VATICAN CITY, MAR 11, 2006 (VIS) - This morning, the Pope and the Roman Curia concluded their spiritual exercises, which occupied all of the past week and were held in the Vatican's "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel.
In off-the-cuff remarks addressed to the participants at the end of the final session, Benedict XVI expressed particular thanks to Cardinal Marco Ce, patriarch emeritus of Venice, Italy and preacher of the spiritual exercises.
The Pope recalled how the preacher had begun by guiding them "in the footsteps of St. Mark, walking the road with Jesus towards Jerusalem" and by highlighting "the profoundly ecclesial nature" of the spiritual exercises.
"We cannot," the Pope said, "bring the world the joyful news that is the person of Christ if we ourselves are not profoundly united to Christ, if we do not know Him deeply and personally, if we do not live from His Word."
Cardinal Ce, the Holy Father added, also dwelt upon "the Christological nature" of the exercises. "He helped us to listen to the Master Who speaks with us and within us; he helped us to respond, to speak with the Lord and listen to His Word."
What the preacher did, the Pope concluded, was to guide us "on a Marian journey, a journey that calls us to become part of the Word of God, to place our lives within the Word of God and so allow our being to be permeated by this Word, that we may then become witnesses to the living Word of Christ Himself in our time.
"Thus, with renewed courage, with renewed joy, we move towards Easter, towards the celebration of the Mystery of Christ, which is always more than a celebration or a rite, it is Presence and Truth."
AC/SPIRITUAL EXERCISES/CE VIS 20060313 (300)
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