05191971 Paulo VI to international Franciscan pilgrimage
To the participants in the international pilgrimage of the Franciscan Third Order (May 19, 1971)
We welcome the great pilgrimage of the Franciscan Tertiaries.
We greet him with particular joy for their number, which forced us to go down a second time today in this Basilica, which is insufficient to contain with the usual general audience the influx of so many qualified pilgrims, who with their multitude and with their homogeneous presence already constitute the apology of the actuality and vitality of this secular and flourishing branch, that of the Tertiaries, of the large Franciscan tree. They deserve this extraordinary audience, all for them.
We cordially greet these dear Tertiaries, because we know them coming from Italy to a large extent, as if to show us that this country, crossed by many different currents and subject to many modern transformations, does not want to forget the humble, but its exquisite Franciscan tradition, but still wants to draw spiritual energy from it for the good and believing people of our day.
And our greeting extends with no less affectionate sympathy to Tertiaries from other countries, where many Catholic faithful, eager for evangelical authenticity, find in the Franciscan spirituality nourishment and guide to the imitation of Christ.
Health, health to all of you, dear disciples and children of the incomparable follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. We reserve for you our complacency, our encouragement, our blessing.
* * *
THE FIRST TRUST
The first trust is that you know how to be an example of Poverty, preached by Christ, professed by Saint Francis, chosen by you, as a specific virtue of your belonging to his third Order. Poverty is a controversial name, even in the pages of the Gospel, in the sense that the Poor are called blessed, and then all the listeners of the Gospel itself are pressed to help them and to free them from the anguish and suffering of poverty. So: is poverty good or bad? Then who does not remember the controversies that even in the Franciscan family have divided opinions and men about the interpretation of poverty and about the manner and degree of its observance? In our day we see the world still divided on poverty, and its enemy, wealth. One would say that the largest and strongest ideological and social currents are in favor of poverty, or rather of the poor, the proletarians, the destitute, against the landowners, the rich, the capitalists, just as all modern progress, all the organization of modern society are aimed at the indefinite increase in wealth, the transformation of things into useful goods, the conquest and distribution of ever new economic resources. Economics and sociology have become the two main and almost haunting goals of our modern life. Where to place poverty? our evangelical poverty? The lesson would be long and delicate; but you already know it. You know that evangelical poverty means first of all the positioning of our conception of life not in this land, not in its riches, not in its satisfactions, not in its pleasures, not in what it is and which it can give us. , not in his kingdom of the earth, but in the "kingdom of heaven", in the search and possession of God, in the freedom of the spirit from the bonds with this perpetual seduction which is wealth, in the ability to force earthly goods into their sphere , which is utility, which is the bread necessary for temporal existence, which is traffic, that is, work and the destination of its economic results for the benefit of life, understood in its broadest sense, that is, ours and life of the common good, of charity. Poverty is the philosophy of the Gospel: "Seek first the kingdom of God" (Matth. 6, 33). "The spirit of poverty and love, therefore, as the Council says, is the glory and the sign of the Church of Christ" (Gaudium et Spes, 88). Fortunately, this Gospel idea is making its way into the Church today; and you, pupils and children of the Poverello of Assisi, must not only honor it, but profess it, for example and in support of the Church, and as a warning to the world, which we often see engulfed in the exclusive or prevalent search for wealth, in the social conflict around to wealth, in the joyful, selfish and vicious abuse of wealth. And even in the world, in certain strange and questionable forms, unfortunately not always immune to licentious amorality, and perhaps only ephemeral and capricious, repudiation of this fascinating and oppressive idol makes its way, which is precisely the wealth cloaked in luxury and comfort. It is up to Christians, it is up to you, Tertiaries, to make the true and lived apology of evangelical poverty, which is an affirmation of the primacy of love for God and neighbor, which is an expression of freedom and humility, which is gentle style of simplicity of life. It's an ideal, it's a program; it imposes renunciation and vigilance, adaptation to the environment and to one's own duty, but is, after all, a source of joy, of the joy of the crib, of the "perfect joy" of the Franciscan.
