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Benedict XVI's spiritual exercises this week have been a "profound experience" for the Pope, says a Vatican spokesman.

Monday was a day of "listening," Father Guti�rrez explained, centered on the "lectio divina" of a well-known biblical passage as paradigm of the vocational calling, God's calling to the prophet Samuel (1 Kings 19:1-21).

Following the tradition of the Church to consecrate Thursday to Eucharistic worship and the veneration of the ministerial priesthood, that day of this week was "Christological," that is, dedicated to reflect on the person of Jesus Christ, and the preacher reflected in depth on the call to the first disciples, said Father Guti�rrez.

"Both the lectio divina as well as the morning meditations followed this text to understand Jesus' role in the life of the one called, of each priest," he explained.

Today, the meditation centered on the Virgin Mary, model of response to the divine call. As Father Guti�rrez explained, "the Holy Father and his collaborators meditated, following the texts of the Magnificat and the Annunciation, both taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke, on the figure of our heavenly Mother, seeing in her the example of the confirmation of God when he calls one of his children."

"The preacher presented today for reflection the figure of Pope John Paul II," he added, "a person who lived his priestly, episcopal and Petrine ministry always trusting the Virgin."