Yesterday afternoon, the Holy Father, Pope Francis left Seoul and traveled by helicopter to Kkottongnae, a complex of religious and spiritual centres devoted to rehabilitation and health which was founded by Father John Oh Woong Jin.
Upon his arrival at the heliport, he was welcomed by the founder of the Community, Father John Oh; by the Bishop of Cheongiu, His Excellency, Gabriel Chang Bong-hun and by a few local authorities, as well as thousands of faithful.
The Holy Father was then accompanied (around 4:30pm) to the Centre for the rehabilitation of disabled persons called the House of Hope, where about 150 adult patients were waiting to welcome him, as well as about 50 disabled children who had come from a nearby Centre, as well as 70 health workers and teachers who work at the Centre.
Entering into the building barefoot, as a sign of respect, the Pope first paused in prayer in the chapel, then he met the disabled in one of the Centre's large rooms. After a few welcoming remarks offered by the Bishop of Cheongiu, the children performed a choreographed musical number and presented the Holy Father with a few of their artistic works.
Having greeted the disabled one by one, Pope Francis then left the House of Hope and traveled by car to the Training Centre known as the School of Love in order to meet there with members of Korea's Religious Communities.
Along the way, he stopped briefly to pray before the Garden of aborted children where there were a number of Korean pro-life activists and Korean missionary Father Lee Giu-won who has neither arms nor legs.
In the Auditorium at the School of Love in Kkottongnae, where courses in spirituality are normally held, the Holy Father, Pope Francis met around 5,000 religious men and women who are currently working in various capacities in Korea.
Following introductory remarks offered by the President of the Associations (both male and female) of the Major Superiors in Korea, the Pope shared the discourse which appears below.
Good evening! We have a little problem. If there is one thing we should never neglect, it is prayer; but today we will pray individually. I’ll tell you why we can’t pray Vespers together: it is because we have a problem with the departure of the helicopter. If we do not leave on time, we’ll be in danger of crashing! So we’ll just say a brief prayer to Our Lady. All together, let us pray to the Blessed Mother. Then the two Presidents will speak and I will do so after them.
Hail Mary…
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I greet you all with affection in the Lord. It is good to be with you today and to share these moments of communion. The great variety of charisms and apostolates which you represent wondrously enriches the life of the Church in Korea and beyond. In this setting of the celebration of Vespers where we have sung – we should have sung! - the praise of God’s goodness, I thank you, and all of your brothers and sisters, for your efforts to build up God’s Kingdom. I thank Father Hwang Seok-mo and Sister Scholastica Lee Kwang-ok, the Presidents of the Korean Conferences of Major Superiors of Men’s and Women’s Religious Institutes and Societies of Apostolic Life, for their kind words of welcome.
The words of the Psalm, My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever (Ps 73:26), invite us to think about our own lives. The Psalmist exudes joyful confidence in God. We all know that while joy is not expressed the same way at all times in life, especially at moments of great difficulty, it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved (Evangelii Gaudium, 6). The firm conviction of being loved by God is at the centre of your vocation: to be for others a tangible sign of the presence of God’s Kingdom, a foretaste of the eternal joys of heaven. Only if our witness is joyful will we attract men and women to Christ. And this joy is a gift which is nourished by a life of prayer, meditation on the word of God, the celebration of the sacraments and life in community, which is very important. When these are lacking, weaknesses and difficulties will emerge to dampen the joy we knew so well at the beginning of our journey.
For you, as men and women consecrated to God, this joy is rooted in the mystery of the Father’s mercy revealed in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Whether the charism of your Institute is directed more to contemplation or to the active life, you are challenged to become experts in divine mercy precisely through your life in community. From experience I know that community life is not always easy, but it is a providential training ground for the heart. It is unrealistic not to expect conflicts; misunderstandings will arise and they must be faced. Despite such difficulties, it is in community life that we are called to grow in mercy, forbearance and perfect charity.
The experience of God’s mercy, nourished by prayer and community, must shape all that you are, all that you do. Your chastity, poverty and obedience will be a joyful witness to God’s love in the measure that you stand firmly on the rock of his mercy. That is the rock. This is certainly the case with religious obedience. Mature and generous obedience requires that you cling in prayer to Christ who, taking the form of a servant, learned obedience through what he suffered (cf. Perfectae Caritatis, 14). There are no shortcuts: God desires our hearts completely and this means we have to let go and go out of ourselves more and more.