LOVE THE CROSS
We have another trust in you, dear Sons. What you know how to love, like St. Francis, the Cross. Your spirituality cannot ignore the "passion" that St. Francis had for the Passion of Christ. His stigmata are a perennial preaching. Your election to be his followers invites you, obliges you to understand this other essential aspect of Christianity. Can Christianity ever disregard the Cross of Christ? Here is the focal point of his message and mission, and here is the source of our redemption, of our salvation.
We don't tell you more; we know you devotees of the "Via Crucis". But only we will remind you, after that of wealth, another capital temptation of our time, and often also of our Christian life: the temptation to remove the page of the Cross from the Gospel. We want an easy Christianity, a Christianity without sacrifice. A Christianity without duties, without renunciations, without superiors, without pain, in a word without the Cross. Instead you know and try to live the great word of Jesus, which was then that of St. Francis: "Truly, truly, I say to you, if the wheat, fallen on the ground, does not die, it remains sterile; but if it dies (that is, it dissolves in the soil), it bears much fruit "(Io. 12, 24). How much do we, modern men, jealous lovers of our personality, of our comfort, of our safety, need to rethink these masterful words of Christ, who preaches to us the law of dying to live, the law of love that is given and immola, the law of sacrifice! St. Francis, mirror of Christ, repeats it to us! Let's remember it together!
GENEROUS SERVICE
And finally our third trust: fidelity to the Church! We are confident that the strong and patient shoulder of St. Francis, as it is in the famous and typical fresco, will support the visible and human Church, subject to the crises of this world, in its threatened building; yes, he will support the Church, which Christ wanted to found and build, to his glory, on the humble fisherman Simon son of John; it will support what it is and what Christ wanted it, even if so in need of indulgence and understanding; it will support it in this historical moment, after the Council, in which it sometimes seems that the children are depressing and trying to demolish the mystical and yet temporal building! the children who are hosted there, or rather who are or should be living stones, no less than the external opponents, perhaps less aware of their unfair work.
Well, we hope that you, all of you, Sons of St. Francis, will be this powerful supporter, and that in your silent and generous service you will be close to us, with us patients, with us confident that no unfortunate adversity will prevail over perennial stability. of the building of Christ, the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
And it is with this trust that we heartily bless you.
SPECIAL GREETINGS
Avec joie Nous saluons les Tertiaires Franciscains de langue française et leur disons toute la confiance que Nous mettons en eux.
Chers Fils, à la suite du Poverello vous voulez donner un témoignage de pauvreté évangélique, montrant à notre monde moderne, assoiffé de bien-être matériel et de jouissance, que la vraie richesse est dans la recherche et la possession de Dieu, comme dans l l 'amour désintéressé pour tous nos frères humains.
De même, Saint Francois cams, vous rappelez à nos contemporains que l'on ne peut suivre le Christ dans sa gloire si on ne l'a pas auparavant accompanied sur la Croix: si le grain jeté en terre ne meurt, il reste stérile. Un christianisme sans sacrifice n’est pas un christianisme authentique. The faut savoir mourir a soi-même et au péché pour trouver la vraie vie.
Enfin vous voulez être de fidèles serviteurs de l'Eglise. Et Nous repensons ici a la célèbre fresque qui représente saint François soutenant sur ses Cpaules l'edifice de l'Eglise menace d'effondrement. Chers Tertiaires Franciscains, de tout cœur Nous vous encourageons dans vos bonnes résolutions et Nous vous bénissons.
We greet most cordially all the members of the Third Order of Saint Francis, who make up the large assembly of this special audience.
Our greetings go to all of you who are seeking the authenticity of the Gospel; We know that you have found in Franciscan spirituality a guide to the imitation of Christ. We express to you our pleasure and our encouragement.
