Speeches 1986 - Vijayapuram (India)
Saturday, 8 February 1986
Dear Bishop Acharuparambil,
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"You are God’s temple and... God’s Spirit dwells in you" . These words of Saint Paul have a particular meaning today as I have the joy of visiting this "Temple of God", Saint Joseph’s Cathedral in the Diocese of Trivandrum of the Latin Rite.
What a great dignity is ours – we who have come to know and love our Lord Jesus Christ! In Baptism we have been made sons and daughters of God, and we have the privilege of calling God "Abba, Father". Christ has given us a share in his Death and Resurrection, and he has poured out his Spirit upon us. What a blessing to have the Spirit dwelling in us as in a temple. This is our Christian dignity. This is the cause of our joy. Let us always rejoice and be filled with praise of God. And may the bless all the clergy, religious and laity of this diocese.
Saturday, 8 February 1986
Dear Archbishop Thangalathil,
Dear Friends in Christ,
It is a joy to visit Saint Mary’s Cathedral in Trivandrum. Although my visit is more brief than my heart would wish, I am very happy to be able to come to this Mother Church of the Metropolitan See of the Syro-Malankara Rite.
In coming to this Cathedral, I pay honour to the memory of Archbishop Mar Ivanios who is buried here. Among the many apostolic endeavours of this zealous pastor of souls, none was more dear to him than the promotion of unity among Christians. And this remains an important priority in the Church. Our Lord himself, on the night before he died, prayed "that they may all be one" , and he gave his life "to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad" . We must never tire then in our efforts to work for unity among Christians and to further harmony and peace in the world. May Mary the Mother of God assist us by her prayers. And may the Lord bless you all with his abundant joy and peace.
Saturday, 8 February 1986
Dearly Beloved in Christ,
1. My pilgrim steps have brought me to Trivandrum!
To you, my brothers and sisters of this part of Kerala, I repeat the greeting of the Apostle Paul: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" . Grace and peace: great gifts of God’s love which satisfy deep yearnings of our human hearts!
On the road from the airport I have been able to visit the Cathedral of Saint Joseph and the Cathedral of Saint Mary. These visits have a particular symbolism. They express the fullness of ecclesial communion and peace between us: between the Successor of Peter and your local Churches, the Latin Dioceses of Trivandrum Quilon and Punalur and the Syro-Malankara Metropolitan See of Trivandrum.
In this spirit of unity in the Mystical Body of Christ I cordially greet my brother bishops, the priests, the men and women religious, and the faithful of all the dioceses represented here. As we raise our hearts and minds to Almighty God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – may we experience deep joy in our solidarity as disciples of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!
To the distinguished civil authorities and representatives of the various Christian Churches and to our brothers and sisters of other religious traditions I express my warm sentiments of respect and esteem.
2. At this stage of my pilgrimage through India I wish to avail myself of this visit to Trivandrum to address a particular word of affection to the Syro-Malankara Church of which Trivandrum is the principal See, under the guidance of Archbishop Mar Gregorios.
Your Church, beloved brothers and sisters, traces its origin to the Apostle Saint Thomas. You possess a very ancient liturgical tradition which had its origin in Antioch, where the followers of Jesus were first called "Christians" . For more than sixteen centuries our community remained in unbroken communion with the See of Peter. Then there was a series of difficulties which interrupted that communion. But this century has been indelibly marked by the luminous figure of Archbishop Mar Ivanios, who found wisdom and sensitivity to the cause of Christian unity in my predecessor Pius XI, to whom he made an historic visit in 1932.
I am very pleased to know that the latest period of your Church’s history has been a time of growth and vigorous Christian life. The establishment of the Major Seminary dedicated to Mary, Mother of the Church, is a sign of your vitality. It offers great hope of further strength and consolidation in the future.
In 1980 I had the great pleasure of sending Cardinal Rubin as my personal representative to the Jubilee celebrations. And today I have been given the grace to visit you personally. Today I wish to encourage you in your faith, in your fidelity to your ancient traditions, in your sincere efforts to promote fraternal relations with your brothers and sisters of the Jacobite and Orthodox Churches and other Ecclesial Communions. May your constant aspiration be that the time will soon come when the prayer of our Lord for perfect unity among all his disciples will be realised , so that the Church in every place and in every age may shine forth as "a people made one with the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit" .
