PAPAL MESSAGE TO MISSIONARIES OF MARIANHILL

VATICAN CITY, OCT 29, 2002 (VIS) - A Message by the Holy Father to the Missionaries of Marianhill on the occasion of their General Chapter was published today. The Pope, writing in English, recalls that the "Congregation is the fruit of the many gifts bestowed by God on your founder, Abbot Franz Pfanner."

"In accordance with the theme chosen for your General Chapter, 'Revisiting our identity and spirituality as a new era dawns'," he notes, "your path into the future is the path of a genuine renewal of your consecrated life, in a new season of spiritual and apostolic growth." He observes that they proclaim the Gospel of Christ in "an increasingly globalized world which in many ways is troubled by a 'crisis of identity' and by 'ambiguous thinking'."

"In the new era that is unfolding," writes the Pope, "you must be true missionaries and true saints, for holiness is at the very heart of your vocation. As your founder knew, holiness must be actively sought for and prayed for. ... In fidelity to the Benedictine-Trappist tradition on which your consecrated life is founded, your missionary apostolate will flourish and produce fruit to the degree that it is firmly rooted in the tenet 'Ora et Labora'." This tenet, he says, will help "you achieve ... 'the equilibrium of the contemplative missionary, the witness who remains immersed in prayer even while grappling with his urgent active commitment'."

The Holy Father concludes: "In a world where human drama is too often marked by poverty, division and violence, following Christ demands that consecrated persons respond courageously to the Spirit's call to a continual conversion, in order to give new vigor to the prophetic dimension of their vocation."

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