Pope Francis says "This is my wish for you, that you can illuminate the lives of your students with the presence of Jesus..." to University Educators - FULL TEXT
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Pope Francis offered that analysis of modern life on Friday as he met with members of the Blanquerna Foundation at the Ramon Llull University, in the Spanish city of Barcelona.
In his address, the Pope noted the foundation’s name—Blanquerna—was drawn from a literary character created by Blessed Ramon Llull, a 13th-14th century philosopher and theologian.
He urges Catholic universities to provide education that helps people form their minds and hearts, without seeking to create “illusory replicas of impossible ideals.”
Friday, May 3, 2024
________________________________________
Dear brother,
Dear friends:
I am happy to greet you again, some of you were already here for the meeting of the Federation of Catholic Universities, you already know the way, you are almost from home. His name caught my attention: Blanquerna, this illustrious literary character that Blessed Ramón Llull uses to make a precise description of the society of his time. At the same time, the philosopher tries to provide, in a pedagogical way, models of Christian life that can serve any person to follow Christ, wherever He calls them.
And all this is a lesson of astonishing relevance, since he tells us about a new and accessible language, a way of communicating perhaps unusual for the time, but pleasant and clear for his contemporaries. A pedagogy that moves away from fantastic heroes who seek to escape us from our reality, as chivalric characters were then, and, on the contrary, proposes simple life models, natural life models, in which we can serve the Lord and be happy. . How much pain and frustration are produced today, even more than in the time of the Blessed, by the unattainable stereotypes that markets and pressure groups try to impose on us. What a great task to discover to young people God's plan for each of them.
Your foundation, and the entire Ramón Llull University, by taking this name, assumes this exciting commitment. Firstly, working to return the family to its original vocation in society, following the example of our protagonist's parents. Likewise, offering young people different paths in life, which, like the stages that our character completes, help them overcome the challenges that this presents them. And also creating the certainty that the steps of the Christian hero are not marked by the desire for careerism, but are a response to a call. Careerism does so much harm, so much damage, because it is not communal, it is individualistic, and that is harmful.
Courageously presenting that being required in positions of increasing responsibility must be the result of excellence in the service hitherto entrusted. And, above all, teaching them that, once his task is fulfilled, like our protagonist, even when he has reached the Supreme Pontificate, the Christian must tend to encounter the Lord, to full dedication to divine service. In other words, at the base is always the baptism that has made you a Christian and wherever you are, you are a baptized person, you are a baptized person who has to respond there and not from the ranks that one can reach in life.
This is the idea that I would like you to take back to your University and to the other educational projects that you promote. Train, yes, with a current, modern, agile, pedagogical language, with an accurate analysis of reality; but—there is always a “but” in life—taking into account that we form complete men and women, not illusory replicas of impossible ideals. Allow me, for example, to mention some universities that I have known in America that are too liberal and only seek to train technicians and specialists. They forget that they have to form men and women, upright people who try to give their best in the service to which God calls them, knowing that they are pilgrims, that in reality everything is a path towards a goal that surpasses this reality, the encounter of the friend with the beloved, in that love that poured into our hearts gives us the strength to move forward.
At the end of the book, Blessed Llull proposes a daily meditation, I chose number 124 which, since it is a leap year, would ideally correspond to today. He says this: «They asked the Friend what the greatest darkness was. He replied that the absence of the Beloved of him; and asked what was the greatest radiance, he said that the presence of the Beloved of him. This is my wish for you, that you can illuminate the lives of your students with the presence of Jesus, that this certainty makes you aware of your dignity as friends, of God and of men, and that you are able to dispel the darkness that covers this world far from its true essence. May Jesus bless you, may the Holy Virgin take care of you, and please do not forget to pray for me, but for me, not against.
________________________________________
Dear brother,
Dear friends:
I am happy to greet you again, some of you were already here for the meeting of the Federation of Catholic Universities, you already know the way, you are almost from home. His name caught my attention: Blanquerna, this illustrious literary character that Blessed Ramón Llull uses to make a precise description of the society of his time. At the same time, the philosopher tries to provide, in a pedagogical way, models of Christian life that can serve any person to follow Christ, wherever He calls them.
And all this is a lesson of astonishing relevance, since he tells us about a new and accessible language, a way of communicating perhaps unusual for the time, but pleasant and clear for his contemporaries. A pedagogy that moves away from fantastic heroes who seek to escape us from our reality, as chivalric characters were then, and, on the contrary, proposes simple life models, natural life models, in which we can serve the Lord and be happy. . How much pain and frustration are produced today, even more than in the time of the Blessed, by the unattainable stereotypes that markets and pressure groups try to impose on us. What a great task to discover to young people God's plan for each of them.
Your foundation, and the entire Ramón Llull University, by taking this name, assumes this exciting commitment. Firstly, working to return the family to its original vocation in society, following the example of our protagonist's parents. Likewise, offering young people different paths in life, which, like the stages that our character completes, help them overcome the challenges that this presents them. And also creating the certainty that the steps of the Christian hero are not marked by the desire for careerism, but are a response to a call. Careerism does so much harm, so much damage, because it is not communal, it is individualistic, and that is harmful.
Courageously presenting that being required in positions of increasing responsibility must be the result of excellence in the service hitherto entrusted. And, above all, teaching them that, once his task is fulfilled, like our protagonist, even when he has reached the Supreme Pontificate, the Christian must tend to encounter the Lord, to full dedication to divine service. In other words, at the base is always the baptism that has made you a Christian and wherever you are, you are a baptized person, you are a baptized person who has to respond there and not from the ranks that one can reach in life.
This is the idea that I would like you to take back to your University and to the other educational projects that you promote. Train, yes, with a current, modern, agile, pedagogical language, with an accurate analysis of reality; but—there is always a “but” in life—taking into account that we form complete men and women, not illusory replicas of impossible ideals. Allow me, for example, to mention some universities that I have known in America that are too liberal and only seek to train technicians and specialists. They forget that they have to form men and women, upright people who try to give their best in the service to which God calls them, knowing that they are pilgrims, that in reality everything is a path towards a goal that surpasses this reality, the encounter of the friend with the beloved, in that love that poured into our hearts gives us the strength to move forward.
At the end of the book, Blessed Llull proposes a daily meditation, I chose number 124 which, since it is a leap year, would ideally correspond to today. He says this: «They asked the Friend what the greatest darkness was. He replied that the absence of the Beloved of him; and asked what was the greatest radiance, he said that the presence of the Beloved of him. This is my wish for you, that you can illuminate the lives of your students with the presence of Jesus, that this certainty makes you aware of your dignity as friends, of God and of men, and that you are able to dispel the darkness that covers this world far from its true essence. May Jesus bless you, may the Holy Virgin take care of you, and please do not forget to pray for me, but for me, not against.
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