Vatican City, 2 February 2016 (VIS) – The following are extensive extracts of the Holy Father’s extemporaneous address to the participants in the Jubilee of Consecrated Life, which took place yesterday in the Paul VI Hall. This afternoon in St. Peter’s Basilica he will celebrate the Mass to conclude the Year of Consecrated Life.
“I have prepared a text for this occasion regarding the themes of consecrated life and three of its most important pillars: prophecy, closeness and hope.
“Men and women religious – that is, men and women consecrated to the service of the Lord who follow in the Church this road of poverty and of chaste love that leads to a paternity and maternity for all the Church, an obedience … that is not military, no; that is discipline, it is something else. It is the obedience of giving one’s heart. And this is prophecy. ‘But don’t you want to do something else?’ ‘Yes, but according to the rules I must do this. … And if something isn’t clear to me, I speak with the superior, and after dialogue, I obey’. This is prophecy, against the seed of anarchy, that the devil sows. … Prophecy means telling people that there is a road of happiness, greatness, a road that fills you with joy, that is indeed Jesus’ way. It is the road of being close to Jesus. Prophecy is a gift, it is a charism that must be asked for from the Holy Spirit: that I might know how to say that word, at the right moment; that I do the right thing at the right moment; that all my life may be a prophecy”.
The other word is closeness. Men and women are consecrated, not to distance themselves from people and to live in comfort; no, to become closer to and to understand the life of Christians and non-Christians, their suffering, their problems, the many things that can be understood only if a consecrated man or woman is close to them. … Consecrated life is not a status that allows us to watch others from a distance. Consecrated life must lead us to closeness to the people: physical and spiritual closeness, knowing the people. … Who is the person closest to a consecrated man or woman? His brother or her sister in the community. And also a pleasant, a good closeness, with love. … One way of alienating people is to gossip … the terrorism of gossip. A person who gossips is a terrorist in his or her own community, who throws words against others like a bomb, and then moves on. … The apostle James said that the most difficult virtue, the most difficult human and spiritual virtue to have, is that of controlling one’s tongue. … ‘But Father, if there is something, a defect, something to be corrected?’. You say it directly to the person: you have this attitude that bothers me, or is not good. Or if this would not be appropriate – because at times it is not prudent – then you can say it to the person who can remedy the situation, who can resolve the problem, and to no-one else. ‘What? In the chapter?’ Yes! In public, all that you feel you must say, because there is the temptation not to say things there, and then outside: ‘Have you seen the superior? Than why didn’t you say it there, in the chapter? Is this clear? These are virtues of closeness”.
“And then, hope. I confess that it troubles me greatly when I see the decline in vocations, when I receive bishops and ask them, ‘How many seminarians do you have?’, and they tell me, ‘Four or five…’. When, in your religious communities – male or female – you have one or two novices, and the community is ageing … When there are monasteries, great monasteries … that are kept going by four or five elderly nuns … Faced with all this, I am tempted to ask, against hope, ‘Lord, what is happening? Why has the womb of consecrated life become so barren? Some congregations have experimented … what do they do? They welcome, ‘Come, come, come!’. And then there are problems inside. No. It is necessary to welcome in a serious way. We must discern well if this is a true vocation and help it to grow. And I think that, counter to the temptation to lose hope, that leads us to this barrenness, we must pray more, and pray tirelessly. …’Our congregation needs sons, daughters …’: the Lord Who has been so generous will not fail to keep His promise. But we must ask Him. We must knock on the door of His heart. Because there is a danger – it is unpleasant, but I have to say it – when a religious Congregation sees that it has no sons and starts to become increasingly small, it becomes attached to money. And you know that money is the dung of the devil. When they cannot have the grace of vocations and sons, they think that money will save their lives, and they think about their old age; that they may not lack this or that. And this is not hope! Hope comes only from the Lord! Money will never give you this”.
“I thank you for what you do. Consecrated persons, each one with his or her own charism. And I would like to underline what women religious and nuns do. What would the Church be without nuns? I have said this before: when you go to hospital, to colleges, parishes, neighbourhoods, missions, there are men and women who have given their lives. …When you go to a cemetery and see the many missionaries and nuns who died at the age of forty, from sicknesses, from the fevers they caught, who burned their lives. These are saints, these are seeds! We must ask the Lord to look to these cemeteries and to see what our antecedents did, and to give us more vocations, because we need them”….
The Year of Consecrated Life, which began
on 30 November 2014, ended with prayer and gratitude. On Tuesday afternoon, 2
February, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Pope Francis presided at
the Eucharistic celebration in St Peter’s Basilica along with thousands of
consecrated men and women celebrating their World Day. In an interview with L’Osservatore
Romano , Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for the
Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, gave an
accounting and indicated the horizons of this Year. The following is a
translation of the interview, which was given in Italian. Have the objectives proposed for the
Year of Consecrated Life been reached? I have a deep sense of gratitude to God and
to Pope Francis for this Year. It has been like a touch of grace for us and has
revitalized hope. It has led us to look at consecrated life in a positive way
and also at the problems that are there: this means actual problems, such as
aging or the lack of vocations on certain continents. We have rediscovered that
basically there is a special vocation which is an integral part of the Church.
