reading and prayer for the sixth day of the novendiales

A reading from Pope John Paul II's Encyclical Ut Unum Sint ("That All May Be One," nos. 92-93):

"As the heir to the mission of Peter in the Church, which has been made fruitful by the blood of the Princes of the Apostles, the Bishop of Rome exercises a ministry originating in the maniforld mercy of God....The authority proper to this ministry is completely at the service of God's merciful plan and it must always be seen in this perspective. Its power is explained from this perspective. Associating himself with Peter's threefold profession of love, which corresponds to the earlier threefold denial, his Successor knows that he must be a sign of mercy. His is a ministry of mercy, born of an act of Christ's own mercy....The Chruch of God is called by Christ to manifest to a world ensnared by its sins and evil designs that, despite everything, God in his mercy can convert hearts to unity and enable them to enter into communion with him."

Prayer:

All-powerful God,
you made Pope John Paul, your servant,
the guide of your family.
May he enjoy the reward of all his work
and share the eternal joy of his Lord,
who lives and reigns with you forever and ever. Amen.