And a final word to the priests in particular. The Pope reminds us in this letter that the people in our parishes are quite entitled to ask us to teach them to pray. He says this is a duty we are never able to put to one side, although he realised that in these secularized times it can be difficult to pray and difficult to encourage effectively more prayer. He reminds us that we must be converted ourselves, if we are to convert others. The mystique of office, the traditional reverence for the priest is much diminished in Australia.
People are much more inclined to evaluate the person rather than give automatic respect.
If we try to pray regularly, they are more likely to listen to our exhortations. I suspect this prayer for our people is one of the most important elements in our work, even though we can rarely or never see tangible results of this. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.