Pope Francis says "...I encourage you to collaborate with the Holy Spirit in seeking every way to live his charism of mercy..."
.png)
ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE GENERAL CHAPTER
OF THE ORDER OF MINISTERS OF THE SICK (CAMILLIANS)
Hall of the Consistory
Monday, May 16, 2022
Dear brothers, good morning and welcome!
I am happy to meet you on the occasion of your General Chapter. I address my cordial greeting to each one, starting with the new Superior General, whom I thank for his words and to whom I wish all the best for his ministry.
At the center of your reflection these days you have placed the theme: "What is the Camillian prophecy today?". Animated by the grace proper to a Chapter - if lived well in listening to the Spirit, to the brothers and to history -, you propose to find new paths of evangelization and proximity, in order to realize your charism with dynamic fidelity, which places you at the service of the sick. St. Camillus de Lellis, transformed by the love of God, felt the call to give life to a new religious family which, by imitating the compassion and tenderness of Jesus towards the suffering in body and spirit, would live the commandment of love by spreading with joy the proclamation of the Gospel and taking care of the most fragile.
Our time is marked by an individualism and indifference that generate loneliness and cause the waste of many lives. This is our culture today. Individualism, indifference, which generate loneliness and cause waste: the culture of waste. The Christian response does not lie in the resigned observation of the present or in the nostalgic regret of the past, but in the charity which, animated by trust in Providence, knows how to love one's time and, with humility, bears witness to the Gospel.
This is what your Founder has achieved, who is one of the saints who best embody the style of the Good Samaritan, of coming close to his wounded brother along the way. In this choice of life lies the turning point for emerging from the shadows of a closed world and generating an open world (cf. Enc. Brothers all, chapters 1-3). To you, brothers, the gift and the task of inspiring you to him to look at the reality of suffering, sickness and death with the eyes of Jesus. of others, of the wounds and anxieties of the most vulnerable brothers and sisters. This requires docile openness to the Holy Spirit, who is the soul of all apostolic dynamism; and it requires a certain amount of audacity to discover and travel unexplored paths together or to express the potential of the Camillian charism and ministry in new forms.
This style of life and apostolate of yours, dedicated especially to the service of the sick and the weak and elderly, seems to me to combine two essential dimensions of Christian life: on the one hand, the desire for an extroverted and concrete witness towards others, from another is the need to understand oneself according to the canons of evangelical littleness.
I therefore invite you to draw ever anew from the lymph of the Beatitudes, to bring, with meekness and simplicity, the good news to the poor and the least of today. I also wish you to reassure each other in the trust that the good accorded to a suffering sister or brother is a gift made to Jesus himself, and that what is lived and offered every day with joy, even if invisible to the eyes of the world, never goes lost but, like a seed that has fallen to the ground, it sprouts and bears fruit. And do not neglect to keep the memory of the first love with which Jesus conquered your heart, in order to always renew your choice of consecrated life from the roots. Always go back to the roots of the first love, because there is our religious identity: the first dialogue with Jesus, the call.
In the wake of St. Camillus' creative concern, I encourage you to collaborate with the Holy Spirit in seeking every way to live his charism of mercy, also making the most of collaboration with the laity, in particular with health workers, in the most appropriate ways. Cultivating the spirituality of communion among you and with everyone will help you to better discern what the Lord wants from you. Seeking the Lord's will in communion.
Dear brothers, I want above all to thank you for who you are and for what you do in the Church. If we want to offer people a good "field hospital", where those who are wounded can meet and feel the closeness and tenderness of Christ, if we want this, we cannot do without the charism of St. Camillus de Lellis. It is up to you to give your hands, feet, mind and heart to this gift of God, so that it continues to arouse the works of God in our time, in the time in which we live our vocation. May the Lord bless your chapter works in abundance and may Our Lady always accompany your journey. And please don't forget to pray for me. Thanks!
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE GENERAL CHAPTER
OF THE ORDER OF MINISTERS OF THE SICK (CAMILLIANS)
Hall of the Consistory
Monday, May 16, 2022
Dear brothers, good morning and welcome!
I am happy to meet you on the occasion of your General Chapter. I address my cordial greeting to each one, starting with the new Superior General, whom I thank for his words and to whom I wish all the best for his ministry.
At the center of your reflection these days you have placed the theme: "What is the Camillian prophecy today?". Animated by the grace proper to a Chapter - if lived well in listening to the Spirit, to the brothers and to history -, you propose to find new paths of evangelization and proximity, in order to realize your charism with dynamic fidelity, which places you at the service of the sick. St. Camillus de Lellis, transformed by the love of God, felt the call to give life to a new religious family which, by imitating the compassion and tenderness of Jesus towards the suffering in body and spirit, would live the commandment of love by spreading with joy the proclamation of the Gospel and taking care of the most fragile.
Our time is marked by an individualism and indifference that generate loneliness and cause the waste of many lives. This is our culture today. Individualism, indifference, which generate loneliness and cause waste: the culture of waste. The Christian response does not lie in the resigned observation of the present or in the nostalgic regret of the past, but in the charity which, animated by trust in Providence, knows how to love one's time and, with humility, bears witness to the Gospel.
This is what your Founder has achieved, who is one of the saints who best embody the style of the Good Samaritan, of coming close to his wounded brother along the way. In this choice of life lies the turning point for emerging from the shadows of a closed world and generating an open world (cf. Enc. Brothers all, chapters 1-3). To you, brothers, the gift and the task of inspiring you to him to look at the reality of suffering, sickness and death with the eyes of Jesus. of others, of the wounds and anxieties of the most vulnerable brothers and sisters. This requires docile openness to the Holy Spirit, who is the soul of all apostolic dynamism; and it requires a certain amount of audacity to discover and travel unexplored paths together or to express the potential of the Camillian charism and ministry in new forms.
This style of life and apostolate of yours, dedicated especially to the service of the sick and the weak and elderly, seems to me to combine two essential dimensions of Christian life: on the one hand, the desire for an extroverted and concrete witness towards others, from another is the need to understand oneself according to the canons of evangelical littleness.
I therefore invite you to draw ever anew from the lymph of the Beatitudes, to bring, with meekness and simplicity, the good news to the poor and the least of today. I also wish you to reassure each other in the trust that the good accorded to a suffering sister or brother is a gift made to Jesus himself, and that what is lived and offered every day with joy, even if invisible to the eyes of the world, never goes lost but, like a seed that has fallen to the ground, it sprouts and bears fruit. And do not neglect to keep the memory of the first love with which Jesus conquered your heart, in order to always renew your choice of consecrated life from the roots. Always go back to the roots of the first love, because there is our religious identity: the first dialogue with Jesus, the call.
In the wake of St. Camillus' creative concern, I encourage you to collaborate with the Holy Spirit in seeking every way to live his charism of mercy, also making the most of collaboration with the laity, in particular with health workers, in the most appropriate ways. Cultivating the spirituality of communion among you and with everyone will help you to better discern what the Lord wants from you. Seeking the Lord's will in communion.
Dear brothers, I want above all to thank you for who you are and for what you do in the Church. If we want to offer people a good "field hospital", where those who are wounded can meet and feel the closeness and tenderness of Christ, if we want this, we cannot do without the charism of St. Camillus de Lellis. It is up to you to give your hands, feet, mind and heart to this gift of God, so that it continues to arouse the works of God in our time, in the time in which we live our vocation. May the Lord bless your chapter works in abundance and may Our Lady always accompany your journey. And please don't forget to pray for me. Thanks!
Comments