A lively experience of the Lord’s steadfast mercy also sustains the desire to achieve that perfection of charity which is born of purity of heart. Chastity expresses your single-minded dedication to the love of God who is the strength of our hearts. We all know what a personal and demanding commitment this entails. Temptations in this area call for humble trust in God, vigilance, perseverance and opening our heart to that wise brother or sister whom the Lord puts on our path.
Through the evangelical counsel of poverty you are able to recognize God’s mercy not only as a source of strength, but also as a treasure. It seems contradictory, but being poor means finding a treasure. Even when we are weary, we can offer him our hearts burdened by sin and weakness; at those times when we feel most helpless, we can reach out to Christ, who made himself poor in order that we might become rich (cf. 2 Cor 8:9). This fundamental need of ours to be forgiven and healed is itself a form of poverty which we must never lose sight of, no matter how many advances we make in virtue. It should also find concrete expression in your lifestyle, both as individuals and as communities. I think in particular of the need to avoid all those things which can distract you and cause bewilderment and scandal to others. In the consecrated life, poverty is both a wall and a mother. It is a wall because it protects the consecrated life, a mother because it helps it to grow and guides it along the right path. The hypocrisy of those consecrated men and women who profess vows of poverty, yet live like the rich, wounds the souls of the faithful and harms the Church. Think, too, of how dangerous a temptation it is to adopt a purely functional, worldly mentality which leads to placing our hope in human means alone and destroys the witness of poverty which our Lord Jesus Christ lived and taught us. Here I wish to thank your Presidents, because both of them have rightly mentioned the threat that globalization and consumerism pose to religious poverty. Thank you.
Dear brothers and sisters, with great humility, do all that you can to show that the consecrated life is a precious gift to the Church and to the world. Do not keep it to yourselves; share it, bringing Christ to every corner of this beloved country. Let your joy continue to find expression in your efforts to attract and nurture vocations, and recognize that all of you have some part in forming the consecrated men and women of tomorrow. Whether you are given more to contemplation or to the apostolic life, be zealous in your love of the Church in Korea and your desire to contribute, through your own specific charism, to its mission of proclaiming the Gospel and building up God’s people in unity, holiness and love.
I commend all of you to the loving care of Mary, Mother of the Church, and in a particular way I offer a heartfelt greeting to the aged and infirm members of your communities. And I cordially give you my blessing: May Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, bless you all.
Upon his arrival at the heliport, he was welcomed by the founder of the Community, Father John Oh; by the Bishop of Cheongiu, His Excellency, Gabriel Chang Bong-hun and by a few local authorities, as well as thousands of faithful.
The Holy Father was then accompanied (around 4:30pm) to the Centre for the rehabilitation of disabled persons called the House of Hope, where about 150 adult patients were waiting to welcome him, as well as about 50 disabled children who had come from a nearby Centre, as well as 70 health workers and teachers who work at the Centre.
Entering into the building barefoot, as a sign of respect, the Pope first paused in prayer in the chapel, then he met the disabled in one of the Centre's large rooms. After a few welcoming remarks offered by the Bishop of Cheongiu, the children performed a choreographed musical number and presented the Holy Father with a few of their artistic works.
Having greeted the disabled one by one, Pope Francis then left the House of Hope and traveled by car to the Training Centre known as the School of Love in order to meet there with members of Korea's Religious Communities.
Along the way, he stopped briefly to pray before the Garden of aborted children where there were a number of Korean pro-life activists and Korean missionary Father Lee Giu-won who has neither arms nor legs.
In the Auditorium at the School of Love in Kkottongnae, where courses in spirituality are normally held, the Holy Father, Pope Francis met around 5,000 religious men and women who are currently working in various capacities in Korea.
Following introductory remarks offered by the President of the Associations (both male and female) of the Major Superiors in Korea, the Pope shared the discourse which appears below.
Address of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the meeting with religious men and women
Kkottongnae, Korea
Good evening! We have a little problem. If there is one thing we should never neglect, it is prayer; but today we will pray individually. I’ll tell you why we can’t pray Vespers together: it is because we have a problem with the departure of the helicopter. If we do not leave on time, we’ll be in danger of crashing! So we’ll just say a brief prayer to Our Lady. All together, let us pray to the Blessed Mother. Then the two Presidents will speak and I will do so after them.
