TRANSMIT GOD'S LOVE TO THE MEN AND WOMEN OF TODAY

VATICAN CITY, FEB 16, 2002 (VIS) - This morning, the Pope received participants in the 14th General Chapter of the Canossian Sisters of Charity who are reflecting upon the theme: "Transmit the love of God to the men and women of our time."

To her spiritual daughters, St. Magdalene Canossa proposed the "ideal of consecrated life based upon humility." After highlighting that missionary work is a characteristic of the order, John Paul II recalled that in East Timor Canossian sisters had "recently paid the price of blood for their faithfulness to the Lord Christ. May their heroic sacrifice stimulate and encourage you to move forwards with faith and apostolic drive."

The Holy Father affirmed that "the great challenge of inculturation demands that you announce the Good News using language and methods that can be understood by the men and women of our time, who are caught up in rapidly-changing social and cultural processes. Hence, the field of apostolic endeavor that opens before you is vast indeed!"

The Pope said: "So many in the world have yet to know Jesus and His Gospel. Various forms of injustice and of moral and material difficulties affect peoples in vast areas of the planet." He concluded by stressing that "in order to be able to respond to this situation it is necessary, in the first place, to make every effort to attain sanctity, the highest measure of sanctity, maintaining constant contact with Christ through incessant and fervent prayer."

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