To the Religious Women Gathered in the Carmel of Kinshasa (3 May 1980)

On Saturday, 3 May 1980, the Holy Father addressed the women religious gathered in the Carmel of Kinshasa, Zaire, whom he encouraged “to celebrate intimately and fervently the anniversary of your birth into divine life by the grace of Baptism.”

Dear sisters:

Let us give thanks to God, our Father, through his Son Jesus, our Lord, in the Spirit that dwells in our hearts, for the enormous joy of this meeting and for the fruits that will emanate from it for your respective communities and for the life of the Church that is in Africa!

1. In these privileged moments, forget your legitimate particularities to deeply feel the unique belonging to the same God and Father, recalled with such emotion by the Apostle Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians: "Only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all" ( Eph.4, 5-6). Allow me to encourage you to celebrate intimately and fervently the anniversary of your birth into divine life by the grace of Baptism, as the most important event of your existence and the most significant of your Christian vocation to fraternity. Coming to religious life from social circles, countries, and even from very different continents, you live in communities to bear witness —in contrast to nationalism, prejudice and sometimes hatred— the possibility and reality of this universal fraternity, to which all peoples aspire in a confused way. You are also sisters, because you have all heard the same evangelical call: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me" ( Mt19, 21). This unique call in its divine source supposes another requirement —whether you dedicate yourselves to contemplation or whether you are dedicated to the direct tasks of evangelization— that you show yourselves extremely fraternal among yourselves, as well as among the congregations and that you help each other more and more on three planes that seem essential to me: the correct vision and courageous fulfillment of your consecration, the desire to participate in the mission of the Church, and the search for a solid spiritual formation and a judicious openness to the realities of life. your time and the environments in which you live.

2. In a few words, the Second Vatican Council defines the consecrated life as "a divine gift that the Church received from her Lord and that with his grace she always preserves" ( Lumen gentium , 43). Without ignoring the shadows of the two thousand year history of the People of God, it can be affirmed that the woman, on her part, has magnificently responded to Christ's calls to the evangelical fullness of the gift of self.

It seems that there is, in the femininity of the body and the heart, a singular disposition to make life a real oblation to Christ as the only Bridegroom. Precisely this femininity —which public opinion often considers insanely sacrificed in religious life—, in fact, is rediscovered and expanded on a higher level: that of the kingdom of God. For example, physical fertility, which occupies such an important place in the African tradition, as well as attachment to the family, are values ​​that can be lived by the African nun within a much larger and constantly renewed community, and for the benefit of an absolutely marvelous spiritual fecundity. It is from this perspective that religious chastity, faithfully observed, acquires all its relief of preferential love for the Lord and total availability towards him. others. In the same way, numerous African women who have entered religious life try to give the vow of poverty a new face and more adapted to the environments from which they emerged. They seek to live off the fruit of their labor and endlessly share this fruit with others. Remaining rigorously faithful to the authentic concept of religious obedience — which is always the sacrifice of one's own will — many sisters strive to live this in trusting dialogue with those responsible, in whom they see a presence of Christ. This new aspect is in line with the dignity and promotion of women in our time.

By speaking to you in this way, dear sisters, I would like to help you to discern well or to discern again the essentials of your religious state: the total and definitive consecration of your profound self and of your feminine capacities to Christ and his Kingdom. We are at the very heart of the mystery of your life, difficult to understand without faith. Mystery that surpasses everything else: the training and the achievement of diplomas, the distribution of functions and responsibilities, the care of assistance or implantation, the structural and observance problems. In a word, your consecration, radically lived, is something essential in your religious state, the permanent rock,

3. Solidly rooted in the priority demands of your total donation, authenticated by the Church, your life can only be consumed in the service of this Church for which Christ gave himself (cf. Eph 5:25 ) .

The mission of the Church is above all prophetic . She announces Christ to all nations (cf. Mt 28, 19-20) and transmits his message of salvation to them. This is what first of all puts your personal and community lifestyle at stake (cf. Evangelii nuntiandi , 14). Is he truly illuminating (cf. Mt 5, 16) and prophetic? The world today awaits on all sides, perhaps in a confused way, consecrated lives that announce, with actions more than words, Christ and the Gospel. The Epiphany of the Lord, which in Africa you like to celebrate, depends on you! The prophetic Church is counting on you here as well, as on other continents, to participate ardently in her immense catechetical work. . In all places, sister catechists and sisters dedicated to the formation of lay catechists are expected. Are religious women who, in order to affirm their own personality, too easily abandon this priority ecclesial task, are sure of being faithful to their consecration? I know that the efforts and results of catechetical teaching in Africa are remarkable. But it is necessary to continue and extend them. Christians of all ages and from all walks of life need to be accompanied to face the socio-cultural changes of our time. I ask you, sisters, that above all you continue to collaborate in the prophetic mission of the Church.

