At a September 22 meeting with bishops newly appointed during the past year, Pope Benedict XVI said that a bishop's first priority should be prayer.A healthy spiritual life is indispensable to anyone who hopes to carry out an effective apostolate as a bishop, the Holy Father said, and thus "the chief place in the life of a successor to the Apostles must be reserved for God."
The bishop's prayers, the Pope continued, should support all the priests of his diocese, and should include petitions to God for new priestly and religious vocations.
Pope Benedict recognized the difficulties involved in finding time for intense mental prayer, in a world "where men and women are constantly rushing and losing themselves-- where people live as if God does not exist."
A prudent bishop will find ways to "creat places and times for prayer," he said.
He especially encouraged the new bishops to develop an energetic life of liturgical prayer in their dioceses, beginning with their cathedrals.
"Be men of prayer," the Pope repeated to his guests.
In their conversation with God, he encouraged them to show "the confidence of children, the boldness of friends, and the perseverance of Abraham."
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