Pope: prayer, poverty and patience are the “criteria” for the future of religious life
Francis met the participants of an international conference organised by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. “Prayer is always returning to the first calling.” Poverty is “the perimeter wall of consecrated life” against vanity and pride. Patience means “Bearing on your shoulders”, like a Christian virtue, the “capacity to bear suffering”.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis spoke today to the men and women religious attending the international conference ‘Consecratio et consecratio per evangelica consilia’ organised by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life currently underway (3-6 May) at the Pontifical University Antonianum.
The Holy Father centred his address on prayer, poverty and patience as radical choices to make on one’s own and in community, with some thoughts for San Giovanni Rotondo and Mother Teresa. He highlighted the “criteria” by which institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life can discern what is happening in the life of the congregations that bring together the consecrated.
“The key to what I will say is what the Cardinal [Prefect of the Congregation] asked for,” namely “authentic criteria to guide us. Because truly, today many things happen and, so as not to lose ourselves in this world, in the fog of worldliness, of provocations, of the spirit of war, many things, we need authentic criteria that guide us. That guide us in discernment.”
“I have wondered: what are the things that the Spirit keeps strong in consecrated life? And my thought flew, wandered . . . and the day I went to San Giovanni Rotondo kept coming to mind: I don’t know why, but I saw there many consecrated men and women who work . . . and I thought of what I said there, of the ‘three Ps” that I said there. And I said to myself, these are pillars that remain, that are permanent in consecrated life: prayer, poverty, and patience. And I have decided to speak to you about this: what I think prayer is in consecrated life, and then poverty and patience.”
“Prayer always means going back to the first calling. Any prayer, perhaps a prayer in need, but always a going back to that Person who called to me. The prayer of a consecrated man or woman means going back to the Lord who invited me to be close to Him”, leaving everything where which I work. No, [I work] for the Lord. There is a word that is used a lot, it is used too much and has lost some of its power, but it embodies this [idea] well, [namely] radicality. I do not like using it because it has been used too often, but there it is: I leave everything for You.”
Even though there are so many things to do in a day, it is “anyway, prayer. [. . .] Let us turn our thoughts to a consecrated woman of our times: Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa even ‘sought out problems’ because she was a problem-searching machine going here and there. . . Yet, the two hours of prayer in front of the Most Holy Sacrament, no-one could take them away from her. ‘Ah, the great Mother Teresa!’ Do as she did, do the same. Seek out your Lord, He Who has called you. Not only in the morning. . . Everyone must find how to do this, when to do this. But always do it, praying. No one can live a consecrated life, nor discern what is happening without speaking with the Lord.”
“The second 'P' is poverty. In the Constitutions, Saint Ignatius wrote this to us Jesuits – nothing original of his – I think he took it from the Fathers of the Desert, perhaps. ‘Poverty is the mother, the containment wall of consecrated life’. It is the ‘mother’: [That’s] interesting. He does not say chastity, which is perhaps more associated with maternity, nor paternity; no [he says] poverty is mother. Without poverty, there is no fruitfulness in consecrated life.”
“There are three steps to go from religious consecration to religious worldliness; yes, even the religious kind. There is religious worldliness – many religious and consecrated peopel are worldly. [There are] Three steps. First [is] money, that is, the absence of poverty. Second [is] vanity, which goes from the extreme of playing the ‘peacock’ to little signs of vanity. And third [is] arrogance, pride. From there [come] all the vices. But the first step is fondness for wealth, fondness for money. If we keep this in check, the others will not follow. I say wealth, not only money, wealth. The spirit of poverty is needed to be able to discern what is happening.”
“[T]hird [comes] patience. ‘But father, what does patience have to do with it?’. Patience is important. We do not normally speak about it but it is very important. When we look at Jesus, patience is what Jesus had to arrive at the end of His life. When Jesus, after the Supper, went to the olive garden, we can say that at that moment, in a special way, Jesus ‘enters in patience’. ‘Entering in patience’ [. . .] is the attitude of every consecration, going from the little things of community life or the life of consecration, that each person has, in the variety that the Holy Spirit does. . . From the little things, the little acts of tolerance, the little smiling gestures when I feel like swearing . . . up to the sacrifice of one’s self, of one’s life. Patience. That [refers to the] ‘bearing on the shoulders’ (hypomoné) of Saint Paul: Saint Paul spoke about carrying on the shoulders as a Christian virtue. Patience. Without patience, that is without the capacity to bear suffering, without ‘entering in patience’, a consecrated life cannot be sustained; it will be a half measure. Without patience, for example, one can understand the wars inside a congregation; one can understand them. Since they did not have the patience to put up with each other, and the stronger one wins, who is not always the better one. And the one did not win is not [necessarily] the best, because he or she is impatient. Without patience, we can understand the careerists in the general chapters who are try to build their own network”.
There is “not only patience in community life”. There is “patience before the suffering of the world. Bearing on your shoulders the problems, the suffering of the world. ‘To enter in patience’, as Jesus entered in patience to achieve redemption. This is a key point, not only for avoiding internal squabbles that cause scandal, but to be consecrated, to be able to discern. Patience.”
There is “also patience vis-à-vis the common problems of the consecrated life. Think for instance about the shortage of vocations. ‘We do not know what to do because we have no vocations. . .We have shut down three houses’. This is a daily complaint. You have heard it, heard it in your ears and in your heart. There are no vocations. Thus, when there is no patience” . . . we risk taking the path that is a worldly path, the Ars moriendi, the attitude of dying well”.
“Patience is missing and no vocations are forthcoming? Let us sell up and become fond of money, whatever may happen in the future. This is a sign. When a congregation starts to become fond of money, that is a sign that we are near death. It has no patience, and falls to the second “P’, in the absence of poverty.”
“Pay attention to these three ‘Ps’: prayer, poverty, and patience. Be careful! I think that the Lord – I will allow myself to use the word I do not like – will like radical choices in this sense, be they personal or communal. But let us bet on this.”
Finally, “I thank you for your patience in listening to this sermon [laughter, applause]. Thank you. I wish you fruitfulness. One never knows what path my fruitfulness undertakes, but if you pray, if you are poor, if you are patient, you can be sure that you will be fruitful. How? The Lord will show you ‘on the other side’, but it is the recipe to be fruitful. You shall be Father, you will be Mother: fruitfulness. That is what I wish for religious life, being fruitful.”
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