At the same time We wish to tell you of the triple confidence We have in you.
We have confidence in you because We know that you are an example of poverty. It is your role to give the example of true evangelical poverty and to affirm the primacy of the love of God and neighbor. This is your program, your ideal, your source of joy.
We have confidence in you because you love the Cross of Christ. It will never be possible to have Christianity without the cross, without sacrifice and without effort. The example of Saint Francis is your guide.
We have confidence in your fidelity. We hope that you will always be close to us and, with Saint Francis, give unselfish support to the Church of Christ.
With Our affectionate Apostolic Blessing.
* * *
THE FIRST TRUST
The first trust is that you know how to be an example of Poverty, preached by Christ, professed by Saint Francis, chosen by you, as a specific virtue of your belonging to his third Order. Poverty is a controversial name, even in the pages of the Gospel, in the sense that the Poor are called blessed, and then all the listeners of the Gospel itself are pressed to help them and to free them from the anguish and suffering of poverty. So: is poverty good or bad? Then who does not remember the controversies that even in the Franciscan family have divided opinions and men about the interpretation of poverty and about the manner and degree of its observance? In our day we see the world still divided on poverty, and its enemy, wealth. One would say that the largest and strongest ideological and social currents are in favor of poverty, or rather of the poor, the proletarians, the destitute, against the landowners, the rich, the capitalists, just as all modern progress, all the organization of modern society are aimed at the indefinite increase in wealth, the transformation of things into useful goods, the conquest and distribution of ever new economic resources. Economics and sociology have become the two main and almost haunting goals of our modern life. Where to place poverty? our evangelical poverty? The lesson would be long and delicate; but you already know it. You know that evangelical poverty means first of all the positioning of our conception of life not in this land, not in its riches, not in its satisfactions, not in its pleasures, not in what it is and which it can give us. , not in his kingdom of the earth, but in the "kingdom of heaven", in the search and possession of God, in the freedom of the spirit from the bonds with this perpetual seduction which is wealth, in the ability to force earthly goods into their sphere , which is utility, which is the bread necessary for temporal existence, which is traffic, that is, work and the destination of its economic results for the benefit of life, understood in its broadest sense, that is, ours and life of the common good, of charity. Poverty is the philosophy of the Gospel: "Seek first the kingdom of God" (Matth. 6, 33). "The spirit of poverty and love, therefore, as the Council says, is the glory and the sign of the Church of Christ" (Gaudium et Spes, 88). Fortunately, this Gospel idea is making its way into the Church today; and you, pupils and children of the Poverello of Assisi, must not only honor it, but profess it, for example and in support of the Church, and as a warning to the world, which we often see engulfed in the exclusive or prevalent search for wealth, in the social conflict around to wealth, in the joyful, selfish and vicious abuse of wealth. And even in the world, in certain strange and questionable forms, unfortunately not always immune to licentious amorality, and perhaps only ephemeral and capricious, repudiation of this fascinating and oppressive idol makes its way, which is precisely the wealth cloaked in luxury and comfort. It is up to Christians, it is up to you, Tertiaries, to make the true and lived apology of evangelical poverty, which is an affirmation of the primacy of love for God and neighbor, which is an expression of freedom and humility, which is gentle style of simplicity of life. It's an ideal, it's a program; it imposes renunciation and vigilance, adaptation to the environment and to one's own duty, but is, after all, a source of joy, of the joy of the crib, of the "perfect joy" of the Franciscan.
LOVE THE CROSS
We have another trust in you, dear Sons. What you know how to love, like St. Francis, the Cross. Your spirituality cannot ignore the "passion" that St. Francis had for the Passion of Christ. His stigmata are a perennial preaching. Your election to be his followers invites you, obliges you to understand this other essential aspect of Christianity. Can Christianity ever disregard the Cross of Christ? Here is the focal point of his message and mission, and here is the source of our redemption, of our salvation.
