To Religious in the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Guatemala (7 March 1983)

On Monday, 7 March 1983, the Holy Father met with Religious in the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Guatemala, reminding them that “the characteristic of religious life in the Church must be to maintain the purity of the Gospel; not only in the vows that are characteristic of your consecration, but above all in perfect charity towards God and towards your neighbor, which is the essence of the Gospel.”

Dear brothers and sisters

1. This National Shrine of Reparation to the Sacred Heart is today the Pope's meeting place with religious people from the entire geographical area that I am visiting these days. But priests, nuns and seminarians from Guatemala are also present. They are the central sectors of the life of the Church in this Nation. Therefore, I want to dedicate to you all my fond memory, my most affectionate and grateful greeting, my words of encouragement in your dedication to Christ and in your ecclesiastical vocation, together with my particular Blessing.

I have reserved, dear religious, a special meeting to be with you. Above all, I would like to express my gratitude to you for your generous ecclesial presence in these lands, where you are at the service of the particular Churches.

Many of you are children of this land. Others came from near and far. But you are all animated by the same love for these people from whom you also received much, through their simple faith, their heartfelt piety, their generous affection.

The special circumstances experienced by these people and their surroundings favor an intense communion between you. For my part, I want to encourage your efforts towards ecclesial communion, collaboration with your Bishops, seeking greater insertion of yourselves into ecclesial life in these sister nations, to be, as religious, signs of communion and reconciliation.

2. You have made the commitment to make following Christ according to the Gospel the supreme rule of your life (cf. Perfectae caritatis , 2, a). Allow me to remind you: you must be experts in the Gospel of Jesus, vitally identified with his words and example.

The characteristic of religious life in the Church must be to maintain the purity of the Gospel; not only in the vows that are characteristic of your consecration, but above all in perfect charity towards God and towards your neighbor, which is the essence of the Gospel; in the beatitudes that constitute its originality before the mentality of the world, and in those specific manifestations of the Gospel that are the charisms of your Founders. Fidelity to the Gospel ensures the vitality of religious life, as my predecessor Paul VI said very well: "Thanks to their religious consecration, they are par excellence voluntary and free to leave everything and go and proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth. They are enterprising, and their apostolate is often marked by an originality and its own character, which necessarily earns them admiration. Next, they are generous: they are often found at the forefront of the mission and competing with the greatest. dangers to their health and to their own lives" ( Evangelii nuntiandi , 69).

Be faithful, then, to the perennial youth of the Gospel that was entrusted by Christ to the vitalizing action of the Holy Spirit and his charisms (cf. Lumen gentium , 4).

3. The guarantee of fidelity is the awareness of your consecration to Christ in the Church. Yes, the Gospel is not embraced only as a just cause or as a utopia. The Gospel is Someone: it is Jesus Christ, the Lord. He who "was delivered up for our trespasses and raised again for our justification" ( Rom . 4:25). He invited you to follow Him to the cross. And we cannot follow Him faithfully if we do not first love Him deeply. Therefore, religious consecration unites you to Jesus Christ in a vital way and becomes a bond of love that calls for friendship, communion with Him, nourished with the sacraments, especially with the Eucharist and Penance, with the meditation on His Word, with prayer, with identification with His same feelings.

Embracing the councils for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven means serving the Kingdom of Christ, which is the Church. Therefore, religious life is directly linked to "the Church and her mystery" and is beneficial (cf. Lumen gentium , 44).

But always remember that in Christ's plan, religious life cannot be conceived apart from the Bishops, or as indifferent to the Hierarchy; because charismas cannot be seen except at the service of communion and unity of the Body of Christ (cf. 1 Cor . 12, 4-11). Therefore, not only must any type of apostolate or teaching parallel to that of Bishops always be excluded, but it is the very nature of religious life to encourage communion with all means, to encourage it among the faithful, to renew it where it loses vigor. Such was the characteristic of the one whose proof was always given by all the Founders.

4. Yes, dear religious people. I know that when you mention the Founders of your Institutes you feel that kind of "family spirit" that identifies you with them and with your brothers renewing within you. It is the feeling that charisma is something alive, vital, animated by the Spirit, made flesh and blood in your experience of formation and religious life.

Of this "experience of the Spirit" which is the charisma of the Founders, you are custodians and responsible. You are the children of these "men of the Spirit", their living presence in the Church of today, in these lands.

The faithful recognize you by your connection to these Saints. And the same faithful expect you to be and act as true children of these Saints; united to God and, through Him, committed to promoting justice, to the cultural and human elevation of man, to the cause of the poor. But when working mainly in favor of this, remember that you must not exclude anyone.