3. To Bishop Jacob and to all the priests, religious and laity of the Latin Diocese of Trivandrum I express fraternal love in our Lord Jesus Christ.
I commend to the loving intercession of our Blessed Mother the life of your parishes, your schools and colleges and the charitable and pastoral organisations which contribute greatly to your diocesan life. As the humble servant of the Lord , Mary stands before you as the perfect model of your daily service to the ecclesial and civil communities in which you proclaim the Gospel message of life and give effective witness to the evangelical law of love . Today the Successor of Peter is very happy to be in your midst. I pray that my visit will comfort you and encourage you.
4. Brothers and sisters in Christ: as Christians we are sent to serve. Christ himself said: "I am among you as one who serves" . Service is a path which is most clearly exemplified in the life and ministry of Jesus. Along this path we too must walk. The infant in the manger at Bethlehem, the child lost in the Temple, the carpenter of Nazareth, the teacher sitting by the well at Sychar , the Master who washes the disciples’ feet , the Son of Man who lays down his life for his friends – these are some of the images of God’s love for man at work through Jesus in the affairs of human history.
In the solemn words of Saint Paul, Jesus Christ "though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men" .
The Church too is called upon reproduce in her life and ministry the model of Jesus’ service. Like him the Church must act in a spirit of service to the human family. For her, to serve the human family is to serve Christ her Lord.
In this sense certain expressions of the Second Vatican Council are a constant challenge to us: "the Church encompasses with love all those who are afflicted with human weakness... She recognises in the poor and the suffering the likeness of her poor and suffering Founder. She does all she can to relieve their need and in them she strives to serve Christ" .
Has this not been the experience of the Saints in every time and place? Is this not the example left to you by a multitude of men and women who have witnessed to Christ in this region of Kerala? Is this not the work of your parishes and institutions today? Are not many of you personally engaged in many forms of service to your needy brothers and sisters, without seeking earthly profit or advantage?
5. The Church here, and throughout India, is a servant Church. She sees her poor and suffering Founder in the faces of all those, young or old, who are victims of poverty in any of its forms: hunger and malnutrition, unacceptable living conditions, disease, illiteracy, injustices at work and in society, the privation of fundamental freedoms, discrimination because of race, religion, sex, community or language.
In this Messianic Kingdom of Christ the poor and the suffering have a special place. Indeed, the Kingdom belongs to them: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God" . The signs of the presence of God’s Kingdom are the preaching of the Good News to the poor, the proclaiming of sight by the blind, the setting free of those who are oppressed, the proclamation of the acceptable year of the Lord . All these mean that the Church’s service to the Kingdom of God is accomplished in her service to the poor and to the suffering.
The Church excludes no one from her compassion and loving service. Like a good mother she loves all: children, youth, the aged, the workers, the homeless, the hungry, the handicapped, the spiritually deprived, and those who recognise their sinfulness and so experience through her the healing touch of Christ. To everyone, but to the poor in particular, the Church offers the Good News of man’s human and supernatural dignity. In Christ, man has been elevated to the state of divine sonship. He is a child of God, called to live in dignity in this world and destined for eternal life.
The Church is the home of the poor and the rich alike, for "God shows no partiality". However, each community in the Church is required to make a special effort so that the poor feel fully at home in her. For this reason the Church herself, "in humility and self-sacrifice" , must be willing to walk the paths of the dispossessed and those who seek after justice. In this way she walks in the footsteps of her Lord, who "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant".
6. Twenty years ago the Second Vatican Council clearly recognised that "we are at a moment in history when the development of economic life could diminish social inequalities if that development were guided and coordinated in a reasonable and human way". But at the same time the Council fore saw – and rightly – that material development too often serves only to intensify such inequalities. What is needed for greater social justice is this: that economic development and the technical instruments it produces should be placed at the service of man: at the service of the whole man, and of every man – every man, woman and child – without intolerable forms of discrimination. In his social Encyclical "Mater et Magistra", Pope John XXIII vindicated a principle which is entirely valid today: "Economic progress must be accompanied by a corresponding social progress, so that all classes of citizens can participate in the increased productivity.
