VATICAN CITY, JUN 1, 2007 (VIS) - At 8 p.m. yesterday, the traditional procession marking the end of the month of May wound its way from the Church of St. Stephen of the Abyssinians - located near the apse of the Vatican Basilica - to the Grotto of Lourdes in the Vatican Gardens. Hundreds of people participated in the ceremony, which was presided by Archbishop Angelo Comastri, His Holiness' vicar general for Vatican City State.
Benedict XVI arrived at the Grotto at 9 p.m. and, before imparting his apostolic blessing, delivered a brief address.
The Pope referred to today's Feast of the Visitation of Our Lady to her cousin St. Elizabeth, saying: "The visitation can be understood in the light of the announcement of the angel and the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit descended upon the Virgin and encouraged her to 'arise' and leave in haste to help her aged relative."
"Along the road leading from Galilee to Judea, it was Jesus Himself Who 'urged' Mary on, infusing her with the generous commitment to go out towards others in need, and with the courage not to give first place to her own legitimate requirements, difficulties, concerns, and the dangers to her own life."
"May Mary," said the Holy Father, "obtain for us the gift of knowing how to love as she did. To Mary we entrust this particular portion of the Church that lives and works in the Vatican. To her we entrust the Roman Curia and the institutions associated with it, that all jobs and all services may be animated by the spirit of Christ.
"From this hill," Pope Benedict added in conclusion, "we look out over Rome and over the entire world, and we pray that all Christians may say, with St. Paul, 'the Love of Christ drives me on,' and that they may spread, with Mary's help, the dynamism of charity throughout the world."
AC/ROSARY:MAY/VATICAN GARDEN VIS 20070601 (330)
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