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It’s a joy to be here at Mount 2000 for this closing Mass. I hope you’ve had a great experience here at the Mount. I know that the seminarians have put in a lot of hard work for this weekend but I also know how happy they are to share with you the excitement and the joy of knowing and following Christ.

Spending these few, entirely pleasant days in the Florida sunshine with fellow members of the family of the Knights of Columbus, it may be a little hard for us to identify with Job’s complaint about the drudgery of life, its slavish routines, its paltry rewards, about life’s brevity, the anxiety it generates, its futility.

On this Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, something is definitely happening in the most consequential of all dramas, the drama of which God is the creator, the producer, and chief protagonist – the drama which is God’s plan for the creation and redemption of the world, the drama in which you and I are actors, stagehands, and managers.

We have already thanked Father John for his commitment of love, but before concluding, I want to express my warmest gratitude to each of you.

Father Rapisarda has been with you now for quite a while and you have found him to be a good priest and a gentle shepherd who leads your parish and serves your pastoral needs with dedication and love.

It is a joy to offer this concluding Mass of the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life. Clearly, he was a primary architect of the pro-life movement in the United States, an architect who helped lay its foundations, foundations we continue to build on.

Through Mary’s intercession, may we hear the Word of God and keep it all the days of our life!

We’ve gathered in a venerable church named for Spanish saints, St. Ildefonso, Bishop of Toledo and St. Tomasso, Bishop of Villa Nueva.