Pope: with St. Benedict, Christ in first place

Pope Benedict marked the feast of Our Lord Ascension today appealing to 20 thousand faithful gathered in Cassino, beneath the Abbey where the founder of western monasticism and patron saint of Europe is buried, to continue St Benedicts mission of proclaiming that nothing and no-one can take first place in our lives except Christ. Benedict XVI said the feast calls on us to renew our faith in the presence of Christ; without him we can do nothing of use in our life or in our apostolate. The Church, he added, was not born and does not exist to mourn the absence of the Lord, rather it finds the very meaning of its being and mission in the invisible presence of Jesus, who works through the power ...