Place talents at the service of the Church, says Pope to students

Vatican City, Oct 24, 2004 / 22:00 pm

In his homily during the Mass for the inauguration of the academic year of ecclesiastical universities on Saturday October 23, Pope John Paul II exhorted students to place their talents "at the service of the Church, with humility and generosity," and to obtain wisdom and strength from the Eucharist.

The Pope told the students to commit themselves to work "so that the formation you receive in these years will help you 'to behave' ever more in a way worthy of the Christian vocation."

He urged them "to be men and women committed to creating unity between faith and life on the cognitive level and more importantly on the existential level," and emphasized that "the Eucharist is the principle of unity in charity, of community in a plethora of gifts."

"The Eucharistic mystery," he continued, "is the school where Christians are formed to the 'intellectus fidei,' making an effort to know through adoration and to believe through contemplation. In it, at the same time, they mature their Christian personality in order to be able to bear witness to the truth in charity."

The Holy Father invited students to follow "the example of St. Thomas Aquinas and all the doctors of the Church" and to strive "to obtain from the Sacrament of the Altar the light of renewed wisdom and constant strength in the life of the Gospel."

The Mass was presided over by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education.