Furthermore, economic and social progress must be directed to the integral well-being of the human person. This means that people must not be considered as mere instruments of production. They must be treated in accordance with their human dignity and in accordance with their needs, which are not material but also cultural and spiritual.
India understands the spiritual nature of the human person. Your culture causes you to be sensitive to the transcendental values that are an inseparable part of human activity and all relationships. The world is faced by this challenge: development must be truly harmonised with the promotion of the spiritual dignity of individuals and their inalienable rights. You possess an ancient wisdom which claims that it is not just material progress which benefits a people and a nation, but rather the resulting social peace and freedom, including freedom of conscience and religion.
7. Brothers and sisters of the Catholic Church: as citizens of your country you have the right and duty to contribute to the progress of the civil society to which you belong. I encourage you to do this in a spirit of service, in the spirit of Christ who taught us the fullest meaning of love. As Saint John says: "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But if any one has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and in truth".
In co-operation with all people of good will, the local Churches have a vital part to play in relieving hardship and suffering. Much can be done, as the Council says, "to help people gain a sharper insight into their full destiny, so that they can fashion the world more to man’s surpassing dignity, search for a brotherhood which is universal and more deeply rooted, and meet the urgencies of our age with a gallant and unified effort born of love". As far as possible, educational activities should be intensified in order to enable the younger generation to face the realities of life with courage and to take a responsible part in working to improve them. The Church also has a special duty to support the holiness of family life, essential for the well-being of individuals and of society.
By working for the common good, which includes both the material and spiritual welfare of all sectors of the population, the Church fulfils her servant role. In all your efforts I commend you to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to Saint Joseph, to whom the Cathedrals of Trivandrum are dedicated. Mary and Joseph encouraged Jesus to serve. By their prayers and example they do the same for us today.
Brothers and sisters: "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ".
Sunday, 9 February 1986
Dear Friends,
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
1. It is a great joy for me to make Vasai the first stop of my visit to the Archdiocese of Bombay. I thank you for your warm welcome and I greet you in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are gathered in the part of the present Archdiocese of Bombay where the Christian faith was first proclaimed and Christian communities were first established. Here, in this region, the reality behind the Scripture reading from the First Book of Samuel which we have just heard has been repeated. God called Samuel to his service, and Samuel replied with prompt and generous decision: "Here I am... Speak, for your servant hears" . Your forefathers in Vasai heard God’s call, and they too were quick and generous in their response.
It was in Vasai that missionaries arrived in the first half of the sixteenth century, to proclaim the Gospel message of peace and reconciliation in Christ. It was from the fortress-town, whose ruins are close by, that the Franciscans and the Jesuits, the Dominicans and the Augustinians, went forth to preach the Good News to the villages and towns of Vasai. As a result of their efforts, supported and made fruitful by the Holy Spirit, your forefathers came to believe in Jesus Christ and were gathered into Christian communities, the forerunners of what was to develop, four centuries later, into the Archdiocese of Bombay.
2. I rejoice to be with you at this moment, so that together we may lift up our hearts and voices in a heartfelt hymn of thanksgiving to our heavenly Father for the saving works he has accomplished in your midst in the course of these four centuries.
Your ancestors welcomed the Good News of Jesus Christ. They committed themselves to his Church. They remained faithful through all the stages of the Church’s life in this area. They were loyal in the midst of difficulties. And the fruits of their fidelity have not been wanting. Their perseverance is the reason why the faith was transmitted from generation to generation, until it was handed on to you and is seen today in the flourishing life of the parishes of Vasai.
In the context we offer our prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord: with gratitude to him for the Christian faith which has been entrusted to you. We thank him especially for the gifts of holiness and loving service which have marked the lives of so many of the Church’s sons and daughters here. Among these there stands out the memory of Saint Gonsalo Garcia, the young native Franciscan of Vasai, who was martyred together with his confreres in Japan, thus giving the highest example of what the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ has meant to the Christian people of Vasai.
It is good thing to return to the past and to think about the priceless gift of God’s call to the people of this region. We need to return to that point in time when you became "a people claimed by God for his own, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" .
