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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.

We stand on holy ground because the soil is soaked by the blood of martyrs, including that of St. Peter, those who witnessed to Christ with their very lives during the persecution of the Emperor Nero.

We find ourselves today in an ancient structure, a surviving portion of the old St. Peter’s most of which was taken down in 1505 to make way for the present Basilica, in my world view, the “new” St. Peter’s!

We’ve gathered in this chapel named for Pope Clement VII, among the most sacred places in this Basilica, positioned as it is so close to the relics of St. Peter.

On this Feast of the Epiphany, let us rejoice as the light of Christ, shining in our midst, lights the way to a future full of hope for St. Ignatius Parish, for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and for the Church throughout the world.

As you discern God’s will prayerfully, particularly regarding the possibility of a priestly vocation, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and on the beauty of God’s inner life and love revealed at his Baptism.