0
0
Pope Francis’ address to Union of Religious Superiors of Italy (usmi)
Clementine Room – Thursday, 13 April 2023
“On the Synodal Journey, Women Witnesses of the Risen One”
Dear Sisters in Christ!
“Peace be with you!” So the Lord greeted the women: peace be with you.
I would like to highlight three aspects that this theme suggests.
First of all, women witnesses of the Risen One.
The first witnesses of the Resurrection of the Lord were precisely the women, the disciples, who with their boldness remind us again and again that “Jesus Christ can also break the boring patterns in which we claim to imprison him and surprise us with his constant divine creativity”. “Christ is the ‘everlasting gospel’ (Rev 14:6)” and “his riches and beauty are inexhaustible” (Ap. Evangelii Gaudium, 11).
These courageous women allowed themselves to be surprised and impelled by the power and light of the Risen One and set out to seek him. They were aware of the importance of having the Lord alive in our hearts. Their attitude reminds us that if we have the courage to “return to the source and recover the original freshness of the Gospel, new paths will emerge, creative methods, different forms of expression, more eloquent signs, words charged with renewed meaning for today’s world” (EG)
This is strange to say: “What do we do now in this situation?”
“Let us pray a little, let’s see what the Lord is telling us in the Gospel…”, and here comes the inspiration, here comes a new path, sometimes a religious family comes out to make decisions that seem frightening, but no, this is the Lord’s!
Always go with courage, seek the Lord, what he is telling us today; Not what he told us yesterday, leave that to the sisters of yesterday, but listen to what he is telling us today. Certainly, each of your Institutes has its own charism, and it is with the spirit with which you want to ask this question, with this spirit of the founders that you have in your heart, ask the question today: “Lord, what should I do today? What must we do?” And women are good for that, they know how to create new ways, they know how to give… They are brave.
Second aspect: on a synodal journey.
In another passage of the Gospel, we read that “the women ran to tell his disciples” (M t28:8). Someone who thinks a little badly says: “They were sent to talk.” No, no, they ran to make a proclamation, that’s not gossip: that’s something else. The presence of Jesus does not shut us in, it urges us to meet others and to choose to walk with others.
These women did not choose to keep the joy of the encounter to themselves, nor did they choose to walk alone: they chose to walk with others.
Because it is the woman’s nature to be generous, so it is.
Sometimes, yes, there are some neurotics, but that happens everywhere, isn’t it?
But woman gives life, she opens paths, she calls others… In order to walk together, they have chosen to walk together: let us always remember that “in order to ‘walk together’ it is necessary to allow ourselves to be formed by the Spirit in a truly synodal mentality, entering with courage and freedom of heart into a process of conversion”, because “synodality is the high road for the Church, called to renew herself under the action of the Spirit and thanks to listening to the Word”.
Sometimes I am a little bit afraid when we speak of a synodal spirit and immediately we think: “Now they have to change this, this, this…”, and we and we go back to closing ourselves in another way. No, the way in a synodal spirit is to listen, to pray and to go. Then, the Lord will tell us what to do. I have seen in some proposals: “Now we have to make this decision, this, this, this…”. No, that is not a synodal path. That is a”parliament”. Let us not forget that the synodal way is made by the Holy Spirit:
He is the head of the synodal journey, He is the protagonist. And women, in this dynamic, go forward with the Pastors, even if you often do not feel valued and sometimes not understood, you are available to listen, to meet, to dialogue, to plan together. Open, with the grace of the Holy Spirit..
And the third aspect: sowers of hope.
Today we lack this little humble virtue that is hope, we miss it so much. We have worldly versions: optimism, high common sense… No, hope, the smallest but the strongest of virtues, the one that never disappoints. And you must be sowers of hope, which is not the same as sowers of optimism, no, of hope, which is something different.
The encounter with the Risen Jesus is filled with hope and “this means being the leaven of God in the midst of humanity”.
In other words, “it means proclaiming and bringing God’s salvation to our world, which is often lost and in need of answers that encourage, that give hope, that reenergize the journey”. “There are challenges to be overcome: the lack of vocations, the interculturality of communities of consecrated life, the problem of works (but works are not charism, be careful!). Sometimes we find people who end up badly before the works, like slaves of works, without the freedom that the Spirit gives to go forward. Sisters, remain faithful to the call because the Lord is faithful. Call, faithful response and hope, go forward with hope. “Let us be realistic, but without losing joy, boldness and hopeful commitment!”. Your many projects speak of this hopeful commitment. Continue on this path! Hope is very important for moving forward.
Thus we have seen three stages of women and witnesses of the Risen One.
If a consecrated woman does not bear witness to the Risen One, her life ends there. Second, the synodal way, listening, looking at reality, touching reality, not being “in orbit”.
And this is, the third, is to be sowers of hope.
Dear Sisters, inspired by the theme of your Assembly, I have taken the liberty of turning it a little on its head to tell you that the Lord is calling you with renewed enthusiasm to be “witnesses of the Risen One, on a synodal journey and sowers of hope”.
The synodal way is not to have answers and to make decisions.
The synodal way is to walk, to listen – listen! -feeling and moving forward.
The synodal way is not a parliament; the synodal way is not a collection of opinions.
The synodal way is to listen to life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who is the protagonist of the synod.
And you walk this path with renewed enthusiasm, as witnesses of the Risen One.
I cordially bless you and I entrust to the Lord and to Mary Most Holy each one of you and each one of the consecrated women who live their mission in Italy, so that they may be witnesses in the Church and in society.
At the end, I would like to say one thing: to be careful with the sicknesses of consecrated life, because there are some.
I want to emphasize one that is against everything we have said: bitterness.
That spirit of acidity within. Bitter. Always looking at the difficulties, always making a monument to the “but, but…”, always repeating that things that are not going well …
But bitterness is the devil’s liqueur: the devil cooks us inside, with this liqueur.
I’m not talking about optimism: optimism is a psychological thing.
I am talking about hope, openness to the Spirit, and that is theological.
A religious vocation has to go that way.
But when you grow vinegar instead of sugar, something doesn’t work.
The bitterness, the acidity of the heart, hurts so much.
Please, if you see this in a community or in a sister who is in this situation, help her to get out of this situation; help her to get out of the situation of melancholy people who always think, “Ah, the old days were better! Things don’t work, and here and there…”
This is the devil’s elixir, this bitterness, the liquor of bitterness
Please, none of that!
Just let the Spirit give us this sweetness which is a spiritual sweetness.
I wish you all the best, and I ask you to pray for me as always.
Because this work is not easy at all! Thank you very much!