The evangelization of oneself and of others leads to divine worship. The Church thus has a priestly vocation to which you are closely associated. Following in the footsteps of Saint Benedict, or Saint Bernard, Saint Clare of Assisi or Saint Teresa of Ávila, the cloistered nuns assume full time, in the name of the Church, this service of divine praise and intercession. This way of life is also an apostolate of great ecclesial and redemptive value, which Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus magnificently illustrated during her brief existence in Carmel in Lisieux. Let us not forget that Pope Pius XI proclaimed her "Patroness of the missions". Therefore, I express my warmest words of encouragement to the contemplatives who are on African soil and I ask God that their monasteries be filled with seriously motivated vocations. How was he going to forget the sick sisters, those who suffer and the old ones? Throughout the day and often at night, since sleep is difficult, they present to the Lord the silent oblation of their almost uninterrupted prayers, of their physical or moral sufferings, of their "fiat" to the divine will. They too are the priestly people that Christ has acquired through the blood of the cross. With him, they save the world. Regarding the religious who carry out a direct apostolate in cities and towns, the Church, in the person of bishops and priests, expects a lot from their abilities and their zeal for the animation of Christian assemblies. Initiation to the profound meaning of the liturgy, for the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, as well as the formation of children and adults for personal prayer, for the generous offering of their daily life, in union with that of Christ (cf. much is expected of his abilities and his zeal for the animation of Christian assemblies. Initiation to the profound meaning of the liturgy, for the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, as well as the formation of children and adults for personal prayer, for the generous offering of their daily life, in union with that of Christ (cf. much is expected of his abilities and his zeal for the animation of Christian assemblies. Initiation to the profound meaning of the liturgy, for the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, as well as the formation of children and adults for personal prayer, for the generous offering of their daily life, in union with that of Christ (cf.1 Pet 2, 4-10), constitutes an extremely important field in which you can apply in an excellent way your pedagogical qualities, your innate sense of the mystery of God and your own generosity in prayer. The fervor of the People of God, who celebrates his Lord, depends a lot on you.

Finally, the mission of the Church is real . It is above all the bishop who must watch over the growth and unity of the faith, as well as the brotherhood of love in his diocese. He is the one who orders and stimulates apostolic activities. However, within the People of God, invited by all of him to dedicate his strength and his specific talents in the various pastoral sectors of the life of the dioceses and parishes, the religious certainly have his place (cf. Evangelii nuntiandi , 69). I leave it to the African bishops to wisely discern the signs of the times in their own dioceses and to see concretely, with the various congregations, the way in which women religious can integrate more effectively today in the pastoral activities of the diocesan Church. . Allow me, however, to underline here that your feminine gifts direct you to exercise, together with African girls and women, the precious role of "advisors", similar to the service carried out by "village mothers".

4, Dear Sisters: I would not like to end this fatherly meeting without strongly encouraging you to always remain in search of spiritual deepening and human formation , in order to be more and more "woman" and "more religious".

Collaborate between religious houses and between congregations, to organize times and places of silence and meditation, trying to promote spirituality, theology and pastoral meetings. Encourage each other to participate in them. Help each other to assume the expenses caused by these retreats and sessions. Your testimony of brotherly love must be manifest. Together with your diocesan leaders, take care to invite safe and competent guides. Jesus himself used that proverb: The tree is known by its fruits! Calmly and with common sense, always examine what these retreats and meetings lead you to. To a greater intimacy with the Lord? To a greater strength and evangelical transparency? To a greater brotherly love? To greater personal and community poverty? To share more of who you are and what you have with the most disinherited? To a greater zeal for the mission of the Church? In this case, the chosen means were safe and were used seriously. If it wasn't, then you have to change them before it's too late.

5. Due to the fact that you are religious today, it is essential that you take care of your human formation, even if you are contemplatives, that you know enough about the life and problems of men today, especially if you have the mission of announcing the Gospel. Young and old are sensitive to the human nature of those who have "lost and gained everything" to follow Christ! At this level of the obligation to train and inform yourself, examine with loyalty where you are: the golden rule consists in the constant subordination of your human acquisitions to the privileged mission that Christ has entrusted to you in his Church, for the salvation of your brothers the men.

Dear Sisters: I know that you pray a lot for me, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. In return, I assure you that the religious of the entire world have a privileged place in my life and in my daily prayer. All of you constitute my eagerness and my joy, my support and my hope! May the Lord confirm your consecration and your mission for his glory and for the greater good of your African dioceses and of the entire Church!

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