Pope Francis received members of the Abbey of Montevergine, Italy, as the Benedictine community there marked the 900th anniversary of the founding of the abbey and Marian shrine.
The Pontiff encouraged the monks to “make yourself a gift for God, in order to be a gift of God.” Making oneself a gift for God, he said, “is the meaning of the monastic vocation, which puts at the root of every action the work of God, and therefore prayer, which Saint Benedict recommends putting before all else.”
Being a “gift of God,” the Pope explained, means “giving oneself generously to those who ascend to the Shrine, so that, by approaching the Sacraments of the Eucharist and of Reconciliation, they may feel, in attention and prayer, welcomed and brought under the mantle of the Mother of God.”