3. In fact, the history of the Church in Vasai constitutes a particular unfolding of the great mystery of God’s love for the human family. Through this history "the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared" . In the pilgrim journey of each local Church – in humble day-by-day things just as much as in great events, in joys as in sorrows, in peace, as in persecution – the mystery of God’s eternal love is at work.
The Church lives to proclaim this "goodness" of God. You do this especially when you gather around the Eucharistic table and celebrate the saving Sacrifice of Christ until the end of time . This is precisely the announcement of joy and hope for which the world yearns, for in Jesus’ Passion and Death the eternal saving love of the Father is fully revealed: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" .
Brothers and sisters of Vasai, Bombay, and all India: you are called to the sublime task of making known the "goodness and loving kindness" of God and of bearing witness to it. Here the story of the young Samuel’s vocation becomes a model for every Christian. The only response worthy of God’s love is a generous commitment of your lives to the service of your fellow men: "Here I am... Speak, for your servant hears" .
4. If we look around and ask how the "goodness" of God is made known today in Vasai, we are immediately struck by the vitality of your family and parish life.
Your closely-knit families, which support the personal development of their members and at the same time greatly contribute to the stability and progress of society as a whole, are a precious gift of God’s love. In family life there are always difficulties and challenges. Today family life is burdened and threatened in new ways. Yet, as Christians you are aware that Christ’s redeeming power makes possible an ever deeper and more intense communion, which is the foundation and soul of the community of marriage and the family .
I wish to encourage you to strengthen your family life and love. I have been told that family prayer is strong among you, and in particular the recitation of the family Rosary. Dear families of Vasai: listen to my appeal. The Pope asks you to continue to pray together. Pray together as a family, for your family and for other families. Parents: teach your children to pray with loving trust in our heavenly Father. Young couples: I ask you especially to cultivate this custom of family prayer. The stability, happiness and security of your families greatly depend on your prayerful relationship with God.
5. God’s goodness and love is shown too by the pastoral and catechetical life of your parishes, in your regular reception of the laws of the Church, in your devotion to the Saints and especially to Mary, the Queen of Saints and Mother of the Church. This devotion to Mary has been a characteristic of your Christian life since the beginning, when the images of Our Lady in the churches of Remedy and Pali attracted devotees, both Christian and non-Christian, in great numbers.
Who will be surprised, then, that from such a dynamic family and parish life has flowed a steady stream of vocations to the priestly and religious life? I am very happy to note the number of young men and women whom the families and parishes of Vasai have carefully prepared and generously given to the priesthood and religious life, not only in the Archdiocese of Bombay but also in other parts of India. The Church thanks you for this, and prays that you will continue to co-operate with the Lord of the harvest so that his Church may always have suitable heralds of the Gospel.
6. I also wish to address a particular word of encouragement to the laity in what concerns their specific role and responsibility in the Church and in civil society. It is their special task to make God’s goodness known in the world for the common good and to help to build society on the principles of justice and truth, freedom and love.
In the course of the last fifty years, the desire for knowledge, both secular and Christian, has led to the establishment of numerous educational institutions: a Senior College, Junior Colleges, Institutes of Education, a Technical Institute, fourteen High Schools, and a Primary School in almost every parish. Is this not something to be especially thankful for? How can we estimate in human terms the contribution that the Church is thus making to general advancement and social progress in Vasai?
I am also aware of the many co-operative endeavours undertaken especially by the laity in Vasai which have as their objective the welfare of the people and the apostolate of the Church. These co-operative ventures in the banking, agricultural, fishing, health and educational fields bear testimony to the growing maturity of the social conscience of the Christian community in Vasai. Overcoming self-interest and wishing to promote the common good, you seek to pool your human and financial resources in ways that will accrue to the benefit of Church and society. May such co-operative efforts flourish, resist every form of factionalism and every semblance of selfish interest, and truly be a work of justice in love.
May all the healthy initiatives that you take to bring about greater social justice and increased social and economic development truly promote the betterment of the poor in your respective surroundings.
7. Dear brothers and sisters: in all of these ways, in the harmony of family life, in the vitality of your parishes, and in the life of the whole’ of God’s people in Vasai, God’s "goodness and loving kindness" is being revealed day by day. God’s love constitutes a call, to which each one of you must respond in generous service of others, especially of the very poor and those whose search for peace and truth is not yet ended.
