AD LIMINA APOSTOLORUM

 

KNXT PASTORAL MESSAGE, JUNE 2004 BISHOP JOHN STEINBOCK

My dear people of God,

 

Every five years, every Bishop throughout the world that is in charge of a Diocese, makes an official visit to Rome. This visit is called the Ad Limina Apostolorum, meaning "to the threshold of the Apostles." These visits go back to the earliest times in the Church. It was St. Gregory the Great who in May of 597 determined that these visits should be every five years. Here in the United States we make these visits as a region. And so from May 9th through May 15th I was in Rome with the Bishops of California and Nevada.

 

There are three essential aspects of this visit of the Bishops. First we venerate the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul. As a group of Bishops we celebrated Mass at the tomb of St. Peter in St. Peter's Basilica and at the tomb of St. Paul at the basilica of St. Paul outside the walls. I included in my prayers in these Masses the intentions of everyone in our diocese, and I asked God to enable me to worthily follow the example of Peter and Paul in proclaiming faithfully the Good News of Jesus Christ.

 

The second essential aspect is to visit the Holy Father both personally and as a group. Because of the poor health of the Holy Father, our personal visits were only about five minutes. Though physically it is difficult for him to speak at times, one can see that his mind and memory are still very sharp. He asked me specifically about the priests, seminarians and religious in the Diocese, and his joy for the many catechists and schools we have throughout the diocese. He also showed a concern for vocations both to the priesthood and religious life. In our general audience, the Pope emphasized that each bishop must first seek sanctification for himself, if he is to lead the priests and God's people to sanctity, which is the most important part of our Christian lives.

 

The third essential part of the visit is to send ahead of time a detailed report on the life of the Diocese. This report is about 100 pages and the report is given to the different Congregations of the Roman Curia. As part of the visit we then meet with heads of a number of the Congregations of the Roman Curia who have studied those reports and with whom we speak of common concerns.

 

The ad limina visit of the Bishop renews those bonds of unity and fraternity not only of the Bishop with the Holy Father, but of all God's people in each local Church with the Holy Father. We truly have been blest so much through these past 25 years with the Pontificate of Pope John Paul II. Let us continue to pray for him and thank God for the gift of the Papacy, which enables us to be faithful through each succeeding generation to the faith handed down to us from Christ and the Apostles. I bring back the blessings of the Holy Father to each and everyone of you.