Meeting with Clergy and Religious, Anchorage (26 February 1981)

On 26 February 1981, the Holy Father met with clergy and religious in Anchorage, Alaska, whom he exhorted never to doubt “the vital importance of religious life and ministerial priesthood in the mission of proclaiming God's mercy.”

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ 

1. “I thank my God every time I remember you, always praying with joy for you in all my prayers, because of your cooperation in spreading the Gospel” (Phil 1,3-5 ) . 

These words of St. Paul express the feelings of my heart as I greet you here today in Anchorage. Indeed, I pray with joy every time I think of my brother priests and my brothers and sisters in religious life. I thank God for your dedication to Christ, your presence in the Church and your collaboration in his mission. And I thank God for your prayers, in which you join the entire Body of Christ in praising the name of the Holy Trinity and asking God's mercy for his people. 

2. In writing my last encyclical my thoughts often turned to you who share in a particular way with me the mission of proclaiming God's mercy to the present generation. Every evening in the Liturgy of the Hours we repeat Mary's words: "from generation to generation his mercy extends to those who fear him" ( Lk1.50). It is this truth of salvation, the truth about God's mercy, that we must proclaim to our generation, to the men and women of our era who seem to distance themselves from the mystery of God's mercy. This is why I wrote in the encyclical: “The Church lives an authentic life when she professes and proclaims mercy - the most stupendous attribute of the Creator and the Redeemer - and when she brings people close to the sources of the Savior's mercy, of which she is a trustee and dispenser" (John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia , 13). 

3. Brothers and sisters in Christ, never doubt the vital importance of your presence in the Church, the vital importance of religious life and ministerial priesthood in the mission of proclaiming God's mercy. With your daily life, which is often accompanied by sign of the Cross, and with your faithful service and your persevering hope, you demonstrate your profound faith in the merciful love of God, and bear witness to that love which is more powerful than evil, stronger than death. 

Therefore have faith in Him who called you to this life. Trust in God “who in all things has the power to do much more than you can ask or think; to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and ever! Let it be so" ( Eph 3:20-21). 

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