"The boat of the Church is not mine, not ours, but the Lord's, and he will not let it sink. He is the one who steers it through those whom he has chosen because that is how he wanted it:" These were the farewell words of Benedict XVI explaining the vision of faith to the next spiritual generation. Jesus ends his farewell discourse with an intercessory prayer for the disciples, who will be in the world. The humble pastors of the Church like St. Paul and Benedict XVI have this basic trust and confidence in the Father of Jesus Christ. That gave them the interior freedom to move towards the next stage of their pilgrimage and ministry without getting bogged down in the roles, duties and responsibilities of the previous stage.

Neither of them was seeking the principles of earthly life or lessons in survival (cf. Acts 20:22-24). They sought the zeal of a Spirit-filled evangelizer who witnesses, through words and deeds, to the good news of God's grace. These chosen ones claim only that they never compromised the good news (Acts 20:27); they fully belonged to the Church (John 17:10) and were responsible for what was entrusted to them (Acts 20: 26; John 17:9).