Pope Benedict explains prayer highest priority

He truly is the Vicar of Jesus Christ.

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0804135.htm

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Pope says his most important task is to pray for church, world
By Catholic News Service

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said praying for the church and the world is his most important task as pope.

"By praying I place in the hands of the Lord the ministry he himself has entrusted me with and the fate of the entire church and civil community," the pope said Aug. 13 as he held an abbreviated general audience at his summer residence south of Rome.

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Throughout the two-week vacation, he said, he prayed for those who had asked for his prayers.

"Truly, many people write asking me to pray for them. They share their joys, but also their worries; the plans for their lives, but also the problems of their families and their work; the expectations and hopes that they carry in their hearts together with the distress connected with the uncertainties which humanity is experiencing at this moment," the pope said. Pope Benedict said that especially during his daily Mass and recitation of the rosary, he prays for each person who writes to him.

"I know well that the first service I can render to the church and to humanity is precisely that of prayer," he said.

Pope Benedict said the Bible and the example of the saints demonstrate that "one who prays never loses hope, even when he finds himself in difficult or even humanly desperate situations."

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St. Maximilian Kolbe's last words were reported to be the beginning of the Hail Mary, he said.

"It is moving to note that the humble and trusting recourse to the Blessed Mother is always a source of courage and serenity," he said.

As the church prepared to celebrate the Aug. 15 feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the pope told his visitors, "Let us renew our trust in the one who, from heaven, watches over us with maternal love at every moment."