Meeting with Women Religious (15 August 1983)

On Monday, 15 August 1983, the Holy Father met in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, with Women Religious, to whom he spoke of “their prophetic and royal mission of expressing their faith in family, social, professional, political, artistic and scientific environments, and of imprinting the values ​​of the Gospel in the heart of these complex human realities.”

My dear Sisters

1. I have just reminded priests of the sublime and demanding ministry they have of reconciling sinners with God, which completes the Eucharistic ministry itself. You do not have the vocation to dispense with these ministries, although you sometimes have a great role in preparing souls to receive them.

I frequently remind lay people and baptized people of their prophetic and royal mission of expressing their faith in family, social, professional, political, artistic and scientific environments, and of imprinting the values ​​of the Gospel in the heart of these complex human realities. Baptized, you also received this mission, especially if you are religious with an active life. In this case, it is repeated to you more and more: you represent considerable living forces for the Church; it counts on you to complete and support the ministry of the priest in the parish, to fulfill an educational, health and social task that corresponds so well to ecclesiastical charity; to accompany Christians in catechesis or movements; for all missionary work, etc... The field of apostolate is immense, and you bring so much availability and so much competence to it!

2. However, my dear Sisters, this is not what defines you. Your religious life is first and foremost a life consecrated to God. And I would say that a manifestation of this consecration is gratuitousness in love. You, first of all, are the privileged witnesses in the world of this gratuitousness of love , and this is, without a doubt, what God most desires for this world, before considering your "usefulness" to society: this is what the Church expects of you, for their testimony, before considering your multiple services useful and effective.

Yes, first of all, the vocation that you felt and that has been proven by your Congregation is a free gift of God's love. Why you, and not your sister or your friend? Mary was freely chosen by God. And Bernadette did the same to carry her message. Are you, like them, sufficiently grateful to the Lord for this ineffable gift?

And your response of love to the Lord must also be marked by gratuitousness. By giving your life to Christ, as Spouse, you demonstrate that the Lord deserves to be loved for Himself, that the Kingdom of God according to Jesus — with its apparent "madness" — deserves the consecration of one's life, that the realities of life future exist so intensely that you want to taste them.

If you are contemplatives, this aspect is evident: the gratuitousness of your life of prayer and penance causes admiration, seduces or irritates the world, but never leaves it indifferent, especially today. But if you lead an active life, people must also be able to easily recognize the One to whom you consecrate your life.

3. The gratuitousness of love must also animate the multiple services or apostolates that you carry out in the Church. You want to serve the men and women around you, many of your Congregations have not hesitated to reach out to the poorest, the most marginalized, those most affected by their health, those who are neglected by many sectors in society as not "profitable" ", but that you love them, you, for who they are, testifying that human life is always lovely and worthy of respect, because it is loved by Christ. And the same goes for all those who dedicate themselves with generosity so that the souls of children, young people and adults are freely open to faith.

In your community life, also apply yourselves to living in profound charity among sisters not chosen by you.

4. Your religious vows help you to live this gratuitousness: the obedience that makes you available to others, the poverty that makes you disinterested, the chastity that frees you from a possessive relationship.

At the center of your consecrated life is the Eucharist, received each day and adored in an oratory in or near your home. It is in this sacrament that your prayer of contemplation and your apostolic or charitable action are nourished. Because just as the Holy Spirit transforms the offerings of the Mass into the Body and Blood of Christ, He must transform you to make you an offering to His glory, a free offering. This gratuitousness will be your joy and your first testimony.

Your activity will certainly be fruitful in the Church . And perhaps even the most fruitful! But you do not have to seek this fertility at any price: it will come in addition . As in the life of the Virgin Mary. Like in Bernadette's life. Bernadette was enough to love. Her religious life seemed miserable, health-wise, and useless, when she was at Nevers. And yet! Indeed, the testimony she gave to the world is singularly strong, pure and transparent.

This is what I wish for you, as I bless you and your represented Congregations with all my heart.

I also bless your sick Sisters and those who were unable to come. Go in the peace and joy of Christ!

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