5. One cannot think about the work of the Founders without seeing in them the Gospel incarnate, as spread throughout the geography and history of the Church.

They offer you, from this unequivocal evangelical perspective, the example of a presence close to the people and their suffering. They, without allowing themselves to be attracted by temptations or currents of a political nature — an example, also valid for you today, because, as I said to the priests and religious of Mexico, "you are not social leaders, political leaders or employees of a temporal power" — were able to effectively embody the charity of Christ, not only in words, but in generous gestures, in services and institutions. They thus left traces in history, created culture, sowed truth and life, the fruits of which we continue to collect.

This memory, my dear brothers, allows me to ask you for total fidelity to the Gospel and to the spirit of your Founders, so that, today as yesterday, as religious you live perfect charity with a deep sense of faith, with generous dedication to the evangelizing work that It is your first duty, without ever allowing instrumentalizing ideological motivations to replace your own evangelical identity or inspire your actions, which must always be those of men of the Church. From this clear conviction, work enthusiastically towards the dignification of man.

6. With this evangelical charity which, as your Founders demonstrate, is more concrete and complete than any human ideology, and which concerns man in his spiritual, material and social dimensions, I urge you to renew the fervor of your life and of your works. The children of the Church who live in these lands ask you for it. They want to feel close to you, first and foremost as spiritual guides, as experts in the charity of Christ, which encourages you to love others and work with all your strength in favor of justice and the dignity of man.

Before your eyes are the tasks of evangelization and the formation of Christian communities. With your generosity, make up for the lack of vocations or the distances between ecclesiastical groups, the more in need of your presence the more distant they are from large urban or rural centers. Also educate popular religiosity, so that it bears the fruits of that simple and generous faith that animates it.

Do not fail to form a mature laity who assumes their position within the Church in a responsible manner and dedicates themselves with clarity to their mission of transforming civil society from within. And then give preference to the poor — as I mentioned before — the bread of the Word, the defense of their rights when they are challenged, promotion, comprehensive education and all possible assistance that helps them to live with dignity. Follow the instructions of the social doctrine of the Church as it proposes it and have confidence in that social doctrine of the Church. The times we live in provide historical proof of its validity.

7. I ask you to pay particular attention to youth. Your young people are generous; They expect the sympathy and help of those who received from their Founders a special mission of Christian, cultural, human education for the meaning of work. Therefore, do not miss your presence in educational centers at all levels, where the values ​​that will form those that will one day direct the destinies of your peoples are decided.

In this important field, as well as in all your apostolic activity — whether individual, at the level of a religious community or Institute, or at a broader level — faithfully follow the guidance of your Bishops and demonstrate your love for the Church with respect, communion and the collaboration they deserve as Pastors of particular Churches. Through them you will join the visible head of the Church, to whom Christ entrusted the charisma of confirming his brothers in the faith. And also be generous in helping and collaborating with the diocesan clergy.

With these requests the Pope expresses his trust in you, encouraging you to grow in the fruitfulness of your charisms and in the enthusiastic dedication that must be characteristic of your total option for Christ, for the Church and for your brother.

8. Do you want a key to apostolic fruitfulness? live unity, the source of great apostolic strength (cf. Perfectae caritatis , 15). In fraternal communion is, in effect, the guarantee of the presence of Christ and his Spirit, to carry out your responsibilities, following the rules of your Institutes.

The Church needs the example and testimony of religious people who live evangelical fraternity. Groups and communities await the well-founded animation of your experience of communion of goods, of common prayer, of reciprocal help.

The young people who knock on your doors want to find an ecclesial life that is characterized by the fervor of prayer, the family spirit, and apostolic commitment. These young people are sensitive to community values ​​and hope to find them in religious life. Be capable of welcoming and guiding them, carefully cultivating new vocations, the search for which must be one of your main concerns.

9. My dear brothers! All your institutes profess a special love for the Virgin Mary; Under different titles and with different accents, the Virgin appears as the reflection of a living Gospel, and therefore as the Mother of all religious. In her name, I ask you to know how to maintain mutual appreciation of your charisms and collaboration in your works of apostolate.

I commend you to her, so that she may preserve and increase your fidelity to Christ and the Church. I ask her for the flourishing and perseverance of abundant vocations for your religious families. The Church in this geographical area needs your presence to live the fullness of the Gospel that is characteristic of religious life. May Mary, the faithful Virgin and attentive to the needs of men, obtain this grace for you. so be it.

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