Lettera Madre 9 maggio 2014

CONGREGAZIONE

SUORE DELLA PROVVIDENZA ROSMINIANE

Loughborough, 9 May 2014

My dear Sisters,

Next Sunday, the IV of Easter the Church celebrates the 51st World Day of Prayer for Vocations. On this occasion we naturally think too of our own calling. On the theme “Vocations, Witness to the Truth” Pope Francis states: “God follows the work of his hands with passion and skill in every phase of life. He never abandons us! He has the fulfilment of his plan for us at heart, and yet he wishes to achieve it with our consent and cooperation.”

In his Message he draws our attention to: “In the account of the calling of the prophet Jeremiah, for example, God reminds us that he continually watches over each one of us in order that his word may be accomplished in us. The image is of an almond branch which is the first tree to flower, thus announcing life’s rebirth in the springtime (cf Jer 1:11-12). Everything comes from him and is his gift: the world, life, death, the present, the future, but — the Apostle assures us — “you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor 3:23). Hence the way of belonging to God is explained: it comes about through a unique and personal relationship with Jesus, which Baptism confers on us from the beginning of our rebirth to new life. It is Christ, therefore, who continually summons us by his word to place our trust in him, loving him “with all the heart, with all the understanding, and with all the strength” (Mk 12:33). Therefore every vocation, even within the variety of paths, always requires an exodus from oneself in order to centre one’s life on Christ and on his Gospel. Both in married life and in the forms of religious consecration, as well as in priestly life, we must surmount the ways of thinking and acting that do not conform to the will of God.” (No 2)

On this day of Prayer for Vocations, we bear in mind the true meaning of ‘vocation’, what it is that we are praying for – holiness of life. By canonizing John XXIII and John Paul II, Pope Francis is helping us to see that, in God’s eyes, Angelo Roncalli and Karol Wojtyla are, first of all, two holy persons. This is a fundamental aspiration for all Christians.

The Vatican Council extended the vision of Church, in speaking to all men and women (Gaudium et Spes): it was Pope John XXIII’s aim to put the vocation to holiness at the very core of Christian life. Now, through his intercession, we can today ask God that all men and women may take this truth proclaimed by Vatican II, to heart: that holiness is possible for all Christians, and is not just an aim for a few chosen people.

Pope John Paul II was a priest caught up in the love of God and mankind, created in the image of God. Through this passionate love, he led the whole Church to the “new evangelization,” while at the same time, underlining the role of the laity in drawing attention to the presence of God in the life of people and nations. His words, his actions, his writings, and above all his personal self-giving (in health and in sickness) have encouraged many people to say “yes” to the call of Christ in priesthood, religious life, marriage and in the lay apostolate. St John XXIII and St John Paul II were two priests with great hearts, who had a burning love for God Himself and all God’s people.

We see the same great love in Fr Founder when he writes: “Only one thing is asked of you if you wish to correspond with your vocation to the Congregation and please the God who has given you the call to the great promise you made to him by the sacrament of your vows – an immense love capable of extending to all things rendering them pleasant and sweet”.(E.C. XI: 544)

Faithfulness to our vocation means living the Gospel today and open to new forms of presence and ministry among people. Vocation is not a once for all calling but an invitation which matures in time and to which we respond each new day; it is a challenge offered us to continue saying our joyful ‘yes’ to God, no matter what the circumstances. In this way we become a living prayer for others because “today too, Jesus lives and walks along the paths of ordinary life in order to draw near to everyone, beginning with the least, and to heal us of our infirmities and illnesses. I turn now to those who are well disposed to listen to the voice of Christ that rings out in the Church and to understand what their own vocation is. I invite you to listen to and follow Jesus and to allow yourselves to be transformed interiorly by his words, which “are spirit and life” (Jn 6:62). Mary, the Mother of Jesus and ours, also says to us: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). It will help you to participate in a communal journey that is able to release the best energies in you and around you. A vocation is a fruit that ripens in a well cultivated field of mutual love that becomes mutual service, in the context of an authentic ecclesial life. No vocation is born of itself or lives for itself. A vocation flows from the heart of God and blossoms in the good soil of faithful people, in the experience of fraternal love. Did not Jesus say: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35)? (3).

In living this month of May we are reminded also that two new Saints are united by an obvious and tender love for Mary, Mother of God and our Mother. In St John XXIII and St John Paul II, an awareness of the tenderness and intercession of Mary was part of their own spiritual and human journey, and drew others to discover the “Marian dimension” in the lives of all those who follow Jesus – “a gift which Christ himself makes personally to every individual” (Redemptoris Mater, no. 45).

Let us pray with faith in the words of St John Paul II: