Vatican
City, 16 November 2013 (VIS) – This afternoon Pope Francis sent a
video message to participants in the pilgrimage-meeting “Our Lady
of Guadalupe, star of new evangelisation in the American continent”,
convoked by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, the Basilica
of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Knights of Columbus and the Higher
Institute of Guadalupan Studies, scheduled to take place at the
shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico, from 16 to 19 November 2013.
We publish below extensive extracts from the message:
“As
well as transmitting my affection, my closeness and my wish to be
with you, I would like to briefly share some reflections as a
contribution to the meeting taking place in these days.
“Aparecida
proposes placing the Church in a permanent state of mission, to carry
out not only acts of a missionary nature but also in the broader
context of a more general missionary approach: so that all the
habitual activity of the particular Churches may have a missionary
character. And this takes place in the certainty that missionary
outreach, rather than being an activity amongst others, is a
paradigm; that is, the paradigm of all pastoral action. … It is
vital that the Church does not close herself up, does not consider
herself satisfied and secure in all she has achieved. If this
happens, the Church will become ill, will become sick from an
imaginary overabundance … she becomes satiated and weak. It is
necessary to leave one's own community and to have the audacity to
arrive at the existential peripheries where God's presence needs to
be felt. He abandons no-one, and always shows His tenderness and His
boundless mercy, and therefore this is what we must bring to all
people.
“A
second point: the aim of all pastoral activity is always guided by
the missionary impulse to reach everyone, without excluding anyone,
and keeping in consideration the special circumstances of each
person. This does not mean going forth like one who imposes a new
obligation, who limits himself to reproaching or complaining about
that which he considers imperfect or insufficient. The evangelical
task requires a lot of patience … and involves presenting the
Christian message in a serene and gradual manner, with the perfume of
the Gospel, as the Lord did. It favours, first and foremost, the
essential and most necessary fact of the beauty of God's love, which
speaks to us through the dead and risen Christ.
“Third:
it is the bishop who guides the pastoral care of the particular
Church, and he does so like the shepherd who knows all his sheep by
name … effectively demonstrating the maternity of the Church and
the mercy of God. The attitude of the true shepherd is not that of a
courtier or of a mere functionary, focusing principally on
discipline, rules and organisational mechanisms. This always leads to
a pastoral that is far removed from the people, incapable of
favouring or achieving the encounter with Christ and the encounter
with brothers. The people of God entrusted to him need their bishop
to be watchful on His behalf, taking special care to keep them united
and to promote hope in their hearts. They need a bishop who is able
to discern, without stifling, the Holy Spirit that comes from where
it wills, for the good of the Church and her mission in the world.
“Fourth:
these attitudes proper to the bishop must also be shared deeply by
other agents of pastoral care, especially priests. The temptation of
clericalism, which does great damage to the Church in Latin America,
is an obstacle to the development of Christian maturity and
responsibility of a significant part of the laity. Clericalism
implies a self-referential attitude, a group attitude, which
impoverishes projection towards the encounter with the Lord, which
makes disciples, and towards men who await proclamation. Therefore, I
think it is important and urgent to form ministers capable of
closeness, of encounter, who know how to inflame hearts, walk
alongside the people, enter into dialogue with their hopes and
fears. Bishops cannot delegate this work: they must take it on as
something fundamental to the life of the Church, sparing no efforts,
attention or support.
“I
want to dedicate a few words to consecrated life. Consecrated life in
the Church is … a leaven which enables the Church to grow towards
the final manifestation of Jesus Christ. I ask consecrated persons
to be faithful to the charism they have received, so that in their
service to the hierarchical Holy Mother Church, they do not allow the
grace given by the Holy Spirit to their founders to be dispelled, but
instead transmit it fully.
“Dear
brothers and sisters, many thanks for what you have done for this
continental mission. Remember that you have received Baptism, which
has transformed you into the Lord's disciples. But every disciple is,
in turn, a missionary. Benedict XVI said that they are the two sides
of the same coin. I ask you, as a father and brother in Jesus Christ,
to take responsibility for the faith you have received in Baptism.
And, like the mother and grandmother of Timothy, transmit faith to
your children and grandchildren, and not only to them. The treasure
of faith is not given solely for personal use. It is to be given and
transmitted so that it may grow”.
