FREQUENT CONFESSION TO RECEIVE CHRIST WITH A PURE HEART

VATICAN CITY, MAY 20, 2001 (VIS) - This morning John Paul II celebrated the Eucharist in the Roman parish of St. Edith Stein, incorporated in the diocese on October 11, 1998, "the day in which I had the joy," the Pope said, "to proclaim as a saint the daughter of Israel and Carmelite martyr Edith Stein, whom you invoke as your special patroness."

After thanking the faithful for their best wishes for his 81st birthday on May 18, the Holy Father said: "I trust that you wish to continue praying for me, in order that I may carry out the ministry that has been entrusted to me in total adherence to the designs of Divine providence."

The Pope particularly addressed the children who received their First Holy Communion during the Mass and invited them, as well as all the children receiving First Communion this year, to "seek frequently the sacrament of Confession, so that the encounter with Jesus present in the Eucharist occurs with a heart which is pure and open to the action of grace."

Speaking then of St. Edith Stein, John Paul II said that "there is also much to learn from this great contemporary saint about the life of a community such as yours, which desires to be faithful to its missionary vocation." In this light, the Pope recalled the pastoral initiative "of the monthly letter to Christians, which is delivered to all the families, to help them prepare themselves with adequate catechesis for the principal liturgical celebrations of the year."

"Together with you, I also entrust to the Lord the People's Mission which you have planned for the upcoming month of October. It will be a mission directed especially to youth. ... I sincerely hope that, through the mission and thanks to everyone's prayers, the young can encounter Christ in their life, allow Him to speak to their hearts and decide to follow Him."

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