We don't tell you more; we know you devotees of the "Via Crucis". But only we will remind you, after that of wealth, another capital temptation of our time, and often also of our Christian life: the temptation to remove the page of the Cross from the Gospel. We want an easy Christianity, a Christianity without sacrifice. A Christianity without duties, without renunciations, without superiors, without pain, in a word without the Cross. Instead you know and try to live the great word of Jesus, which was then that of St. Francis: "Truly, truly, I say to you, if the wheat, fallen on the ground, does not die, it remains sterile; but if it dies (that is, it dissolves in the soil), it bears much fruit "(Io. 12, 24). How much do we, modern men, jealous lovers of our personality, of our comfort, of our safety, need to rethink these masterful words of Christ, who preaches to us the law of dying to live, the law of love that is given and immola, the law of sacrifice! St. Francis, mirror of Christ, repeats it to us! Let's remember it together!
GENEROUS SERVICE
And finally our third trust: fidelity to the Church! We are confident that the strong and patient shoulder of St. Francis, as it is in the famous and typical fresco, will support the visible and human Church, subject to the crises of this world, in its threatened building; yes, he will support the Church, which Christ wanted to found and build, to his glory, on the humble fisherman Simon son of John; it will support what it is and what Christ wanted it, even if so in need of indulgence and understanding; it will support it in this historical moment, after the Council, in which it sometimes seems that the children are depressing and trying to demolish the mystical and yet temporal building! the children who are hosted there, or rather who are or should be living stones, no less than the external opponents, perhaps less aware of their unfair work.
Well, we hope that you, all of you, Sons of St. Francis, will be this powerful supporter, and that in your silent and generous service you will be close to us, with us patients, with us confident that no unfortunate adversity will prevail over perennial stability. of the building of Christ, the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
And it is with this trust that we heartily bless you.
SPECIAL GREETINGS
Avec joie Nous saluons les Tertiaires Franciscains de langue française et leur disons toute la confiance que Nous mettons en eux.
Chers Fils, à la suite du Poverello vous voulez donner un témoignage de pauvreté évangélique, montrant à notre monde moderne, assoiffé de bien-être matériel et de jouissance, que la vraie richesse est dans la recherche et la possession de Dieu, comme dans l l 'amour désintéressé pour tous nos frères humains.
De même, Saint Francois cams, vous rappelez à nos contemporains que l'on ne peut suivre le Christ dans sa gloire si on ne l'a pas auparavant accompanied sur la Croix: si le grain jeté en terre ne meurt, il reste stérile. Un christianisme sans sacrifice n’est pas un christianisme authentique. The faut savoir mourir a soi-même et au péché pour trouver la vraie vie.
Enfin vous voulez être de fidèles serviteurs de l'Eglise. Et Nous repensons ici a la célèbre fresque qui représente saint François soutenant sur ses Cpaules l'edifice de l'Eglise menace d'effondrement. Chers Tertiaires Franciscains, de tout cœur Nous vous encourageons dans vos bonnes résolutions et Nous vous bénissons.
We greet most cordially all the members of the Third Order of Saint Francis, who make up the large assembly of this special audience.
Our greetings go to all of you who are seeking the authenticity of the Gospel; We know that you have found in Franciscan spirituality a guide to the imitation of Christ. We express to you our pleasure and our encouragement.
At the same time We wish to tell you of the triple confidence We have in you.
We have confidence in you because We know that you are an example of poverty. It is your role to give the example of true evangelical poverty and to affirm the primacy of the love of God and neighbor. This is your program, your ideal, your source of joy.
We have confidence in you because you love the Cross of Christ. It will never be possible to have Christianity without the cross, without sacrifice and without effort. The example of Saint Francis is your guide.
We have confidence in your fidelity. We hope that you will always be close to us and, with Saint Francis, give unselfish support to the Church of Christ.
With Our affectionate Apostolic Blessing.
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