VATICAN CITY, MAY 10, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The meditations given at the spiritual exercises of John Paul II and the Roman Curia this past Lent are now available to the public.
Written by Bishop Renato Corti of Novara, Italy, the volume, available in Italian from the Vatican Publishing House, is entitled «La Chiesa a Servizio della Nuova ed Eterna Alleanza» (The Church at the Service of the New and Eternal Covenant).
The book includes a letter dated Feb. 19, 2005, signed by John Paul II, in which he thanks the bishop for the spiritual exercises.
«The spiritual exercises have been for me a providential opportunity of prolonged recollection,» wrote the Pope.
The book’s title page is a reproduction of the mosaic of the «Redemptoris Mater» Chapel, which depicts Christ washing Peter’s feet, by Slovenian Jesuit artist Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, who decorated this Vatican Chapel, where the spiritual exercises were held.
The author dedicates the book «to the Holy Father John Paul II with gratitude in the hour in which the doors of the heavenly Jerusalem opened wide for him.»
Bishop Corti is the vice president of the Italian episcopal conference, consultor of the Congregation for Clergy, member of the Congregation for Eastern Churches and of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
The book is divided in two parts entitled «Christ Yesterday, Today, Always,» and «In Your Mercy, You Have Sought All.» The conclusion is entitled «How Beautiful it Is to Sing Your Glory, Holy Father, Only Living and True God.»
