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Skriven 2006-10-25 23:39:14 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service (Press Release)
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                               VIS-Press releases

PONTIFICAL UNIVERSITIES: PRIORITY TO SPIRITUAL LIFE

VATICAN CITY, OCT 24, 2006 (VIS) - Yesterday evening, following a Eucharistic
concelebration presided by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the
Congregation for Catholic Education, to mark the beginning of the academic year
at Roman Pontifical Universities, the Holy Father entered the Vatican Basilica
to greet the students and professors gathered there.

In his talk, the Holy Father emphasized how the community of teachers and
students, coming from many different nationalities and cultures, "eloquently
expresses the universality and unity of the Catholic Church. A community that
is all the more attractive because it prevalently addresses the young, giving
them the opportunity to enter into contact with institutions of great
theological and cultural value and, at the same time, offering them access to
rewarding ecclesial and pastoral experiences."

Benedict XVI highlighted "the primary importance of spiritual life," and of
concern for "cultural development, balanced human maturity and a profound
ascetic and religious formation." He also stressed the need for "silence and
contemplation," because we must be able "to listen with the heart to God Who
speaks."

He went on: "Thought always needs purification in order to be able to enter the
dimension in which God pronounces His creating and redeeming Word. ... Only if
they arise from the silence of contemplation can our words have some measure of
value and utility, and not subside into ... worldly discourse which seeks the
consensus of public opinion.

"People who study in ecclesiastical institutes must, then, prepare themselves
to be obedient to truth," he added, "and cultivate a particular form of ascesis
of thought and word."

"Your apostolate will be rich and fruitful," he concluded, "in the measure to
which you prepare yourselves over these years, studying seriously and, above
all, nourishing your personal relationship with Him, tending towards sanctity
and having as the only goal of your lives the realization of the Kingdom of
God."
AC/.../PONTIFICAL UNIVERSITIES VIS 061024 (320)

SUMMARY

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