It is not an appendage, it’s not something temporary that is about to end, but
is a gift of God to the community. It has been like this from the very
beginning; and we are certain that God will continue to call, even in many new
forms. This profound sense of gratitude and hope is extremely important. How is the Jubilee challenging
consecrated people? In places where I have been I’ve seen that
the Year of Mercy is being experienced as an appeal to bring our relationship
with God back into balance. He is the judge, but he is merciful. This
definition expresses the profound identity of God. And we must transform it
into personal and communitary consciousness. The fact that God employs mercy
with us means that we too are called to be merciful toward others. In this
sense, our relationships with others change a great deal. How far along is the revision of the
document ‘Mutuae Relationis’ on relationships between bishops and religious? We have consulted and
we are working together with the [men’s] Union of Superiors General and the
[women’s] International Union of Superiors General. It is a very fruitful
collaboration. The Pope has defined two central principles to work on: the
spirituality of communion and the co-essentiality of the hierarchical and
charismatic dimensions. I think we have to look at the relationship between
hierarchy and charisms in the sense of communion. In the spirituality of
communion, indeed, the relationships complete each other and become true,
positive. And this is how difficulties in relating are overcome. The second
principle is that of bringing back to light the co-essentiality of the
hierarchical and charismatic dimensions, because these two dimensions come from
the beginnings of the Church. The Holy Spirit who speaks in both dimensions
does not contradict himself. This has some practical consequences, such as the
need to restore true relationships in truth, in mercy, and in freedom. We must
find this maturity for the good of the Church. This means that we need to be
much more committed on the journey of communion among all the institutes, and
between the institutes and the local Churches….
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis called China a “great country,” and said the world should not “fear” China’s growing power, but that the “true balance of peace is realized through dialogue.” The Holy Father was speaking in an interview about China with the Asia Times , an online newspaper based in Hong Kong. Pope Francis told the interviewer, Asia Times columnist and China Renmin University senior researcher Francesco Sisci, he had been fascinated by China from a young age. “For me, China has always been a reference point of greatness. A great country,” Pope Francis said. “But more than a country, a great culture, with an inexhaustible wisdom.” Click below to hear our report
When asked about the challenges faced by the rising influence of the country, the Holy Father said the rest of the world should not react with “fear.” “But when a people moves forward, this does not worry me because it means they are making history,” the Pope said. “And I believe that the Chinese people are moving forward and this is their greatness. Pope Francis said the Western world, the Eastern world, and China all have the capacity and strength to maintain the balance of peace, and this balance will be found through “dialogue,” and no other way. “Encounter is achieved through dialogue,” Pope Francis said. “The true balance of peace is realized through dialogue.” The Holy Father also commended China for recently loosening its “one-child” policy. “The problem for China of not having children must be very painful; because the pyramid is then inverted and a child has to bear the burden of his father, mother, grandfather and grandmother,” Pope Francis said. “And this is exhausting, demanding, disorientating. It is not the natural way.” Pope Francis concluded the interview by sending good wishes to the Chinese nation for the upcoming celebrations marking the Chinese New Year of the Monkey. “On the eve of the New Year, I wish to convey my best wishes and greetings to President Xi Jinping and to all the Chinese people,” he said. “And I wish to express my hope that they never lose their historical awareness of being a great people, with a great history of wisdom, and that they have much to offer to the world,” – Pope Francis continued – “The world looks to this great wisdom of yours. In this New Year, with this awareness, may you continue to go forward in order to help and cooperate with everyone in caring for our common home and our common peoples. ” (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Thousands of religious gathered in the Paul VI hall on Monday for an audience with Pope Francis concluding the Year for Consecrated Life.
Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report
At the heart of Pope Francis’ address to the men and women religious were three words, prophesy, proximity and hope.
Putting aside his prepared remarks, the Pope spoke directly to those present about obedience and how difficult it is to be obedient all the time. That level of obedience, the Holy Father said, was what the Son of God had. But he added, that there were some religious men and women who had a high level of obedience and underlined that this gift from the heart was in its nature prophesy.
Turning his attention to the second word proximity, the Pope stressed how important it was for those consecrated persons to reach out to both Christians and non-Christians, in their sufferings, their problems.
The Holy Father also renewed is warning against the damage that can be caused by gossip in the religious life. He again compared the gossiping religious to a terrorist who throws a bomb into the middle of their community.
Finally, focusing on the word hope, the Pope said having hope was at times difficult for him, especially when it comes to vocations. He described his sadness hearing about orders and monasteries with few religious or communities where the priests and nuns were getting older without people to carry on their work. He also underlined that prayer not money was the answer to an increase in candidates to the consecrated life. Thanking in particular nuns for the work they do, the Pope said, “what would the Church be like without nuns.”
