code: protected String internalFormatMessage(String pattern, Object[] args) {
          /* todo: perf -- could the MessageFormat objects be cached? */
          MessageFormat format = new MessageFormat(pattern);
          String msg = format.format(args).toString();
          return msg;
      }
docs: Internal convenience method that is used to format a message given a pattern
  and a set of arguments.
  
  @param pattern the pattern to format
  @param args the arguments to use when formatting
  @return the formatted string