Address to Union of
Superiors General
"Consecrated Life Has its Origin in the Lord"
H.H. Benedict XVI
November 26, 2010
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
I am delighted to meet with you on the occasion of the half-yearly
assembly of the Union of Superiors General, which you are celebrating --
in continuity with that of last May -- on the theme of consecrated life
in Europe. I greet the president Don Pascual Chávez, whom I thank for
the words that he addressed to me, and the executive council; a special
greeting to the directive committee of the International Union of
Superiors General and to the numerous superiors general. I extend my
thoughts to all of the members of your orders and institutes throughout
the world, especially those who suffer persecution for witness to the
Gospel. I would like to express my sincere thanks for what you do in the
Church and with the Church on behalf of evangelization and of man. I
think of the multiple pastoral activities in the parishes, in the
shrines and the centers of worship, for the catechesis and Christian
formation of children, of young people and of adults, manifesting your
passion for Christ and for humanity. I think of the great work in the
field of education, in the universities and in the schools; of the
multiple social works, through which you encounter the brothers who are
most in need with God's love itself. I think also of the witness, at
times dangerous, of the evangelical life in the missions "ad gentes," in
often difficult circumstances.
Your last two assemblies have been dedicated to considering the future
of consecrated life in Europe. This has meant rethinking the meaning of
your vocation itself, which entails, first of all, seeking God, quaerere
Deum: you are seekers of God by vocation. To this pursuit you consecrate
the most precious energies of your life. You pass from secondary things
to those that are essential, to what is truly important; you seek the
definitive, you seek God, keeping your gaze fixed upon him. Like the
first monks, you cultivate an eschatological orientation: Behind the
provisory you seek what remains, what does not pass (Cf. Address at the
Collège des Bernardins, Paris, September 12, 2008). You seek God in the
confreres whom have been given to you, with whom you share the same life
and mission. You seek him in the men and women of our time, to whom you
have been sent to offer, with your life and with your words, the gift of
the Gospel. You seek him especially in the poor, the first to hear the
Good News (cf. Luke 4:18). You seek him in the Church, where the Lord is
present, above all in the Eucharist and the other sacraments, and in his
Word, which is the master way of the pursuit of God; it leads us into
conversation with him and it reveals to us his true face. Always be
passionate pursuers and witnesses of God!
The profound renewal of the consecrated life begins with the centrality
of the Word of God, and more concretely in the Gospel, supreme rule for
all of you, as the Second Vatican Council affirms in the decree "Perfectae
Caritatis" (cf. n. 2) and as your founders well understood: The
consecrated life is a plant with a wealth of branches that has its roots
in the Gospel. This is demonstrated by the history of your institutes,
in which the firm will to live the message of Christ and configure your
life to him, is and remains the fundamental criterion of vocational
discernment and of your personal and communal discernment. The Gospel
lived daily is the element that gives beauty to the consecrated life and
presents you before the world as a trustworthy alternative. Contemporary
society needs and the Church expects you to be a living Gospel.
Another fundamental aspect of the consecrated life that I would like to
stress is fraternity: "confession Trinitatis" (cf. John Paul II,
Apostolic Exhortation "Vita Consecrata," 41) and parable of the Church
as communion. The witness of your consecration passes through it.
Fraternal life is one of the aspects greatly sought by young people when
they draw near to your life; it is an important prophetic element that
you offer to a fundamentally individualistic society. I know the efforts
that you are making in this field, as I also know the difficulties that
communal life has. There is need of serious and constant discernment to
listen to what the Spirit says to the communities (cf. Revelation 2:7),
to recognize what comes from the Lord and what is contrary to him (cf.
"Vita Consecrata," 73). Without discernment accompanied by prayer and by
reflection, the consecrated life runs the risk of accommodating itself
to the criteria of this world: individualism, consumerism, materialism;
criteria that eliminate fraternity and deprive consecrated life of what
is striking and attractive about it. Be masters of discernment so that
your brothers and sisters assume this "habitus" and your communities
become an eloquent sign for the world of today. You who exercise the
service of authority, and who have the task of leadership and planning
for the future of your religious institutes, remember that an important
part of the spiritual animation and government is the common pursuit of
means to promote communion, mutual communication, warmth and truth in
reciprocal relations.
A last element that I would like to highlight is mission. Mission is the
Church's mode of being and, in it, of the consecrated life itself; it is
part of your identity; it moves you to bring the Gospel to everyone,
without limits. Mission, supported by a powerful experience of God, by a
robust formation and by a fraternal life in community, is a key for
understanding and revitalizing consecrated life. Go, then, and in
creative fidelity make the challenge of the new evangelization your own.
Renew your presence in the Areopaguses of today to proclaim, as St. Paul
did in Athens, the "unknown" God (cf. Address at the Collège des
Bernardins).
Dear Superiors General, for many institutes the present moment presents
the datum of numeric diminishment, especially in Europe. The
difficulties, however, must not make us forget that the consecrated life
has its origin in the Lord: It is willed by him for the building up and
the holiness of his Church, and thus the Church itself will never be
deprived of it. As I encourage you to walk in faith and in hope, I ask
you for a renewed effort in vocations work and in initial and permanent
formation. I entrust you to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to your holy
founders and patrons, while from my heart I impart to you my apostolic
blessing, which I extend to your religious families.
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
