Benedict XVI dedicated today’s Wednesday audience to St. Joseph Cafasso on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his death. The Pope offered lay and religious people in particular the example of a Piedmontese priest who dedicated his life to education, confession, spiritual direction and apostolate among the poor and the prisoners.
“That of St. Joseph Cafasso is a living and topical message”, said the Pontiff. “He formed many priests, including St. John Bosco. He was a true pastor with a rich interior life and a profound zeal for pastoral care, faithful in prayer, committed to catechesis and Confession, dedicated to the Eucharist”.
The three “virtues” of the holy priest: “calmness, clear sightedness and prudence. His teaching was never abstract but was born of the living experience of God”, explained Benedict XVI, who reaffirmed “the importance of spiritual direction to understand what God wants from us”.