Message Of John Paul II To The Missionary Sons Of The
Immaculate Heart Of Mary
Proclaim the Gospel of Life with honesty and love.
L'Osservatore Romano
September 17, 2003
To Fr Josep Maria Abella Batlle Superior General and to all the Chapter
Fathers of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Pro-Life Excerpt (full article to follow)
3. When, in the broad panorama of society, you glimpse not a
few signs of a widespread culture of death, think of the Chapter's theme, "That
they may have life", and feel that the Lord Jesus is sending you to proclaim the
God of life. In such moments life, an immense gift from the Father, must be
protected, nurtured and given dignity, especially among the most forsaken, with
a word of hope and unstinting gestures of acceptance and solidarity. It is an
urgent task for every consecrated person to "proclaim the Gospel of life with
honesty and love to the people of our time" (Evangelium Vitae, n. 105). This is
fundamental to the identity and harmony of people and of the human family
overall.
Full Article
1. I am pleased to offer a cordial greeting and congratulations to Fr
Josep Maria Abella Batlle, recently elected Superior General, as well as to all
of you who have gathered to celebrate your 23rd General Chapter that gives you a
special opportunity to express your communion and loyalty to the Sucessor of
Peter. At this Chapter, the seventh since the Second Vatican Council, and at the
beginning of the third millennium, you set out to "discern, in the light of the
Spirit, the best ways to preserve and adapt [your] charism and [your] spiritual
patrimony to changing historical and cultural situations (Vita Consecrata, n.
42), impelled by the spirit of renewal with which the Church has imbued all
forms of consecrated life to face the new challenges to the mission.
2. For an adequate understanding of the signs of the times and of the work of
evangelization, which is the task of Claretian Missionaries to promote and
develop in the most varied regions of the world, you will find most useful the
guidelines presented in the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortations addressed to the
different continents. For these changing times the Apostolic Letter Novo
Millennnio Ineunte will likewise offer you the appropriate framework for an
apostolic spirituality that is fundamentally grounded in Jesus.
Service to the mission, wherever you carry it out, must stem from intimate
union with the Lord who sends you. It must be lived in the journey of
self-emptying even to the cross, which Jesus himself undertook and traced for
his followers. It is a matter of a close communion that you must learn from the
Heart of Mary, the source of the best response and truest adherence to the
Gospel message. On this journey you will be sustained, as was your Founder, by
daily listening to the Word and receiving the Eucharist, "the heart of the
Church's life, and also of consecrated life" (Vita Consecrata, n. 95).
3. When, in the broad panorama of society, you glimpse not a few signs
of a widespread culture of death, think of the Chapter's theme, "That they may
have life", and feel that the Lord Jesus is sending you to proclaim the God of
life. In such moments life, an immense gift from the Father, must be protected,
nurtured and given dignity, especially among the most forsaken, with a word of
hope and unstinting gestures of acceptance and solidarity. It is an urgent task
for every consecrated person to "proclaim the Gospel of life with honesty and
love to the people of our time" (Evangelium Vitae, n. 105). This is fundamental
to the identity and harmony of people and of the human family overall.
4. I give thanks to God with you for the gifts with which he continues to
bless your Congregation, predisposing it better and better to the service of the
mission. Your institute must welcome the precious gift of new vocations,
especially in Asia and Africa, and take pains with their integral formation. The
gift of new candidates and mission achievements in different needy areas and the
gift of the blood of martyrs that has been poured out bear witness to Jesus in
our time.
5. Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten
you in your work at this Chapter, so that, with evangelical words and acts, you
will be able to guide and encourage all the members of the Institute, especially
the elderly and the sick, the young men in formation and those who may encounter
the greatest problems in their missionary service. May the spirit of fraternal
life shared in love and dialogue be present at every moment as an eloquent sign
of ecclesial communion (Vita Consecrata, n. 42).
May the Lord also bless all those who together with you form the Missionary
Family, founded by St Anthony Mary Claret, as well as those who share your
mission in many works or apostolic fronts. With these hopes and feelings and
with all my affection, I impart my Blessing to you all.
From the Vatican, 8 September, Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, in the year 2003.
