Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 543

tion on God's word, be the lamp which illumines, purifies and guides your

steps along the path which the Lord has marked out for you. Make the daily

celebration of the Eucharist the centre of your life. At each Mass, when the

Lord's Body and Blood are lifted up at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer, lift

up your own hearts and lives, through Christ, with him and in him, in the

unity of the Holy Spirit, as a loving sacrifice to God our Father.

In this way, dear young seminarians and religious, you yourselves will

become living altars, where Christ's sacrificial love is made present as an

inspiration and a source of spiritual nourishment to everyone you meet. By

embracing the Lord's call to follow him in chastity, poverty and obedience,

you have begun a journey of radical discipleship which will make you "signs

of contradiction" 8 to many of your contemporaries. Model your lives daily on

the Lord's own loving self-oblation in obedience to the will of the Father.

You will then discover the freedom and joy which can draw others to the

Love which lies beyond all other loves as their source and their ultimate

fulfilment. Never forget that celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom means

embracing a life completely devoted to love, a love that enables you to

commit yourselves fully to God's service and to be totally present to your

brothers and sisters, especially those in need. The greatest treasures that you

share with other young people - your idealism, your generosity, your time

and energy - these are the very sacrifices which you are placing upon the

Lord's altar. May you always cherish this beautiful charism which God has

given you for his glory and the building up of the Church!

Dear friends, let me conclude these reflections by drawing your attention

to the great stained glass window in the chancel of this cathedral. There Our

Lady, Queen of Heaven, is represented enthroned in majesty beside her

divine Son. The artist has represented Mary, as the new Eve, offering an

apple to Christ, the new Adam. This gesture symbolizes her reversal of our

first parents' disobedience, the rich fruit which God's grace bore in her own

life, and the first fruits of that redeemed and glorified humanity which she

has preceded into the glory of heaven. Let us ask Mary, Help of Christians, to

sustain the Church in Australia in fidelity to that grace by which the Cruci-

fied Lord even now "draws to himself" all creation and every human heart.9

8 Cfr Lk 2:34. 9 Cfr Jn 12:32.