Vatican City, 27 November 2014 (VIS) –
The Congregration for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the
Societies of Apostolic Life celebrated their plenary assembly
reflecting on the current state of consecrated life in the Church,
fifty years after the Conciliar documents “Lumen gentium” and
“Perfectae caritatis”. The theme chosen was “New wine in new
wineskins”, and Pope Francis, who received eighty participants in
audience this morning, based his discourse on the multiple meanings
of this phrase.
“In the part of the Lord's vineyard
selected by those who have chosen to imitate Christ more closely
through the profession of evangelical counsels, new grapes are
matured and new wine is obtained”, said the Holy Father. “In
these days you have been offered the chance to discern the quality
and ageing of the 'new wine' that has been produced during the long
season of renewal, and at the same time to evaluate whether the
wineskins that contain it, represented by the institutional forms
present today in consecrated life, are adequate to contain this 'new
wine' and to favour its full maturation. As I have recalled many
times, we must not be afraid of setting aside the 'old wineskins': of
renewing those habits and those structures that, in the life of the
Church and therefore also in consecrated life, we realise no longer
respond to what God asks of us today to further His Kingdom in the
world: the structures that give us false protection and that
condition the dynamism of charity; the habits that distance us from
the flock to which we are sent and prevent us from hearing the cry of
those who await the Good News of Jesus Christ”.
“You do not hide those areas of
weakness that it is possible to find today in consecrated life (such
as the resistance to change of certain sectors, the diminished power
of attraction, the not insignificant number of those who abandon the
vocation, the fragility of certain formative itineraries, concern for
institutional and ministerial tasks at the expense of spiritual life,
the difficult integration of cultural and generational diversity, and
a problematic balance in the exercise of authority and the use of
goods), but you wish to continue to listen for signals from the
Spirit, that opens up new horizons and leads to new paths, always
starting out from the supreme rule of the Gospel and inspired by the
bold creativity of your founders”.
The Pope went on to list the criteria
to follow for guidance in the “arduous task of evaluating the new
wine and testing the quality of the wineskins”: the evangelical
originality of the choices, charismatic fidelity, the primary of
service, attention to the least and most fragile, and respect for the
dignity of every person.
He encouraged those present to
“continue to work with generosity and resourcefulness in the Lord's
vineyard”, to obtain “that generous wine that will be able to
reinvigorate the life of the Church and to bring cheer to the heart
of the many brothers and sisters in need of your care”, and he
underlined that “even the substitution of old for new wineskins …
does not take place automatically, but requires commitment and
ability, to offer the suitable space for welcoming and bringing to
fruition the new gifts with which the Spirit continues to embellish
the Church, His spouse”. He concluded, “do not forget … to
carry on the process of renewal that has been initiated and to a
great extent accomplished in these fifty years, examining every
novelty in the light of the Word of God and in listening to the needs
of the Church and of the contemporary world”.
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