150TH ANNIVERSARY OF BIRTH OF ROGATIONIST FOUNDER

VATICAN CITY, DEC 6, 2001 (VIS) - This morning the Holy Father received in audience 900 religious of the Rogationist Congregations, the Daughters of Divine Zeal and the Rogationist Missionaries, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of their founder, Blessed Annibale Maria Di Francia.

"While I celebrate with you for the journey completed, I encourage you," the Pope said, "to make your witness still more faithful, and your apostolic dedication still more generous."

"How can you ensure that the vigorous tree, planted by your Blessed Founder continues to bloom and produce abundant fruit?" the Pope asked the religious. The answer, he noted, "is old and ever contemporary, it is holiness. ... Yes, holiness is possible even in our own difficult times. Indeed, it is the priority which, at the end of the Great Jubilee, I indicated in the Apostolic Letter 'Novo millennio ineunte'. ... In this light, the consecrated life, today more than ever, takes on a significant and decisive role: you must be holy, if you do not wish to fall short of your raison d'etre."

"Do not be afraid that time dedicated to prayer may in some way restrain your apostolic dynamism and worthy service to your brethren, which constitute your daily labor. Quite the opposite, to love and place prayer at the center of every project of life and apostolate is the authentic school of sanctity."

John Paul II concluded his discourse exhorting the religious to be "profoundly Eucharistic souls, who adore, love, and rejoice in the Eucharist. At the birth of your Congregations, Blessed Di Francia placed the Eucharistic mystery at the center of everything. From Eucharistic adoration you will obtain not only the gift of new vocations, but also the grace of increased enthusiasm and joy in your priesthood, your consecration and your Christian militancy."

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