Vatican City, 8 November 2014 (VIS) –
This morning in the Clementine Hall the Holy Father received in
audience the participants in the General Chapter of the Daughters of
Mary Help of Christians, the theme of which is “With the young
today: being a house that evangelises”. This theme, remarked
Francis, fits well in today's social and ecclesial context,
characterised by many forms of spiritual and material misery.
“Indeed, today many suffer not only from poverty but also from a
lack of love or relationships”. In this context, he added, “you
are able to perceive above all the fragility of the young people to
whom you dedicate yourselves with admirable commitment, in the style
of Don Bosco and following in the footsteps of Mother Mazzarello”.
In the general chapter, various basic
directions emerged for the life of each religious person and every
community. First, there is “the commitment to being guided by the
prospect of outreach, of setting out for the many geographically and
existentially peripheral zones, with preferential attention to the
poor and the different forms of exclusion. Then, there is the
awareness of the need to put into effect appropriate itineraries of
change and pastoral conversion, thus transforming your houses into
places of evangelisation, where above all the young are involved in
the same mission”.
“I can only encourage you to pursue
with enthusiasm in this line of action that the Holy Spirit is
suggesting to you. Open your hearts to welcome the … grace of God;
broaden your outlook to recognise the truest needs and the urgency of
a society and a generation in flux. Everywhere be prophetic witnesses
and an educative presence, through an unconditional welcome to the
young, facing intercultural challenges and identifying approaches to
make your apostolic interventions effective in a context – that of
youth – permeated by the virtual world and by new technologies,
especially those of a digital nature”.
In order to do this, “it is necessary
always to place Christ at the centre of your existence: it is
necessary to allow yourselves to be formed by the Word of God, that
enlightens, orientates and supports; it is necessary to nurture the
missionary spirit with assiduous prayer”. At the same time, he
added, the Daughters are called upon to “bear witness to an ideal
of sisterly communion between you, with sentiments of mutual
acceptance”, that must be accompanied by attentive formation,
including timely studies of the human sciences that may help them in
their mission. “Indeed, you are called upon to be able to listen
with openness and understanding to those who turn to you for moral
and human support, in order to inculturate the message of the Gospel.
In this respect, the missio ad gentes offers you a vast field in
which to give yourselves with love”.
Finally, the Pope urged the Daughters,
who during the Chapter have also reflected extensively on their daily
apostolic life, that places them in contract with the joys,
expectations and sufferings of the people, to be “missionaries of
joy, bearing witness to the values of your Salesian identity,
especially in the category of encounter, a fundamental aspect of your
charism. It is an ever fresh and vital source from which to draw the
love that revitalises passion for God and for the young. May the
inevitable difficulties you encounter along the way never dampen the
enthusiasm of your apostolic action. May the example of St. John
Bosco and St. Domenica Mazzarello encourage you to contribute even
more enthusiastically to new evangelisation with your activities in
the fields of education and school, catechesis and the formation of
young people in the apostolate”.
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