Address JPII General Chapter OFMcap
Address of Saint John Paul II, to the General Chapter of the Capuchin Friars Minor
Rome, Friday July 1, 1994
On the morning of July 1, John Paul II received in audience the Capuchin Friars Minor who were celebrating the General Chapter of their Order. At the beginning of the meeting, the new Minister General, the Canadian John Corriveau, addressed a few words of greeting to His Holiness, who responded with the speech in Italian, now translated into English.
Dear brothers:
1. I am happy to meet you today, who are taking part in your General Chapter, "the greatest sign of union and solidarity of the entire Capuchin fraternity gathered through its representatives", as your Constitutions affirm (16,1).
I warmly greet the newly elected Minister General, Father John Corriveau, to whom I express my best wishes for a good job in the new government commitment to which he has been called. I also greet in a special way Father Flavio Roberto Carraro, who has guided your Order for twelve years, and I invoke upon him abundant rewards of grace and peace for the dedication with which he carried out his work.
Every Chapter assembly is for the Order a beneficial and necessary moment of reflection, not only on the profound meaning of its own specific vocation but also on the situations of humanity that invite the Franciscan fraternity to read and accept the "signs of the times »(Cf. Mt 16,1-3; Lk 12,54-57) as the voice of God for the institute.
Of course, I do not need to remind you that your appointment takes place at a very significant moment for the Church in general, and for those called to consecrated life in particular. Indeed, the next Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, whose theme is Consecrated life and its mission in the Church and in the world, constitutes a great stimulus for all the People of God to reflect on the inestimable gift that the Spirit He has made and continually does the Church of Christ through the charism of consecrated life.
Furthermore, the Chapter six-year term that begins now is inserted in a time characterized by a singular historical significance for the ecclesial community, which is preparing to celebrate the second millennium of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
2. In this framework, the mission of the believer and, especially, of all religious consists in being a witness to the Absolute, also in the face of the tragic consequences that the absence of God, experienced in wide sectors of today's society, is causing. This requires, above all, that the Capuchin live in union with the Lord, experiencing his presence in his own life.
Prayer and contemplation: this is the main commitment that you have to fulfill, following the shining example of Saint Francis and of many other teachers of your long tradition. From intimate communion with the Holy Trinity springs the fraternal love that you are called to live, above all, among yourselves ("In this you will know ...": Jn 13,35). In this way, you will be able to live for others, especially for the poor, as the Constitutions and the documents of your Order continually recommend you. Fraternity is a value that Saint Francis himself, impelled by the Holy Spirit, instilled in his first companions to heal the divided society of his time. Today you want to propose that lifestyle again at a time when the virus of division and individualism is very aggressive. So be an example of brotherhood and harmony. In your communities offer the witness of brothers who live together in peace, in prayer, in true charity, in mutual forgiveness, in poverty and in welcoming.
Continue the evangelical witness of the founder
3. For this, a creative and concrete fidelity to your Capuchin Franciscan charism is necessary, increasingly known in the light of the teachings and examples of your holy founder, seeking spaces of presence, witness and apostolic service, appropriate to the ever-new demands of today's man.
When speaking of creative fidelity, I wanted to refer to the need for a careful reading of the signs of the times, to discover the indications that the Holy Spirit suggests to Christians today. A reading made with the same sensitivity of the Poverello of Assisi, who was prompted to respond to the demands of evangelical radicalism with a new form of consecrated life. Francisco's openness and availability will free you both from the risk of immobility and from the temptation of a comfortable acceptance of the fashions of the moment.
Furthermore, your fidelity must be concrete: Saint Francis exhorted his friars to bear witness to Christ plus exemplo quam verbo [more by example than by word]. From this point of view, in the care of vocations and in the initial and ongoing formation of the friars, it is necessary to promote more the quality of consecrated life than the quantity of consecrated persons. You also have to worry about being authentic witnesses of God and of the evangelical fraternity: dear Capuchins, you are an ordo fratrum, called to preserve and reinforce the traditional closeness to the people through a wise process of inculturation.
4. In order to be close to men, you have to make an effort, through study, reflection and prayer, to understand in the light of the Gospel the problems and demands that they live today. Without solid doctrine, you run the risk of working in vain.
The commitment to respond to the profound demands of our world must also lead you to be creative. Dear brothers, have a true prophetic impulse in helping the men of our time, who often walk blindly when it comes to moral values. Encourage the youth, organize Bible groups and prayer communities. Take Christ to the world. Wear it bravely. Your Order has always given a shining example of evangelization, especially through the custom of popular contact that characterizes you.
Prophetic impulse
Be missionaries. The demand to carry the Gospel ad gentes is more urgent now that the number of peoples who have not yet truly met the Lord Jesus is increasing. Give a missionary impulse to the young generations and the young circumscriptions of your Order, always preserving the ecclesiality of your charism, according to the mandate of the Crucifix of Saint Damien to Saint Francis: Go and repair my house. Francisco did it in his time, and now it's your turn. The pastoral needs of your native environment are not a valid reason for you not to leave your land and go where God tells you.
Be apostles of peace, a gift of God too often despised by injustice and crimes in a world that, despite this, claims to define itself as civil and evolved.
The evangelical life lived and announced will really make you prophets, that is, men of God and bearers of God, as true children of the seraphic Father who, according to the words of a biographer, was possessed by a "luminous spirit of prophecy" (Ubertino da Casale, Arbor vitae crucifixae Jesu, V, 3). His teaching and his example constitute a rich heritage that you must preserve, as it prepares you in a special way for the new evangelization, with a view to the upcoming jubilee of the year 2000.
Instruments of salvation
5. Dear brothers and sisters, I would like to conclude by recalling a beautiful recommendation from your Constitutions, in which the wisdom of the Spirit is reflected, which nourished the spirits of your parents: «In the apostolate (…) be poor and humble, without appropriating the ministry, so that everyone can see that you are looking only for Jesus Christ; preserve the unity of fraternity that Christ wanted so perfect, so that the world may recognize that the Son was sent by the Father. In fraternal coexistence, cultivate a life of prayer and study, so that you are intimately united with the Savior and, impelled by the Holy Spirit, always generously ready to bear witness to the good news in the world "(Constitutions, 154, 3-4 ).
With these wishes, I entrust the fruits of your Chapter Assembly to the maternal protection of Mary, the faithful Virgin, so that she may preserve for you a strong desire of fidelity to the evangelical and Franciscan vocation. I ask the Queen of Apostles to grant you experience, like the first disciples, the presence of Jesus Christ and intimate communion with him. I invoke the Queen of Prophets to obtain for you the grace of being intimately possessed by the Spirit of God, so that you may be effective instruments of salvation for your brothers and sisters. Trusting in your prayers for the needs of the Church and thanking you for the valuable service you render to the kingdom of God, I cordially impart to you and to your entire Order my Apostolic Blessing.
Comments
Post a Comment