At 10:30am this morning (4:30am EDT), in the Hall of Popes inside the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience those who are participating in the General Chapter of the Institute of Charity (known as the Rosminians).
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
I am happy to welcome you on the occasion of your General Chapter and I greet all of you with affection, beginning with your General Provost, Father Vito Nardin, who I thank for his words. Your visit demonstrates the attachment to the Church and to the Holy See that was recommended and experienced by your Founder, Blessed Antonio Rosmini. He was a hero. He loved to say: A Christian must nourish within himself an affection, an attachment, and a limitless respect for the Holy See and for the Roman Pontiff (Maxims of Christian Perfection adapted for every kind of person, Reading III, number 6). Faithfulness to the see of Peter expresses unity in diversity and ecclesial communion, indispensable elements of any fruitful mission.
During your assembly, you have tried to reflect on the theme Be perfect ... be merciful. It is a question of bringing to the fore the joyful news that every Christian is called to holiness, and to walk this path together in charity. This perspective, which is exquisitely evangelical, is a focal point of the teaching of your Founder which can be found in a special way in the book of the Maxims. Sanctity and the exercise of virtues are not reserved for the few, or even for any particular moment of existence. Everyone can live them in daily fidelity to the Christian vocation; consecrated persons, in particular, in faithful adherence to religious profession. In this sense, Blessed Rosmini prayed: O God, send us your heroes. What I emphasized in the recent Motu proprio Majorem hac dilectionem on the heroism of life was evident to him, that is, "an offering of a life for others, maintained until death" (MHD, 5). Holiness is the way of true reform of the Church, which, as Rosmini clearly saw, transforms the world to the extent to which it reforms itself.
Your Founder wanted to attribute to his religious family the title of Institute of charity, precisely in order to highlight the supremacy of the virtue of charity, which, as the Apostle Paul says, must be placed above all (Col 3:14) ). And Rosmini accompanied charity with a strong inner firmness, which is absolutely fearless in the silence: his example spurs you to progress in the fruitfulness of inner silence and in the heroism of external silence. This is the path that produces the fruit of goodness and holiness, the path that the Saints have traveled and which the Church points out to every believer. It is also important to maintain that holy indifference that your Founder drew from Saint Ignatius of Loyola: without it, it is not possible to implement authentic universal charity.
In your ecclesial activity, I invite you to arrange the works of corporal, intellectual, spiritual and pastoral charity in such a way as to always indulge the Holy Spirit who indicates where, when, and how to love. As far as educational activity is concerned, it is not limited to simple instruction, but includes intellectual charity. In fact, the living centre of Christian education is the science that is transmitted, beginning with the Word of God, whose fullness is Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. Your apostolic presence has radiated in India, Tanzania and Kenya, as well as in the United States of America and Europe: I encourage you to be men with hands always stretched out towards the suffering, to bring them the help of faith and charity. I am thinking in particular of your confreres and the Rosminian Sisters who work in Venezuela, called to bear witness to spiritual and material closeness to those suffering people.
It is also good that your Institute should continue to reflect carefully on its own charism and, considering the fruits that have matured over the years, that you may increasingly open yourselves to the expectations of the Church and of the world. With the light of the Holy Spirit, you will find ways to continue with renewed enthusiasm, catching the signs of the times, the social urgencies and spiritual and material poverty of those who await words and gestures of salvation and hope. In this apostolic work you are joined by the Ascritti: clerics and laymen who, living in the world, wish to attain evangelical perfection in communion with your Institute. It is good that they are made more and more involved in your community life.
Dear brothers, your Institute, with the special focus of the Rosminian charism, can still offer a valid service in the proclamation of the Gospel. I urge you to propose with constancy and foresight the spiritual and doctrinal heritage that you have inherited. Do not allow inevitable difficulties to discourage you, but may they encourage you to trust always in God to continue with joy and hope the mission that He has entrusted to you. May the Holy Spirit make you living instruments of universal charity in the Church and in the world, capable of helping those you meet in your apostolate to incessantly renew hope, which does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5).
I entrust you to the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary and with all my heart, I impart my Apostolic blessing. Please, don't forget to pray for me. Thank you.
