STARTING AFRESH FROM CHRIST: COMMITMENT TO CONSECRATED LIFE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 14, 2002 (VIS) - The instruction: "Starting Afresh from Christ. A Renewed Commitment to Consecrated Life in the Third Millennium" was made public today by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

The document, which has 60 pages and contains an introduction and four chapters, has been published in English, French, Italian, Spanish, German and Portuguese. It bears the signatures of Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo and Archbishop Piergiorgio Silvano Nesti C.P., respectively prefect and secretary of the congregation, and is dated May 19, Solemnity of Pentecost.

The fundamental core of the document, which is addressed to consecrated men and women, "is the need for a strong spiritual life and for renewed quality in consecrated life."

The first chapter, "Consecrated Life: the Presence of the Love of Christ in the midst of Humanity," is a "song of praise to God for the gifts of grace that He has made and continues to make to His Church through this particular manner of following Christ." After highlighting the "admiration aroused by the many and varied missionary activities of consecrated persons," the document affirms that "the strength of the Spirit continues to guide the dynamism of consecrated life, and even in times of crisis we see the flowering of new institutes."

Chapter two, "Courage to face Trials and Challenges," considers the most significant difficulties that consecrated people must face. These include the "temptation of efficiency and activism," the dominance of individualism and "the decline in numbers and increasing old age of members." These challenges "must be faced with a new quality of consecrated life ... by means of a process of formation that involves - at different levels - superiors, communities or fraternities, and individual consecrated men and women."

The third chapter: "Spiritual Life in the First Place," offers a series of concrete guidelines "for authentic formation, for overcoming difficulties and for responding to challenges." The document makes an invitation to follow the indications given by the Pope in his Apostolic Letter, "Novo millennio ineunte" practicing "contemplation of the face of Christ" and "a profound spirituality of communion." It is emphasized that "when the Word of God, prayer and the Eucharist are the motor driving consecrated life, the consequent spirituality naturally tends to be a spirituality of communion."

"Witnesses to Love," chapter four of the document, is "an invitation to all consecrated people to follow to the end this path of spirituality and communion, renewing life and work." The instruction gives particular attention to "the necessity for consecrated persons to be engaged in dialogue with everyone; with brothers who are separated, with those who belong to other religions and with those who profess no particular religion."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUN 14, 2002 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father received in separate audiences:

- Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo and an entourage.
- Archbishop Giuseppe De Andrea, apostolic nuncio in Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, and apostolic delegate in the Arabian Peninsula.
- Msgr. Francesco Follo, permanent observer of the Holy See to the Organizations of the United Nations for Education, Science and Culture (U.N.E.S.C.O.).
- Stelios Rocanas, ambassador of Greece, on his farewell visit.
- Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, major archbishop of Lviv, Ukraine.

Later this afternoon the Holy Father will receive in audience Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUN 13, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, president of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and an entourage.
- Archbishop Patrick Coveney, apostolic nuncio in New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga, Naura, Kiribati, Palau and the Cook Islands, and apostolic delegate of the Pacific Ocean.
- Three prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Venezuela on their "ad limina" visit:
- Bishop Ramiro Diaz Sanchez, apostolic vicar of Machiques.
- Bishop Reinaldo Del Prette Lissot, coadjutor of Maracay.
- Fr. Victor Manuel Roa Aguilar, diocesan administrator of Barinas.
- Archbishop Luigi De Magistris, major pro-penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary, accompanied by Fr. Gianfranco Girotti, O.F.M.Conv., regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary.

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INSTRUCTIONS ON CONSECRATED LIFE TO BE PUBLISHED TOMORROW

VATICAN CITY, JUN 13, 2002 (VIS) - Tomorrow, instructions from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life are to be made public. They are entitled: "Begin again from Christ. A renewed commitment to consecrated life in the third millennium."

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GENERAL AUDIENCE: PSALM 91, HYMN OF PRAISE TO THE CREATOR

VATICAN CITY, JUN 12, 2002 (VIS) - In today's general audience which was held in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father spoke about Psalm 91, "a hymn," he said, "raised to the eternal and glorious Lord ... on the eve of the holy sabbath day of prayer, of contemplation, of serene peace in body and spirit."

The Pope explained that "at the center of the Psalm stands the figure of God Most High, solemn and generous; around Him a harmonious and peaceful world takes shape." This hymn comprises "an intense call to praise, to the joyful song of thanksgiving, to the happiness of music. ... The love and faithfulness of the Lord must be celebrated by the song of the liturgy, which has to be interpreted 'artistically'."

The Psalm, he went on, contrasts the wicked with the righteous. The former, "are faced with the Lord" while, "unlike the wicked who are like the grass of the fields, abundant but ephemeral, the righteous reach up to the sky, solid and majestic, like the palm and the cedar of Lebanon." The righteous "have a solid and stable affiliation with the temple and, consequently, with the Lord who has established His dwelling there."

John Paul II concluded by affirming that Psalm 91 "celebrates faith in God which is the source of serenity and peace, even when faced with the apparent success of the wicked. A peace that remains intact even in old age, a period in which fruitfulness and security may still be experienced."

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