Vatican
City, 10 July 2012
(VIS) - "A wonderful memory, perhaps my fondest memory of the
entire council." With these words yesterday, the Holy Father
recalled his time at the center of the Divine Word Missionaries in
Nemi 47 years ago when he was one of the young expert theologians
charged with preparing the decree on the Church's missionary activity
for Vatican Council II.
Benedict
XVI thanked the Society of the Divine Word for having given him the
possibility to return to the "Ad Gentes" Center after more
than four decades and to recall that, at the time of the Council, he
was living "in the center of Rome, at the Santa Maria del Anima
seminary, with all the noise [of the city], which is also nice. But
being here in the green countryside, having this glimpse of nature
and also this fresh air, was beautiful in itself. Then there was the
companionship of so many great theologians, with the important and
wonderful task of preparing the decree on missions".
Benedict
XVI's meeting with the 150 participants of the Society of the Divine
Word's general chapter as well as members of the community's mother
house in Rome was very warm. The Holy Father recalled that the
order's superior general at the time was Fr. Johannes Schutte. "He
had suffered greatly in China where he was convicted and expelled
from the country. He was full of missionary zeal, of the need to
bring a new impetus to the missionary spirit and I was alongside him.
I was a very young and not very important theologian;I didn't know
why they had invited me but, for me, it was a great gift".
"Fulton
Sheen was also there, fascinating us with his afternoon speeches, and
Father Congar, and the great missionaries of Leuven. It was a
spiritual enrichment for me, a great gift. The decree was not very
controversial. There was this controversy, which I have never really
understood, between the schools of Leuven and Munster: was the main
scope of the mission the 'implantatio Ecclesiae' or the 'Evangelii'
announcement? But everything converged in the one spirit of the need
to bring the light of the Word of God, the light of God's love, to
the world and to give new joy to this proclamation".
"Thus
in those days was born a good and beautiful decree that was accepted
almost unanimously by all the Council Fathers. It was complemented
very well for me by 'Lumen Gentium' because in it we find a
Trinitarian ecclesiology that begins, above all, from the classical
idea of the 'bonum diffusivum sui', the good that carries with it the
need to communicate, to give itself, a good that cannot be locked
within itself. The good, this same good, is essentially
'communicatio'. This is already apparent in the Trinitarian mystery,
as God is in Himself, and is spread throughout salvation history and
in our need to give others the good that we have received".
"Remembering all this I have
often thought of those days in Nemi, which were an essential part of
the experience of the Council for me. I am pleased to see your
society flourishing - your father general has spoken of six thousand
members in many countries and nations. Clearly, missionary zeal is
still alive and it lives only if there is the Gospel's joy, if we
experience the good that comes from God and that wants to and must
communicate itself. Thank you for your missionary zeal".
In
closing, the Holy Father wished the Verbites all the blessings of the
Lord and "much inspiration" during their chapter general.
"May the same inspiring power of the Holy Spirit that
accompanied us almost visibly in those days be again present among
you and help you to find the path for your society as well as for the
Gospel mission 'ad gentes' for the following years. Thank you all and
may the Lord bless you. Pray for me as I pray for you".
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