THE EUCHARIST: CENTER OF LIFE IN THE ECCLESIAL COMMUNITY

VATICAN CITY, JAN 15, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received the rector and students of Rome's diocesan seminary "Almo Collegio Capranica," for the occasion of the feast of their patroness, St. Agnes, which falls on January 21.

The Pope confirmed that the Jubilee should stimulate them "above all, to rediscover the deep significance of life as a giving of oneself. The young man preparing himself for the priesthood must take on a kind of disinterested love, making it his own, a love expressed by a fundamental orientation and by concrete choices of openness towards God and towards our brothers and sisters."

After highlighting that the Eucharist is the "source and the culmination" of the spiritual relationship and the "center of the life and mission of all ecclesial communities," John Paul II recalled the importance that human, spiritual and intellectual formation holds for the seminarian.

The Pope concluded by saying: "The itinerary of your preparation for the priesthood is developed within the community context. ... Live your community experience, not as a transitory phase linked to the years in the seminary, but rather as a structure for your entire priestly lives. The vocational plan that embraces the whole life of the priest, is a community plan. Each vocation is always a convocation, in other words, a call from God to live and to 'be with others and for others'."

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