May your faith and hope in Jesus Christ inspire you to deeds of love that will build up the Church in your midst and contribute to the peace and unity of the wider community of which you are a part.
With great respect and love, I invoke God’s blessings upon you: upon the Catholic community, upon all our brethren who confess with us a common faith in Jesus Christ, and upon all our brothers and sisters of other religious traditions, whom we esteem and love and who are joined with us in the bonds of fellowship and fraternal solidarity.
Peace be to you all!
Sunday, 9 February 1986
Dear Archbishop Pimenta,
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Like my predecessor Paul VI I have come as a pilgrim to Holy Name Cathedral in Bombay. I am particularly pleased that my visit is taking place during this centenary year of the Archdiocese.
The title of your Cathedral expresses your reverence and love for the name of the Lord Jesus, "the name which is above every name" . Saint John tells us that his whole purpose in writing his Gospel was "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name" . And Saint Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, proclaimed: "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" .
In the name of Jesus is found grace and salvation, peace and consolation, joy and hope for all the world. Blessed are those who have come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. May all that we do give glory and praise to his holy name.
Sunday, 9 February 1986
O Mary of Nazareth, Mother of God, Mother of the Church,
At the end of this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we turn to you in prayer, with confidence and hope; we offer to you the deepest thoughts of our hearts.
We come to you, Holy Mother of God, mindful of your Son’s last words to you as you stood at the foot of the Cross: "Woman, behold, your son!".
Woman, behold your son! Mary, behold your sons and daughters! Dearest Mother, behold your children here on earth, behold your sons and daughters here in India!
In imitation of Jesus who entrusted the beloved disciple John to your care, I entrust to you all the people dwelling in this great land. Be near them with your motherly protection. Open your arms to embrace all those who look to you and ask you to present their prayers to God.
O Mary, Virgin Most Pure, I entrust to your love and care all the youth of India, the children whose innocence expresses the goodness of their Creator and whose littleness reveals the greatness of their Maker. We pray for the young people who are searching for the truth and for direction and purpose in their lives. We ask you to guide the young men who are studying in the seminaries, and all those who are preparing to consecrate their lives to God through the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.
Loving Mother of our Saviour, I entrust to you all families, especially husbands and wives seeking to model their home on your home in Nazareth. Intercede for parents and their children, that their love may be strong and faithful like the love that fills your own Immaculate Heart.
Mary Most Holy, we entrust to you the family which is the Church in India, with its clergy and religious, its different rites and liturgical traditions, its two millennia of experience and its ever vigorous youth. As part of the Body of Christ on earth, the Church in India seeks to imitate your divine Son and to be for the people of this land his voice, his hands, his feet, his body given in sacrifice. I place before you her great work of spiritual renewal, her efforts to proclaim the Gospel of merciful love, her ecumenical initiatives, her desire to be a reconciling force within society. Pray for your sons and daughters of the Church, that they may be always faithful, always filled with joy and hope, always a people of charity proclaiming the Good News to the poor. In the love of your Son embrace all those who suffer: the old and the feeble, the sick and the lonely, all those who are discouraged and destitute.
Mary, Queen of Peace, your children long for peace. They hunger and thirst for justice. They desire to live in harmony despite all the violence and divisions which exist in the world. Your Son prayed to the Father "that they may all be one", and today we make his prayer our own. We count on your intercession before God’s throne of grace. Obtain for us the favour to live in perfect union with Jesus and with our brothers and sisters. And may all that we say and do give ever greater glory and praise to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Monday, 10 February 1986
Dear Fathers, Brothers and Sisters,
1. "Peace to all of you who are in Christ" .
I have been greatly looking forward to this meeting with the men and women religious of India. In those of you present here I see the thousands of your brothers and sisters in every corner of India whose life is scaled by a special consecration to Christ. Peace be to you all!
