Pope Francis Explains "The mystery of our redemption is thus intimately linked to the experience of love in families." FULL TEXT
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ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE GENERAL CHAPTER OF THE SCHÖNSTATT FATHERS
Hall of the Consistory
Thursday, September 1, 2022
___________________________________
Dear Schönstatt Parents,
I thank the new Superior General, Father Alexandre Awi Mello, for his kind words, as well as his service as secretary in the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. And other previous services, because we know this one as a “foal”, he was my secretary in Aparecida, then my guide on the visit to Rio de Janeiro, then my secretary causae. Thank you for your collaboration during these last years in communion with the Successor of Peter, in favor of the whole Church. I wish you a fruitful ministry in this new responsibility entrusted to you. I also want to thank Catoggio, you go back to Africa. Thanks thanks.
Dear Fathers of the Schönstatt Community, I pray to the Holy Spirit to make fruitful all the efforts you have made during the General Chapter.
The mystery of the redemption that Our Lord Jesus Christ has carried out in favor of all humanity and the entire world, has the characteristic note of the Hebrew word berith, pact, alliance. The blood of Jesus, shed on the Cross and offered as a sacrifice of love for all of us (cf. Mk 14,24; 1 Cor 11,25) has constituted an irrevocable relationship between God and men: a covenant of love, a covenant of salvation.
And you, dear brothers, perform a beautiful service to the Church and to the world, especially by accompanying families in the various events and vicissitudes they go through, announcing to all members the beauty of the "Covenant of Love" that the Lord has established with his people. Today there are many marriages in crisis, young people tempted, the elderly forgotten, children who suffer. And you are bearers of a message of hope in these dark situations that cross each stage of life. And this is progressing a little together with that dispossession of human values, a dispossession that ideological colonizations of all kinds are savagely doing.
The world demands more and more of us to give answers to the questions and concerns of the men and women of our time. We frequently see that the nature of the family is attacked by various ideologies, which shake the foundations that support the personality of the human being and, in general, the entire society. In addition, within families, there is often a distance of understanding between the elderly and the young. Recently, in the Wednesday catechesis, he affirmed that the alliance between the generations, that is, between the older and the younger, is what can save humanity (cf. Catechesis of the General Audience, August 17, 2022), since in this way personal and family identity is preserved; not only a genetic heritage or a surname is inherited, but mainly the wisdom of what it means to be human, according to God's project. The mystery of our redemption is thus intimately linked to the experience of love in families. And let's not forget that, ultimately, faith is always transmitted in dialect through families, through the elderly, through grandparents.
I think of the model that the Holy Family offers us, and especially the Virgin Mary, who cares for her with a tender and committed love for all her sons and daughters, especially the poorest, in body and spirit. She, in the beautiful hymn of the Magnificat, confesses the deeds of the Lord, who "casts down the mighty from their thrones and exalts the lowly, fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty" (Lk 1:52-53). ), referring to the promise, to the alliance made with “our fathers” in faith (cf. Lk 1,55). The Blessed Virgin Mary, venerated with great love by each one of the members of the Schönstatt community with the title of "Mother Thrice Admirable", is a basilar model for all, who encourages the creation of bridges founded on fraternal charity and the communion of goods with the most needy, at the same time that it gives us wisdom and courage to go to meet those who have distanced themselves from friendship with the Lord, to recover them with the testimony of the new life in Christ, which is characterized by the mercy.
On my bedside table I have the image of the Virgin enthroned, which Alexandre did, and after a fortnight he brought a crown to crown her. In other words, I have all your ceremony done [of your 'sect' I have it (laughs)]. In such a way that every time I enter my bedroom, the first thing I see is that, and I have to remember you.
I encourage you, dear brothers, to go forward in your apostolates, always renewing yourself with the grace of the Holy Spirit and being brave to open new paths at the service of families, to make the beauty of the Covenant shine - Covenant, the beauty of the Covenant ― established between God and men, with spirituality and the living of Christian values. May Our Lord Jesus Christ, through the Mater Admirabilis, always grant abundant fruits of holiness to all the members of the Schönstatt community. May God bless you and please don't forget to pray for me. Thank you very much.
