More photos of today’s events.

At Mass in the Cathedral in Freising, where he was ordained, he preached, abandoning his written text, saying something like, "Whoever wants to, can read it later.":

Surrounded by his fellow Bavarians, including his brother and other priests from his ordination class, the Holy Father recalled the feelings he experienced during his ordination when he had laid facedown in that very cathedral.  The thought that, like St. Corbinian, who is represented by a bear on Benedict’s coat of arms, great saints came before him and would be with him gave a great sense of peace, the Holy Father said.

A visibly jubilant Pope Benedict then glanced down to his planned speech, slyly grinned, and to the joy of the congregation said, “I have here a whole homily, but I really don’t want to read it!”  This was again greeted with applause and smiles.

The Holy Father then began his unscripted testimony with the words, “I only want to reference two points.” 

“One, the harvest is great,” he said referencing the sacred scripture reading from the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. 

Pope Benedict explained, “the harvest is great – [Jesus] didn’t just mean in Palestine, the great harvest is today…it grows in the hearts of men waiting to be shown the way.  It is more than the word, more than hope, it is love.”

“God wants to serve man…He needs man to say yes, so his harvest will reach man,” the Holy Father continued.  “Help with this harvest so that we may say, everything must come from God.” 

Benedict told the priests and deacons that while Christians are becoming fewer and young people continue to face greater challenges in practicing their faith that they should not get discouraged in their ministry.  “Even the Pope thinks, ‘my powers are not enough.’”  Sometimes, he said, we must leave it to God and our fellow workers.  Sometimes, the Pope continued, you must say, “God, you must do it.  Everything comes from You.  I believe that here my power ends and the rest I leave to you God.  God, do what I cannot do.”