At 11:05am this morning (5:05am EDT), in the Consistory Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience participants taking part in the XV General Chapter of the Congregation of Missionaries of Saint Charles (Scalabrinians).
The Holy Father entrusted the prepared speech to those in attendance and then proceeded to offer some unscripted remarks.
Dear brothers,
I am pleased to meet you on the occasion of your General Chapter and to address to each one of you my cordial greetings, beginning with the new Superior General, whom I thank for his words and to whom I extend every good wish for his ministry.
At the center of your reflection these days you have placed the theme of Meeting and walking. Jesus walked with them (cf Lk 24:15). This reference is to the story of the disciples of Emmaus, who meet the risen Jesus along the way. He approaches in order to walk with them and to explain the Scriptures to them. Your Chapter is a privileged moment of grace for your religious family, called to assume this dual attitude of the divine Master towards those who are the object of your pastoral care: to proclaim the Word to them and to walk with them. It is a matter of finding ever new ways of evangelization and of proximity, in order to fulfill your charism - which places you at the service of migrants - with dynamic fidelity.
Faced with today's migratory phenomenon, which is very vast and complex, your Congregation draws the necessary spiritual resources from the prophetic witness of your Founder - who is as current as ever - and from the experience of many confreres who have worked with great generosity from the very beginning of your existence - 131 years ago - until today. Today as yesterday, your mission takes place in difficult contexts, sometimes characterized by attitudes of suspicion and prejudice, or even rejection towards the foreign person. This motivates you even more to live with courageous and persevering apostolic enthusiasm, to bring the love of Christ to those who - far from their homelands and families - are in danger of feeling far from God.
The biblical icon of the disciples of Emmaus shows Jesus explaining the Scriptures as he walks with them. Evangelization is done by walking with people. First of all we must listen to people, listen to the history of the communities; above all the disappointed hopes, the expectations of people's hearts, the trials of their faith ... First of all listen, and do it in an attitude of com-passion, of sincere closeness. How many stories there are in the hearts of migrants! Beautiful stories and ugly ones. The danger is that they might be removed: the ugly ones, it is obvious; but also the beautiful ones, because remembering makes people suffer. And so the risk is that the migrant becomes a person who is uprooted, faceless, without identity. But this is a very serious loss, which can be avoided by listening, walking alongside people and especially migrant communities. Being able to do this is a grace, and it is also a resource for the Church and for the world.
After listening, like Jesus, we must share the Word and the sign of the broken Bread. It is fascinating to make Jesus known to people of different cultures through the sharing of the Scriptures; tell them about his mystery of love: his incarnation, his passion, his death and resurrection. To share with migrants the amazement of a salvation that is historical - it is situated in the context of history - and yet it is universal, it is for everyone! To enjoy together the joy of reading the Bible, to welcome the Word of God offered for us today within its pages; discovering that through the Scriptures, God wants to give these concrete men and women his Word of salvation, of hope, of liberation, of peace. And then, inviting them to the Mensa of the Eucharist, where words fail and all that remains is the Sign of the Broken Bread: the Sacrament in which everything is summarized, in which the Son of God offers his Body and his Blood for the life of those travellers, those men and women who risk losing hope and who prefer to cancel the past so that they will not have to suffer.
Today, the Risen Christ sends you, in the Church, to walk together with many brothers and sisters who are making their way as migrants from Jerusalem to Emmaus. This mission is ancient and always new; it is tiring, and sometimes painful, but it can also make you cry with joy. I encourage you to carry it out with your own style, matured in the fruitful encounter between the charism of Blessed Scalabrini and the historical circumstances you encounter. This style is part of the attention you place on the dignity of the human person, especially where it is most wounded and threatened. This is part of the educational commitment with the new generations, catechesis and the pastoral care of the family.
Dear brothers, let us not forget that the condition of every mission in the Church is that we are united to the Risen Christ like branches to the vine (cf Jn 15:1-9). Otherwise what we do becomes social activism. This is why I repeat to you the exhortation to remain in him. First of all we need to let ourselves be renewed in faith and hope by Jesus who is alive in the Word and in the Eucharist, but also in sacramental forgiveness. We need to be with him in silent adoration, in lectio divina and in the recitation of the Virgin Mary's Rosary.
And we need to lead healthy community lives, simple but not trivial, not mediocre. I appreciated when the Superior General said that the Spirit calls you to live communion in diversity among you. Yes, as a testimony but first of all as a joy for you, as a human and as a Christian; this is truly ecclesial wealth. I also encourage you to continue the journey of sharing with the laity, facing the challenges of today together; as well as taking care of the itineraries of ongoing formation.
Brothers, I thank you for this gathering. I pray that your Chapter will bear much good fruit! We ask this through the intercession of Our Mother Mary, of Saint Charles Borromeo and of Blessed John Baptist Scalabrini. I warmly bless you and all the Scalabrinian Missionaries. And you too, please do not forget to pray for me.
