
“But in turn, in the plans of God,” he said, “the Spirit habitually uses human mediation to act in history. Precisely for this reason, Christ, Who constituted His Church on the foundation of the Apostles gathered around Peter, also enriched her with the gift of His Spirit so that, over the centuries. He could comfort her and lead her to the full truth.”
In closing, the Pope asked that the ecclesial community would "remain always open and docile to the action of the Holy Spirit in order to be among men a credible sign and effective instrument of God's action!"
I would imagine that both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox priests feel an immense connection with Christ and His ministry on their day of ordination.
I would be overcome with emotion for many reasons, not the least of which would be my great privilege to be a successor of the Apostles.
What a mind-expanding thing that must be to experience.
Pentecost ping!
WOW!
What was it the Spanish cardinal said, B-16 is as brilliant as twelve professors and as devout as a child on his First Communion day . . .
I watched most of the Mass on EWTN. It was beautiful and one could see the joy on Benedict's face as he was asking the ordinands for their respect and obedience and again later when he embraced them as new priests.
That was Cardinal Meisner of Cologne, Germany who said, "I have known the Pope for 35 years (he has the intelligence of 12 professors and is as pious as a child on the day of his First Communion) and we are friends,"
Thank you for looking up the reference for me! I had the gist of it anyway . . . :-D
I stood there where the rug is and walked that area of St. Peter's in May 2001 while on a tour of Italy.
And I knew I was standing on 'holy ground.'
Awe-Some.
That's one heck of a carpet.
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