To the Conference of Religious, India, and to the members of every religious congregation, in the variety of different rites and forms of life and apostolate, but united in the reality of the consecrated life in the Church, to each one of you I address a heartfelt word of greeting and encouragement, a word which – as I wrote in the Apostolic Exhortation "Redemptionis Donum" – is "a word of love spoken by the Church for you. Accept it, wherever you may be: in the cloister of the contemplative communities, or in the commitment to the many different forms of apostolic service: in the mission, in pastoral work, in hospitals or other places where the suffering are taken care of, in educational institutions, schools or universities – in fact in every one of your houses where, ‘gathered in the name of Christ’, you live in the knowledge that the Lord is ‘in your midst’" .
May every religious of India experience this presence, trusting in the truth of God’s word through the prophet Isaiah: "I have called you by name, you are mine" .
Your religious consecration is a special gift of God to the Church. It is impossible to think of Christian religious life outside of the context of the Church, the Body of Christ, the community of salvation "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets". The Church, as the "sign and instrument of intimate union with God, and of the unity of all mankind", is your true home.
Indeed, religious life is a powerful manifestation of the Church’s interior holiness and vitality. This is also very true of the Church in India. Today there are some 50,000 religious sisters, 5,000 religious priests, and 2,800 religious brothers in this country, together with some 1,500 Indian men and women religious working in other parts of the world. For all of this we need to give thanks to the Lord of the harvest who blesses you with more and more vocations. The whole Church rejoices and expresses her gratitude to you for your faith and generosity. With profound love and respect, the Church too repeats the words of the prophet: "I have called you by name, you are mine".
2. My dear brothers and sisters: at the very heart of your religious consecration there lies a preferential love for Christ himself. Your personal history, in which and through which you discovered "the unsearchable riches of Christ" , has led you to commit yourselves to the service of Christ and of the coming of his Kingdom in the world. Even more than your brethren, you must experience the need for spiritual purification. Only when you are free from sin can you really live for God.
If we ask therefore what it is that the Church and the world expect of those who have made profession of the evangelical counsels, the Second Vatican Council responds in these words: "Religious should carefully consider that through them, to believers and non-believers alike, the Church truly wishes to give an increasingly clearer revelation of Christ. Through them Christ should be shown contemplating on the mountain, announcing God’s Kingdom to the multitude, healing the sick and the maimed, turning sinners to wholesome fruit, blessing children, doing good to all, and always obeying the will of the Father who sent him" .
This witnessing role of religious has additional significance in this country, precisely because it is a sure and effective form of evangelization in a multi-religious context. India wishes to see the truth of your message in the integrity of your consecration, in the simplicity and humility of your poverty, in the joy and total self-gift of your chastity, in the sacrifice and self-emptying experience of your obedience. It is encouraging to realize that your country respects men and women who are imbued with the spirit of Christ and inspired by the love of God and fellow men.
Furthermore, the Council enjoined on all Christians to become aware of their belonging to a pilgrim Church. More than anyone else it is the vocation of religious to uphold this pilgrim dimension of Christian life. You are living witnesses of the fact that "here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come" .
The path of chastity, poverty and obedience, lovingly embraced for the sake of the Kingdom of Christ – and this in a permanent way, for all of one’s life – is a path which remarkably accords with the spirituality of India’s religious traditions where life on earth itself is understood as a "pathway" to a new freedom and fulfilment.
3. As I look at the great variety of your religious habits and outward signs of your consecration I am reminded of the vast spectrum of activities in which the men and women religious of India are engaged.
In the first place I greet the contemplatives. India has always given respect and importance to those chosen souls who witness to the absolute and transcendent reality of God through prayer and contemplation. I am pleased to know that the contemplative communities among you are thriving. I make my own the sentiments of the Council in your regard: you have a distinguished part to play in Christ’s Mystical Body; you brighten God’s people with the richest splendours of sanctity; by imparting a hidden apostolic fruitfulness you make this people grow; you are the glory of the Church . On behalf of the whole people of God I encourage you and thank you.
4. Those of you who are engaged in the active apostolate cater to the various needs of the people of India. In doing so in a spirit of love, brotherhood and service, without discrimination, with respect for every human being as a child of God, you show forth the love of Christ himself and continue his mission on earth. This work of love has been consigned to you by the Church and is to be discharged in her name . Yours is not a merely humanitarian service but a specific ecclesial activity and ministry.
