2024-04-22 23:42:17
An invitation to be a source of hope in a world disfigured by war, indifference and the discarding of the weak. The Pope addressed it to the participants in the General Chapter of the Brothers of Christian Instruction of Ploërmel, whom he received in audience: be a family, flee from gossip
Paolo Ondarza – Vatican City
With the look of a father. This is how he looks Papa to the many innocent victims who have lost the ability to smile because of war. Francis asked the Brothers of Christian Instruction of Ploërmel to adopt that paternal gaze capable of serving a world in which “poverty, youth unemployment and social crises of all kinds wreak havoc.”
Be parents
The General Chapter of the Religious Institute, a reality at the service of integral human development in several countries, is celebrated within the framework of the bicentennial of the foundation by the venerable Jean-Marie de La Mennais and Father Gabriel Dashaye.
Where the others don’t go
For this reason, the Pontiff asked the participants in this audience to be “fathers” at the service of young people in a society in constant change, “always returning to Christ, the supreme rule of their life”; He urged them to go where others do not go, “to the peripheries”, to “the rejected”, “the wounded by life”, the “victims”:
A moment from the hearing
The shattered dreams of children
The thoughts of the Bishop of Rome were directed to childhood, to the “broken dreams” of so many children and young people under the bombs: “May they help them relive their dreams, believe in them and realize them”:
Children play, even under bombs, in countries at war. When we see photographs of these countries, there are children playing; But one thing that catches my attention, when children from Ukraine come to Rome who have moved here and live here, these children do not smile: they have lost their smile.
Audience of the Pope to the participants in the General Chapter of the Brothers of Christian Instruction of Ploërmel
“The Church – Francis observed – is a family”, it is necessary to “work in close collaboration with the dioceses”, moving away from pride, closedness, division and gossip:
No to gossip
Gossip is very bad for religious communities. A good resolution for a religious person would be to bite his tongue every time he feels like gossiping regarding others. It would be a good resolution, wouldn’t it?
Pope Francis with the participants in this audience
Mary’s look
The Pope’s recommendation was to “not lose joy” by renewing the consecration of the Institute to the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
May your pedagogy always be inspired by her who, with her total “yes”, allowed God’s saving plan for humanity to be fulfilled in her person. May she help you cultivate the zeal to set out to serve, to cultivate humility, trust in God and the joy of being servants of his tenderness and his mercy.
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