(Original text in Italian)
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
addressed to members of the Institute of Charity
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
I am happy to welcome you on the occasion of your General Chapter and I greet all of you with affection, beginning with your General Provost, Father Vito Nardin, who I thank for his words. Your visit demonstrates the attachment to the Church and to the Holy See that was recommended and experienced by your Founder, Blessed Antonio Rosmini. He was a hero. He loved to say: A Christian must nourish within himself an affection, an attachment, and a limitless respect for the Holy See and for the Roman Pontiff (Maxims of Christian Perfection adapted for every kind of person, Reading III, number 6). Faithfulness to the see of Peter expresses unity in diversity and ecclesial communion, indispensable elements of any fruitful mission.
During your assembly, you have tried to reflect on the theme Be perfect ... be merciful. It is a question of bringing to the fore the joyful news that every Christian is called to holiness, and to walk this path together in charity. This perspective, which is exquisitely evangelical, is a focal point of the teaching of your Founder which can be found in a special way in the book of the Maxims. Sanctity and the exercise of virtues are not reserved for the few, or even for any particular moment of existence. Everyone can live them in daily fidelity to the Christian vocation; consecrated persons, in particular, in faithful adherence to religious profession. In this sense, Blessed Rosmini prayed: O God, send us your heroes. What I emphasized in the recent Motu proprio Majorem hac dilectionem on the heroism of life was evident to him, that is, "an offering of a life for others, maintained until death" (MHD, 5). Holiness is the way of true reform of the Church, which, as Rosmini clearly saw, transforms the world to the extent to which it reforms itself.
Your Founder wanted to attribute to his religious family the title of Institute of charity, precisely in order to highlight the supremacy of the virtue of charity, which, as the Apostle Paul says, must be placed above all (Col 3:14) ). And Rosmini accompanied charity with a strong inner firmness, which is absolutely fearless in the silence: his example spurs you to progress in the fruitfulness of inner silence and in the heroism of external silence. This is the path that produces the fruit of goodness and holiness, the path that the Saints have traveled and which the Church points out to every believer. It is also important to maintain that holy indifference that your Founder drew from Saint Ignatius of Loyola: without it, it is not possible to implement authentic universal charity.
In your ecclesial activity, I invite you to arrange the works of corporal, intellectual, spiritual and pastoral charity in such a way as to always indulge the Holy Spirit who indicates where, when, and how to love. As far as educational activity is concerned, it is not limited to simple instruction, but includes intellectual charity. In fact, the living centre of Christian education is the science that is transmitted, beginning with the Word of God, whose fullness is Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. Your apostolic presence has radiated in India, Tanzania and Kenya, as well as in the United States of America and Europe: I encourage you to be men with hands always stretched out towards the suffering, to bring them the help of faith and charity. I am thinking in particular of your confreres and the Rosminian Sisters who work in Venezuela, called to bear witness to spiritual and material closeness to those suffering people.
It is also good that your Institute should continue to reflect carefully on its own charism and, considering the fruits that have matured over the years, that you may increasingly open yourselves to the expectations of the Church and of the world. With the light of the Holy Spirit, you will find ways to continue with renewed enthusiasm, catching the signs of the times, the social urgencies and spiritual and material poverty of those who await words and gestures of salvation and hope. In this apostolic work you are joined by the Ascritti: clerics and laymen who, living in the world, wish to attain evangelical perfection in communion with your Institute. It is good that they are made more and more involved in your community life.
Dear brothers, your Institute, with the special focus of the Rosminian charism, can still offer a valid service in the proclamation of the Gospel. I urge you to propose with constancy and foresight the spiritual and doctrinal heritage that you have inherited. Do not allow inevitable difficulties to discourage you, but may they encourage you to trust always in God to continue with joy and hope the mission that He has entrusted to you. May the Holy Spirit make you living instruments of universal charity in the Church and in the world, capable of helping those you meet in your apostolate to incessantly renew hope, which does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5).
I entrust you to the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary and with all my heart, I impart my Apostolic blessing. Please, don't forget to pray for me. Thank you.
(Original text in Italian)
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