Many of you are engaged in education, thus imparting knowledge, both Christian and secular, through the thousands of educational institutions spread throughout the country. You will permit me to underline the great importance of this task, especially when it allows you to give witness to the Church’s attachment to truth, goodness and beauty wherever they are found, and even more so when it permits you to lead your students "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" . In particular my thoughts go to so many religious who teach in the villages of India. Theirs is an eminent form of service to the well-being of Indian society.
Then there are those engaged in health care, imitating Christ in his solicitude for the poor and the sick. Who can measure the greatness of your lives spent in the daily care of Christ’s brothers and sisters? Only God himself can adequately reward you.
There are those engaged in the parochial work of evangelization, proclaiming the word of God and enabling people to experience the power of God’s salvific action which transforms their lives and introduces them into the communion of faith and love which is the Church. Others are active in the social apostolate, seeking to help the poor and the exploited to lead a life befitting their inalienable human dignity. Some of you work through the modern mass media and in other specialised areas of pastoral care.
I warmly commend you for your zeal. May Almighty God bless all these activities of yours. And I appeal to you to continue in your contribution to the good of the Church and to the overall development of your country.
5. The appropriate renewal of religious life desired by the Second Vatican Council has, through God’s grace, brought about among you, as among the religious of the whole Church, a further spiritual awakening and an increased dynamism in facing the challenges of the present times. You have understood the need for a continual return to the sources of all Christian life and to the original inspiration behind each institute even as you are adapting to the changed conditions of contemporary society.
In this process the Church reminds you that the fundamental norm of all religious life is the following of Christ as proposed in the Gospel. She reminds you that the all-important law of your consecration is the pursuit of perfect charity through a continuous conversion of heart.
Within this necessary framework each congregation is called to develop its specific character, taking into account the charisms of the founder, in the observance of the approved rule and constitutions, and in the light of the particular goals and wholesome traditions which are the heritage of each institute.
6. In particular I wish to express my appreciation of the efforts to improve the quality of formation given to the young religious. The training of candidates for the religious life is not only a matter of imparting knowledge. It is above all the delicate task of leading them to a profound and personal response to a call from God to conform their lives to the radical demands of the Gospel, in harmony with the life and teachings of the Church and in a generous and sincere love of their own religious family. It is very important to impart to the young religious a deeply human and throughly integrated spiritual formation. It should be an essential part of this formation to inculcate a sense of values such as truth, justice, love and respect for the human person. Religious formation can be effective only to the extent that Christ is formed in the candidate and the grace of Baptism is lived to the full.
Be assured that your efforts to impart a suitable formation to the young and to provide an adequate programme of permanent formation for all religious will bear abundant fruit for your communities.
To all the aspirants, postulants and novices of the various congregations I express a special word of blessing and encouragement. I invite you to cherish the gift of a vocation as a sublime expression of God’s love for you. To you too are addressed the words of Isaiah already quoted: "I have called you by name, you are mine" . May you grow each day in awareness of the special grace that is yours! Commit all the energies of your young lives to the search for God, to the following of Christ, to the service of the Church and of the world.
7. My dear brothers and sisters, men and women religious of India, Christ has called you to follow him closely along the path of the evangelical counsels. He intends to bless your lives and your work and to enable you to be his privileged witnesses in this country. Through the faithful observance of your vows in humble service to others, especially the poor, you penetrate to the very heart of Indian life, so steeped in religious values. There, in the spiritual heart of your people, you help to promote the Kingdom of God, "a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace" .
May your enthusiastic love for the Church be a uniting force which will perfect her image before the eyes of the world, for she is "at the same time holy and always in need of being purified" . as she incessantly pursues the path of purification, penance and renewal. And this path of purification, penance and conversion belongs to you in a special way.
I entrust each and every one of you, your communities and your pastoral activities, to the intercession of Mary, Mother of Christ and of the Church. Mary’s discipleship shines forth as the foremost example of how your religious consecration is to be lived in faith and love. And my the prayers of the newly beatified Blessed Alphonsa and Blessed Kuriakose, both outstanding examples of religious consecration and love of our Lord Jesus Christ and of his Church, sustain you and fill you with joy, today and always!
Speeches 1986 - Vijayapuram (India)