The Year for Consecrated Life concludes on February 2 nd with a Mass in St Peter’s Basilica presided over by the Holy Father.
(from Vatican Radio)…
There can be neither humility nor holiness
without taking the path of humiliation. Francis spoke of this truth as he
recalled the story of David during Mass at Santa Marta on Monday morning, 1 February. “In
the first reading the story of King David continues”, the Pope began, referring
to the day’s passage from the Second Book of Samuel (15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13).
The story, he explained, “began when Samuel went to the house of [David’s]
father, and David was anointed king”, even though he was still a boy. Then “he
grew up, he had his problems, but he was always a man respectful of the king
who did not like him”. In fact the king “knew that he would be his successor”.
And “in the end David managed to unite the kingdom of Israel: everyone together
with him”. However, “he was
feeling insecure and his zeal for the house of the Lord began to weaken”. Precisely “at that moment — we heard the
other day — David was one step away from becoming corrupt”, Francis continued.
Thus “the holy King David, a sinner but a saint, became corrupt”. But then “the
Prophet Nathan, sent by God” helped him “understand what a bad thing he had
done, an evil thing: because a corrupt person doesn’t realize it. It takes a
special grace to change the heart of a corrupt person”. Thus, “David, who still
had a noble heart”, recognized his sin, “he recognized his fault”. What did
Nathan say to him? These were his words: “The Lord has forgiven your sin, but
the corruption you have sown will grow. You killed an innocent man to hide
adultery. The sword shall never depart from your house”. Thus, the Pope
explained, “God forgives sin, David converts but the wounds of corruption are
difficult to heal. We see this in so many parts of the world”. This
is the point in David’s story, Francis affirmed, that “we arrive at in today’s
passage: David’s son battles against his father. He wants power: his son is
already corrupt”. But “what does David do? With the nobility that he had won
back after his sin — and also the penance he had done to save the son who had
died, the child of adultery — he rejoins his own: ‘Let us flee the city lest
Absalom — his son — should overtake us, then visit disaster upon us and put the
city to the sword’, as was customary in those times”. The
Pontiff recalled that “God castigates David harshly: ‘The sword shall never
depart from your house’”. But, Francis continued, “he defends the house and
flees, he leaves”. Is he perhaps “a coward? No, he is a father”. And “he allows
the ark to return”, he does not “use God to defend himself”. In other words,
David “leaves in order to save his people: this is the path of holiness that
David began to follow, after the moment in which he became corrupt”. The
passage, the Pope continued, presents David weeping as he climbs the steep
Mount of Olives. “His head was covered”,
a sign of mourning, and he was walking barefoot. He was doing penance.
“And all those who were with him also had their heads covered and they were
weeping as they went: weeping and penance”. Scripture also tells us that “some,
who did not like him, began to follow and curse him”. Among them was Shimei,
who called him “murderer”, reminding him of “the crime he had committed against
Uriah the Hittite in order to cover his adultery”. Abishai, one of the people
closest to David, “wanted to defend him” and wanted to take off Shimei’s head
in order to silence him. But David goes “a step further: ‘If he is cursing it
is because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David!’”. He then “says to his
servants: ‘My own son, who came forth form my loins, is seeking my life”. He is
referring to his son Absalom. This is why he turns again to his servants
saying: “Let this Benjaminite curse, for the Lord has told him to”. The
question, Francis explained, is that “David is able to see the signs: it is the
moment of his humiliation, it is the moment in which he is paying for his
fault”. Therefore, he says: “Perhaps the Lord will look upon my affliction and
make it up to me with benefits for the curses he is uttering this day”.
Basically, “he entrusts himself to the Lord’s hands: this is David’s path, from
the moment of corruption to this entrustment to the hands of the Lord. This is
holiness. This is humility”. The
Pope continued. “I think”, he said, “that each one of us, should someone say
something bad about us”, would react by saying “No, I didn’t do it, this isn’t
true, no!”. In fact, we “immediately try to say that it isn’t true”. Or else
“we do as Shimei did: we say something even worse in response”. But humility,
Francis stated, “can reach a heart only through humiliation: there is no
humility without humiliation”. And, he said, “if you are not able to bear some
humiliation in your life, you are not humble. That’s how it is: I would say it’s
that mathematical, it’s that simple!”. For
this reason, the Pope continued, “the only path to humility is humiliation”.
Therefore, “David’s goal, which is holiness, is reached through humiliation”.
Also, “the goal of holiness that God gives to his children, gives to the
Church, comes through the humiliation of his Son who lets himself be cursed,
who lets himself be borne on the Cross, unjustly”. Francis clarified that “this
Son of God who humbles himself, is the path of holiness: David, with his attitude,
prophesies the humiliation of Jesus”. Before
ending his homily Francis asked of “the Lord, for each of us, for all the
Church, the grace of humility, but also the grace of understanding that it is
impossible to be humble without humiliation”….