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE GENERAL CHAPTER OF THE SCHÖNSTATT FATHERS
Hall of the Consistory
Thursday, September 1, 2022
___________________________________
Dear Schönstatt Parents,
I thank the new Superior General, Father Alexandre Awi Mello, for his kind words, as well as his service as secretary in the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. And other previous services, because we know this one as a “foal”, he was my secretary in Aparecida, then my guide on the visit to Rio de Janeiro, then my secretary causae. Thank you for your collaboration during these last years in communion with the Successor of Peter, in favor of the whole Church. I wish you a fruitful ministry in this new responsibility entrusted to you. I also want to thank Catoggio, you go back to Africa. Thanks thanks.
Dear Fathers of the Schönstatt Community, I pray to the Holy Spirit to make fruitful all the efforts you have made during the General Chapter.
The mystery of the redemption that Our Lord Jesus Christ has carried out in favor of all humanity and the entire world, has the characteristic note of the Hebrew word berith, pact, alliance. The blood of Jesus, shed on the Cross and offered as a sacrifice of love for all of us (cf. Mk 14,24; 1 Cor 11,25) has constituted an irrevocable relationship between God and men: a covenant of love, a covenant of salvation.
And you, dear brothers, perform a beautiful service to the Church and to the world, especially by accompanying families in the various events and vicissitudes they go through, announcing to all members the beauty of the "Covenant of Love" that the Lord has established with his people. Today there are many marriages in crisis, young people tempted, the elderly forgotten, children who suffer. And you are bearers of a message of hope in these dark situations that cross each stage of life. And this is progressing a little together with that dispossession of human values, a dispossession that ideological colonizations of all kinds are savagely doing.
The world demands more and more of us to give answers to the questions and concerns of the men and women of our time. We frequently see that the nature of the family is attacked by various ideologies, which shake the foundations that support the personality of the human being and, in general, the entire society. In addition, within families, there is often a distance of understanding between the elderly and the young. Recently, in the Wednesday catechesis, he affirmed that the alliance between the generations, that is, between the older and the younger, is what can save humanity (cf. Catechesis of the General Audience, August 17, 2022), since in this way personal and family identity is preserved; not only a genetic heritage or a surname is inherited, but mainly the wisdom of what it means to be human, according to God's project. The mystery of our redemption is thus intimately linked to the experience of love in families. And let's not forget that, ultimately, faith is always transmitted in dialect through families, through the elderly, through grandparents.
I think of the model that the Holy Family offers us, and especially the Virgin Mary, who cares for her with a tender and committed love for all her sons and daughters, especially the poorest, in body and spirit. She, in the beautiful hymn of the Magnificat, confesses the deeds of the Lord, who "casts down the mighty from their thrones and exalts the lowly, fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty" (Lk 1:52-53). ), referring to the promise, to the alliance made with “our fathers” in faith (cf. Lk 1,55). The Blessed Virgin Mary, venerated with great love by each one of the members of the Schönstatt community with the title of "Mother Thrice Admirable", is a basilar model for all, who encourages the creation of bridges founded on fraternal charity and the communion of goods with the most needy, at the same time that it gives us wisdom and courage to go to meet those who have distanced themselves from friendship with the Lord, to recover them with the testimony of the new life in Christ, which is characterized by the mercy.
On my bedside table I have the image of the Virgin enthroned, which Alexandre did, and after a fortnight he brought a crown to crown her. In other words, I have all your ceremony done [of your 'sect' I have it (laughs)]. In such a way that every time I enter my bedroom, the first thing I see is that, and I have to remember you.
I encourage you, dear brothers, to go forward in your apostolates, always renewing yourself with the grace of the Holy Spirit and being brave to open new paths at the service of families, to make the beauty of the Covenant shine - Covenant, the beauty of the Covenant ― established between God and men, with spirituality and the living of Christian values. May Our Lord Jesus Christ, through the Mater Admirabilis, always grant abundant fruits of holiness to all the members of the Schönstatt community. May God bless you and please don't forget to pray for me. Thank you very much.
Source: Vatican.va
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