The Holy Father entrusted the prepared speech to those in attendance and then proceeded to offer some unscripted remarks.
Prepared greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis
for the meeting with the Scalabrini
Dear brothers,
I am pleased to meet you on the occasion of your General Chapter and to address to each one of you my cordial greetings, beginning with the new Superior General, whom I thank for his words and to whom I extend every good wish for his ministry.
At the center of your reflection these days you have placed the theme of Meeting and walking. Jesus walked with them (cf Lk 24:15). This reference is to the story of the disciples of Emmaus, who meet the risen Jesus along the way. He approaches in order to walk with them and to explain the Scriptures to them. Your Chapter is a privileged moment of grace for your religious family, called to assume this dual attitude of the divine Master towards those who are the object of your pastoral care: to proclaim the Word to them and to walk with them. It is a matter of finding ever new ways of evangelization and of proximity, in order to fulfill your charism - which places you at the service of migrants - with dynamic fidelity.
Faced with today's migratory phenomenon, which is very vast and complex, your Congregation draws the necessary spiritual resources from the prophetic witness of your Founder - who is as current as ever - and from the experience of many confreres who have worked with great generosity from the very beginning of your existence - 131 years ago - until today. Today as yesterday, your mission takes place in difficult contexts, sometimes characterized by attitudes of suspicion and prejudice, or even rejection towards the foreign person. This motivates you even more to live with courageous and persevering apostolic enthusiasm, to bring the love of Christ to those who - far from their homelands and families - are in danger of feeling far from God.
The biblical icon of the disciples of Emmaus shows Jesus explaining the Scriptures as he walks with them. Evangelization is done by walking with people. First of all we must listen to people, listen to the history of the communities; above all the disappointed hopes, the expectations of people's hearts, the trials of their faith ... First of all listen, and do it in an attitude of com-passion, of sincere closeness. How many stories there are in the hearts of migrants! Beautiful stories and ugly ones. The danger is that they might be removed: the ugly ones, it is obvious; but also the beautiful ones, because remembering makes people suffer. And so the risk is that the migrant becomes a person who is uprooted, faceless, without identity. But this is a very serious loss, which can be avoided by listening, walking alongside people and especially migrant communities. Being able to do this is a grace, and it is also a resource for the Church and for the world.
After listening, like Jesus, we must share the Word and the sign of the broken Bread. It is fascinating to make Jesus known to people of different cultures through the sharing of the Scriptures; tell them about his mystery of love: his incarnation, his passion, his death and resurrection. To share with migrants the amazement of a salvation that is historical - it is situated in the context of history - and yet it is universal, it is for everyone! To enjoy together the joy of reading the Bible, to welcome the Word of God offered for us today within its pages; discovering that through the Scriptures, God wants to give these concrete men and women his Word of salvation, of hope, of liberation, of peace. And then, inviting them to the Mensa of the Eucharist, where words fail and all that remains is the Sign of the Broken Bread: the Sacrament in which everything is summarized, in which the Son of God offers his Body and his Blood for the life of those travellers, those men and women who risk losing hope and who prefer to cancel the past so that they will not have to suffer.
Today, the Risen Christ sends you, in the Church, to walk together with many brothers and sisters who are making their way as migrants from Jerusalem to Emmaus. This mission is ancient and always new; it is tiring, and sometimes painful, but it can also make you cry with joy. I encourage you to carry it out with your own style, matured in the fruitful encounter between the charism of Blessed Scalabrini and the historical circumstances you encounter. This style is part of the attention you place on the dignity of the human person, especially where it is most wounded and threatened. This is part of the educational commitment with the new generations, catechesis and the pastoral care of the family.
Dear brothers, let us not forget that the condition of every mission in the Church is that we are united to the Risen Christ like branches to the vine (cf Jn 15:1-9). Otherwise what we do becomes social activism. This is why I repeat to you the exhortation to remain in him. First of all we need to let ourselves be renewed in faith and hope by Jesus who is alive in the Word and in the Eucharist, but also in sacramental forgiveness. We need to be with him in silent adoration, in lectio divina and in the recitation of the Virgin Mary's Rosary.
And we need to lead healthy community lives, simple but not trivial, not mediocre. I appreciated when the Superior General said that the Spirit calls you to live communion in diversity among you. Yes, as a testimony but first of all as a joy for you, as a human and as a Christian; this is truly ecclesial wealth. I also encourage you to continue the journey of sharing with the laity, facing the challenges of today together; as well as taking care of the itineraries of ongoing formation.
Brothers, I thank you for this gathering. I pray that your Chapter will bear much good fruit! We ask this through the intercession of Our Mother Mary, of Saint Charles Borromeo and of Blessed John Baptist Scalabrini. I warmly bless you and all the Scalabrinian Missionaries. And you too, please do not forget to pray for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment