OBLATES OF THE SACRED HEART CELEBRATE CENTENARY OF FOUNDER

VATICAN CITY, SEP 15, 2001 (VIS) - This morning at Castelgondolfo, the Holy Father received the participants of a pilgrimage organized by the Congregation of the Oblates of the Sacred Heart, on the occasion of the first centenary of the birth of their founder, Servant of God Fr. Francesco Mottola.

John Paul II expressed his heartfelt hope that "the centenary celebrations constitute a strong stimulus for all of you to deepen and spread the treasure of spirituality and the apostolate that this beloved Servant of God has given to you."

The Pope exhorted the priests, "Spread with your personal testimony and your apostolate the great values given to you by your founder."

He then told the Oblates that by following the teachings of Don Mottola, "you express your total self-giving to God and to your brothers suffering not in the solitude of the cloister but in the often frenzied life of the world, harmonizing prayer and action, the search for God and the witness of love."

"You as well, dear Lay Oblates," he concluded, "know to be witnesses of that contemplation to which every Christian, young or adult, unmarried or married, is called according to the duties of his own state."

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