The Vocationist, alongside other Congregations, having their general chapter in Rome, were in a special audience with the Holy Father Pope Francis today in Vatican. Below is the text of the address
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
to Various Religious Chapters
(12 August 2024)
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!
I offer a warm greeting to the men and women Superiors and to all present. I am pleased to meet you on the occasion of the General Chapters of your Congregations: Dominican Missionary Sisters of Saint Sixtus, Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Sisters of the Presentation of Mary Most Holy in the Temple and the Society of Divine Vocations (Vocationist Fathers).
During a Chapter, you have the grace and responsibility of experiencing a significant moment not only for the life of your Institutes, but also for the whole Church. Chapters are a time for listening to the Holy Spirit in order to enable the charisms granted to your Founders and Foundresses to continue to flourish. So let us pause for a moment to reflect together on three existential and apostolic aspects that, despite your differences, you all have in common: discernment, formation and charity.
First, discernment. While this is the "proper matter" of the charism of the Vocationist Fathers, who are here with us today, obviously, in a broader sense it concerns every religious Congregation and each of its members. Discernment is part of life, whether at momentous times involving major decisions or in our daily decisions about small, routine matters. It is linked to our freedom and so it daily expresses and perfects not only our common human vocation but also the special and unique identity of each individual. Discernment is certainly demanding. It calls for listening to the Lord, to ourselves and to others. It calls for prayer, reflection, patient expectation and, ultimately, courage and sacrifice, in order to enable us to determine and put into practice what God, without imposing his will on us, suggests to our hearts.
At the same time, discernment is also a source of great happiness, because "making a good decision, a right decision" brings us much joy (cf. General Audience, 31 August 2022). Our world sorely needs to rediscover the delight and beauty of decision-making, especially those involving definitive choices
about a turning point in our lives, like a religious vocation. Such decisions call for fathers and mothers who are able to help young people in particular to realize that being free does not mean standing forever at a crossroads, making little "detours" to the right and left, without ever really setting out on a path. Being free means risking to embark on a particular path, with wisdom and prudence of course, but also with boldness and a spirit of renunciation, in order to grow and advance in self-giving, and thus to find happiness in loving others in accordance with God's plan.
This brings us to our second point: formation. Formation is also a trait that in different ways you all share, primarily because religious life is essentially a path of growth in holiness that embraces the whole of existence, a path on which the Lord constantly shapes the hearts of those he has chosen. In this regard, I encourage all of you to persevere in prayer, both personal and communal, sacramental life, adoration, and the cultivation of all those moments that daily enliven the relationship of a consecrated woman or man with Christ the Bridegroom.
Indeed, only those who are humble enough to realize that they are constantly "in formation" can hope to become good "formators" of others. Education, at whatever level, is always, first and foremost, a sharing of paths and experiences in that joyful search for truth which "expresses the restlessness of the human heart until it encounters and dwells within God's light" (Veritatis Gaudium, 1). Your mission at present is necessarily prophetic, carried out in the midst of a society and culture immersed in information but, by contrast, tragically impoverished in human relationships. In our day and age, it is urgent to have educators who know how to become, with wisdom and affection, companions of those entrusted to their care.
And now to our third point: charity. All four of your foundations were established to support and educate impoverished young people who, without necessary help, would
not have been able to receive a suitable education or even respond to their calling. Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, Saint Justin Maria Russolillo, Venerable Maria Antonia Lalia and Mother Caterina Molinari saw in them a sign from God for their mission. In the same way, you do well, in these days of communal discernment, to keep the faces of the poor ever before you, and, mindful of them, to seek to ſan into flame the spirit of gratuitousness and selfless love that marked the beginnings of your presence in the Church. Jesus speaks to us through our brothers and sisters in need (cf. Mt 25:31-45); in every gift we give to them, there is a reflection of God's love. This is the source of light for our journey and the effective antidote for overcoming, in ourselves and all around us, the culture of excess, individualism and social breakdown that sadly prevails in our time (cf. Message for the XXVII World Day of the Sick, 25 November 2018).
Dear brothers and sisters, thank you for all you do! Persevere in your mission with confidence and, please, do not forget to pray for me.
(Only the spoken text is authentic.)
Fr Lawrence Ogundipe SDV
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