Vatican City, 17 September 2015 (VIS) –
This morning the Holy Father received in audience the participants in
the World Meeting of Young Consecrated Men and Women, which took
place within the context of the Year of Consecrated Life. During the
audience, and after special greetings for those from Syria and Iraq
in which he recalled the martyrs of these countries, the Pope
answered three questions posed to him by those present.
The first question, asked by a woman
religious, related to the problem of instability and mediocrity in
the vocational path. Francis recalled that, according to St. Teresa
of Jesus, strict observance removed freedom. “The Lord calls you –
and calls all of us – to the 'prophetic way' of freedom, that is
the freedom that is to be united with witness and fidelity. A mother
who raises her children in a strict fashion … and does not let them
dream … annuls their creative future, rendering them barren.
Consecrated life, too, can be barren, when it is not truly prophetic,
when dreaming is not permitted. … Prophecy, the capacity to dream,
is the opposite of rigidity. And observance must not be rigid: if it
is, it is personal egoism. … Always keep your heart open to what
the Lord says to you and bring it into your dialogue with the
superior, the teacher or your spiritual guide, the Church, the
bishop. Openness, an open heart, dialogue, and also community
dialogue. … I tell you sincerely, one of the sins I most frequently
encounter in community life is the incapacity for forgiveness between
brothers and sisters. … Gossip in a community obstructs forgiveness
and puts distance between people. … It is the scourge of community
life. … It is a bomb that destroys the reputation of others who are
unable to defend themselves as gossip takes place in obscurity, not
in the light of day”.
The Pope went on to affirm that ever
since the beginning of consecrated life there have been moments of
instability. “There will always be temptations … and returning to
St. Teresa of Jesus, she said that one must pray for those who are
about to die, as this is the moment of greatest instability, in which
the temptations arise with force. Culturally it is true, we live in a
very unstable time … we live in a culture of the provisional. …
And this culture has also entered into the Church, into religious
communities, into the family and marriage. … Instead there is the
culture of the definitive – God sent His Son for ever, not in a
temporary way, to one generation or country, but rather to all and
forever. And this is a criterion of spiritual discernment … taking
on definitive commitments so as not to disintegrate”.
In response to another question on
evangelisation, the Pope emphasised that apostolic zeal comes from a
wish to evangelise that inflames the heart. “Evangelising is not
the same as proselytism”, he remarked. “We are not a football
team seeking members and supporters. … Evangelisation is not about
simply convincing, it is about bearing witness that Jesus lives. …
And this witness is given with the flesh, with one's own life. And
here – forgive me if I am a bit of a feminist – I would like to
give thanks for the witness of consecrated women. You always have the
wish to go to the front line, as you are mothers, you have the
maternity of the Church, that brings you close to people. … You are
the icons of the Church's tenderness and love, of the maternity of
the Church and of Our Lady”.
“Another key word in consecrated life
is memory. I do not think that James and John ever forgot their first
encounter with Jesus, and nor did the other apostles. … The memory
of one's own vocation. In the darkest moments, the moments of
temptation, in the difficult moments of our consecrated life, return
to the source, treasure the memory and wonder of when the Lord looked
upon us”.
The Pope was asked to share his memory
of the first calling he received. “I don't know how it was. I
entered the Church by chance, I saw a confessional and I left
changed, I left in a different way. My life changed then. And what
attracted me to Jesus and the Gospel? I don't know … their
closeness to me. The Lord has never left me alone, not even in dark
and difficult moments, nor in moments of sin … because the Lord
always meets us definitively. He is not part of the culture of the
provisional: He loves us for ever and He accompanies us always”.
“So, proximity to the people,
prophecy in our witness, with an ardour, with the apostolic zeal that
warms the hearts of others, even without words … and memory, always
returning to the source”.
“I would like to end with two words”,
Francis concluded. “One is … among the worst attitudes of the
religious: gazing upon one's own reflection in the mirror,
narcissism. Be on your guard against this. … And yes, instead, to
the contrary, to what despoils us of all narcissism, yes to
adoration. I think this is one of the central themes. We all pray and
give thanks to the Lord, we ask favours, we praise the Lord … but
do we adore the Lord? The prayer of silent adoration: 'You are the
Lord', is the opposite of narcissism. I would like to finish with
this word, adoration. Be men and women of adoration”.
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