SAFEGUARD THE PATRIMONY OF ST. AUGUSTINE'S MESSAGE

VATICAN CITY, SEP 7, 2001 (VIS) - This morning in Castelgandolfo, John Paul II received the participants of the General Chapter of St. Augustine, held in recent days.

The Pope asked the Augustinians to help many people to "discover the transcendent meaning of life with modern forms of pastoral service. ... Render this important missionary service to the Church, drawing from suggestions and proposals for a renewed apostolic action from the inexhaustible treasure of your great Teacher."

"With wisdom," the Holy Father continued, "provide for a revision of the Constitution and for juridical and organizational reforms of the Order which allow a more clear transmission of the Augustinian charism. Nevertheless, the most important task is to safeguard, unaltered and alive, the patrimony of the message of the teaching and the life of St. Augustine, which can serve humanity hungry for truth, faithfulness and love in every age."

The Holy Father exhorted the religious to "be 'teachers of the interior life', at the service of the men of the third millennium who are seeking Christ. He is not reached through a superficial path, but by the way of the interior life."

After recalling the words of his predecessor Pope Paul VI, who affirmed that "the genius of the Augustinian Order ... is the development of the intellectual apostolate," John Paul II said: "If an adequate intellectual and pastoral formation is needed to accomplish this task, it is above all indispensable to strive for sanctity, to be, that is, in love with God and His eternal design of salvation."

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