Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale344

VIII

Ad sacrorum alumnos Neoeboracenses.*

Your Eminences,

Dear Brother Bishops,

Dear Young Friends,

''Proclaim the Lord Christ ... and always have your answer ready for

people who ask the reason for the hope that is within you''.1 With these

words from the First Letter of Peter I greet each of you with heartfelt affec-

tion. I thank Cardinal Egan for his kind words of welcome and I also thank

the representatives chosen from among you for their gestures of welcome. To

Bishop Walsh, Rector of Saint Joseph Seminary, staff and seminarians, I

offer my special greetings and gratitude.

Young friends, I am very happy to have the opportunity to speak with

you. Please pass on my warm greetings to your family members and rela-

tives, and to the teachers and staff of the various schools, colleges and uni-

versities you attend. I know that many people have worked hard to ensure

that our gathering could take place. I am most grateful to them all. Also, I

wish to acknowledge your singing to me Happy Birthday! Thank you for this

moving gesture; I give you all an ''A plus'' for your German pronunciation!

This evening I wish to share with you some thoughts about being disciples of

Jesus Christ - walking in the Lord's footsteps, our own lives become a

journey of hope.

In front of you are the images of six ordinary men and women who grew

up to lead extraordinary lives. The Church honors them as Venerable,

Blessed, or Saint: each responded to the Lord's call to a life of charity and

each served him here, in the alleys, streets and suburbs of New York. I am

struck by what a remarkably diverse group they are: poor and rich, lay men

and women - one a wealthy wife and mother - priests and sisters, immi-

grants from afar, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior father and Algonquin

mother, another a Haitian slave, and a Cuban intellectual.

* Die 19 Aprilis 2008. 1 1 Pet 3:15.