At the Tomb of Saint Albert the Great (15 November 1980)

On Saturday, 15 November 1980, the Holy Father prayed before the Tomb of Saint Albert in Saint Andrew's Church, Cologne.

O God, you are wonderful in your saints!

Called by you to be supreme pastor of the Church of Jesus Christ, I kneel today as a pilgrim at the tomb of Saint Albert, to glorify you in the celebration of the seventh centenary of his death together with all the faithful, and to thank you for his life and his works, through which you have given in him to your Church a teacher of the faith and a model of Christian life.

God, our Creator, author and light of the human spirit, you have given to Saint Albert, in the faithful following of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, a profound knowledge of the faith. Creation itself became for him the revelation of your omnipotence and goodness, as he learned to recognize and love you more deeply in creatures. At the same time he explored the works of human wisdom, and also the writings of non-Christian philosophers, and made them accessible for an encounter with the Good News. Through the gift of discernment you have made him capable in an extraordinary way of rejecting error and instead of deepening the truth, to spread it among other men. In this way you made him a doctor of the church and of men.

United to the intercession of Saint Albert, we confidently turn to your mercy:

- Send to your Church even in our time teachers of truth, who are capable of explaining and announcing to men in an adequate way the happy message of the Gospel, through the word and the example of a holy life.

We pray to you, hear us, O Lord.

- Accompany and illuminate the service of researchers and scholars with your Holy Spirit and preserve them from pride and self-sufficiency and give scientists the ability to treat nature's resources with respect and responsibility.

We beg you...

- Grant those responsible in the State and in society the ability to intuit and the sense of responsibility necessary to use the achievements of science and technology for peace and for the progress of peoples, and not to harm them or even less for their destruction .

We beg you...

- Help all of us, in the midst of the many dangers and falsehoods of our time, to always recognize the truth and to serve you faithfully through a life founded on the convictions of faith.

We beg you...

- Through the intercession of Saint Albert, bless all the citizens of this country, grant the German people peace and unity and ensure that they are always mindful of their responsibility in the community of peoples.

We beg you...

- Accompany my pastoral visit to the Federal Republic of Germany with your special blessing and support, comfort all the faithful in their love for Christ and his Church, so that through their witness of Christian life in truth and justice, the your name even in today's world.

We beg you...

Pray for us, Saint Albert, that we may become worthy of Christ's promises.

Let us pray: God, our refuge and our strength, you have given the holy bishop and doctor of the Church Albert the strength to guide human knowledge towards eternal wisdom. Strengthen and protect our faith in the spiritual confusion of our days through his intercession. Give us the breadth of his mind, so that even the progress of the sciences will help us to know you more deeply and to come closer to you. Let us grow in the knowledge of the Truth, which you yourself are, so that one day we can contemplate you face to face together with all the angels. We pray to you for Christ our Lord. Amen.

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