Hail Mary…
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I greet you all with affection in the Lord. It is good to be with you today and to share these moments of communion. The great variety of charisms and apostolates which you represent wondrously enriches the life of the Church in Korea and beyond. In this setting of the celebration of Vespers where we have sung – we should have sung! - the praise of God’s goodness, I thank you, and all of your brothers and sisters, for your efforts to build up God’s Kingdom. I thank Father Hwang Seok-mo and Sister Scholastica Lee Kwang-ok, the Presidents of the Korean Conferences of Major Superiors of Men’s and Women’s Religious Institutes and Societies of Apostolic Life, for their kind words of welcome.
The words of the Psalm, My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever (Ps 73:26), invite us to think about our own lives. The Psalmist exudes joyful confidence in God. We all know that while joy is not expressed the same way at all times in life, especially at moments of great difficulty, it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved (Evangelii Gaudium, 6). The firm conviction of being loved by God is at the centre of your vocation: to be for others a tangible sign of the presence of God’s Kingdom, a foretaste of the eternal joys of heaven. Only if our witness is joyful will we attract men and women to Christ. And this joy is a gift which is nourished by a life of prayer, meditation on the word of God, the celebration of the sacraments and life in community, which is very important. When these are lacking, weaknesses and difficulties will emerge to dampen the joy we knew so well at the beginning of our journey.
For you, as men and women consecrated to God, this joy is rooted in the mystery of the Father’s mercy revealed in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Whether the charism of your Institute is directed more to contemplation or to the active life, you are challenged to become experts in divine mercy precisely through your life in community. From experience I know that community life is not always easy, but it is a providential training ground for the heart. It is unrealistic not to expect conflicts; misunderstandings will arise and they must be faced. Despite such difficulties, it is in community life that we are called to grow in mercy, forbearance and perfect charity.
The experience of God’s mercy, nourished by prayer and community, must shape all that you are, all that you do. Your chastity, poverty and obedience will be a joyful witness to God’s love in the measure that you stand firmly on the rock of his mercy. That is the rock. This is certainly the case with religious obedience. Mature and generous obedience requires that you cling in prayer to Christ who, taking the form of a servant, learned obedience through what he suffered (cf. Perfectae Caritatis, 14). There are no shortcuts: God desires our hearts completely and this means we have to let go and go out of ourselves more and more.
A lively experience of the Lord’s steadfast mercy also sustains the desire to achieve that perfection of charity which is born of purity of heart. Chastity expresses your single-minded dedication to the love of God who is the strength of our hearts. We all know what a personal and demanding commitment this entails. Temptations in this area call for humble trust in God, vigilance, perseverance and opening our heart to that wise brother or sister whom the Lord puts on our path.
Through the evangelical counsel of poverty you are able to recognize God’s mercy not only as a source of strength, but also as a treasure. It seems contradictory, but being poor means finding a treasure. Even when we are weary, we can offer him our hearts burdened by sin and weakness; at those times when we feel most helpless, we can reach out to Christ, who made himself poor in order that we might become rich (cf. 2 Cor 8:9). This fundamental need of ours to be forgiven and healed is itself a form of poverty which we must never lose sight of, no matter how many advances we make in virtue. It should also find concrete expression in your lifestyle, both as individuals and as communities. I think in particular of the need to avoid all those things which can distract you and cause bewilderment and scandal to others. In the consecrated life, poverty is both a wall and a mother. It is a wall because it protects the consecrated life, a mother because it helps it to grow and guides it along the right path. The hypocrisy of those consecrated men and women who profess vows of poverty, yet live like the rich, wounds the souls of the faithful and harms the Church. Think, too, of how dangerous a temptation it is to adopt a purely functional, worldly mentality which leads to placing our hope in human means alone and destroys the witness of poverty which our Lord Jesus Christ lived and taught us. Here I wish to thank your Presidents, because both of them have rightly mentioned the threat that globalization and consumerism pose to religious poverty. Thank you.
Dear brothers and sisters, with great humility, do all that you can to show that the consecrated life is a precious gift to the Church and to the world. Do not keep it to yourselves; share it, bringing Christ to every corner of this beloved country. Let your joy continue to find expression in your efforts to attract and nurture vocations, and recognize that all of you have some part in forming the consecrated men and women of tomorrow. Whether you are given more to contemplation or to the apostolic life, be zealous in your love of the Church in Korea and your desire to contribute, through your own specific charism, to its mission of proclaiming the Gospel and building up God’s people in unity, holiness and love.
I commend all of you to the loving care of Mary, Mother of the Church, and in a particular way I offer a heartfelt greeting to the aged and infirm members of your communities. And I cordially give you my blessing: May Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, bless you all.
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