Titled, "The Priest as Steward of the Mysteries of God," the following is excerpted from Zenit... VATICAN CITY, MARCH 9, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is the first Lenten sermon Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the Pontifical Household, gave Friday at the Vatican in the presence of Benedict XVI and the Curia. Ministers of a New Covenant The Lord has granted me to be a witness of the extraordinary grace that is being revealed for the Church in this Year for Priests. Countless are the retreats of the clergy being held in different parts of the world. In one of these retreats, organized in Manila by the Episcopal Conference of the Philippines last January, 5,500 priests and 90 bishops took part. It was, the cardinal of Manila said, a new Pentecost. During an hour of guided adoration, at the invitation of the preacher, all that immense expanse of priests in white vestments cried out with one voice: "Lord Jesus, we are happy to be your priests." And one could see from their faces that they were not just words. The same experience, in a more reduced number, I experienced with all the clergy of the Sabah region in Malaysia, later in Singapore and recently in the shrine of Loreto with around 200 Italian bishops and priests. All of them asked me to transmit to the Holy Father their thanks and greeting and I do so with joy at this moment... (Read the full homily on Zenit)