Skip to main content

Pope Offers Encouragement To Young Religious Sisters And Professors

Pope Benedict XVI met with young religious sisters and later with young university professors on Aug. 19 at the royal site of El Estorial. He emphasized the importance of the sisters' radical consecration and urged the professors to be a source of encouragement for students.
 
"The Pope spoke about a personal encounter with Christ, and that (encounter) is what fulfills us," said Sr. Ruth Martin, a 38-year-old sister of the recently founded religious community, Ieuso Communio.
 
"It was a huge privilege, a great joy!" she told EWTN News, amid the cheering and singing of sisters from various communities.
 
The sisters of Ieuso Communio, as young as 18 years old, caught the attention of those present, because of their denim habits, which symbolize the current day and age.
 
Pope Benedict told the group of more than 1,000 sisters gathered that the Church needs their "youthful fidelity, rooted and built up in Christ.
 
"Thank you for your generous, total and perpetual 'yes' to the call of the loved one," he continued.
 
"Your lives must testify to the personal encounter with Christ which has nourished your consecration, and to all the transforming power of that encounter."
 
The Pope said, referring to his World Youth Day message, that this witness is "all the more important today when we see a certain 'eclipse of God' taking place, a kind of amnesia which, albeit not an outright rejection of Christianity, is nonetheless a denial of the treasure of our faith, a denial that could lead to the loss of our deepest identity.
 
"In a world of relativism and mediocrity, we need that radicalism to which your consecration, as a way of belonging to the God who is loved above all things, bears witness."
 
Lorena Amador, a 27-year-old member of the Trinitarian Sisters of Madrid, noted that the large gathering of religious sisters is an encouragement for "young women who might feel called to the consecrated life to take the leap of faith."
 
In his address to university professors, the Pope stated that "(y)oung people need authentic teachers: persons open to the fullness of truth in the various branches of knowledge, persons who listen to and experience in own hearts that interdisciplinary dialogue; persons who, above all, are convinced of our human capacity to advance along the path of truth."
 
He encouraged the more than 1,000 professors gathered to "never to lose that sense of enthusiasm and concern for truth. Always remember that teaching is not just about communicating content, but about forming young people.
 
"You need to understand and love them, to awaken their innate thirst for truth and their yearning for transcendence. Be for them a source of encouragement and strength."
 
The Pope also explained that professors must be a source of understanding and love, as well as reason and faith.

"We cannot come to know something unless we are moved by love."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Schedule of Masses and Pilgrimages at Carmelite Monastery

Solemnity of our Lady of Mount Carmel, 2011. Cebu Carmel Solemnity of our Lady of Mount Carmel, 2011 Schedule of Masses and Pilgrimages (see pictures) for the Novena  Cebu Carmelite Monastery, Cebu Philippines. Taken from: @Ste_de_Lisieux   (twitter Account) and http://lovepetitefleur.blogspot.com Mother of God, Queen and Beauty of Carmel, Pray for us. Flower of Carmel Vine blossom-laden, splendour of heaven, Child-bearing yet maiden, None equals thee. Mother so tender, whom no man didst know, On Carmel's children thy favours bestow, Star of the sea. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "O Star of the Sea, help and protect us! Show us that you are our Mother!" Thursday, July 7     6:00 a.m. Holy Mass Celebrant -Preacher - Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph Tan 7:30 a.m. Celebrant- Preacher- Rev. Fr. Wilfredo, Borces, MSP                 Pilgrims - Blessed Sa...

Blessed Sunday (My first Online Gratitude Journal Entry)

Hello, everyone! I am so excited to share with you that today, July 30, 2023, I have decided to start my online journal. This is something new for me, as I am not really used to writing and journaling, but I was inspired by the homily of reverend Monsignor Santos a while ago. He said that gratitude is the key to happiness and peace and that we should always thank God for the blessings we receive every day. So, I decided to start my online gratitude journal, where I will jot down all the things that I am grateful for these days and the days ahead. I hope that by doing this, I will be able to appreciate more the goodness of God and the beauty of life. For my first entry, I want to express my gratitude for the gift of life. I am grateful that I woke up today with a comfortable bed in an air-conditioned room. I am truly blessed knowing that I have a roof over my head and that I took a bath three times today. I am also grateful that I was able to eat the food I love. Lord, thank you for eve...

my Spiritual Purification Through Bro.Joey

we have our recollection and our speaker is brother joey mabborang.. he is an excellent speaker, he's so brilliant a very commendable for a job well done... he tackles about the life and works of saint john of the cross ( NADA - TODO) though he didn't gave us that much brief explanation but, i personally understand everything most especially on the life and Works of Saint Teresa of Jesus, the 7 mansions and etc., and it made me more interested to read the book that brother willow gave us.. thanks by the way bro. willow for your generosity.. bro. joey is a prolific speaker.. he moves me, lalalong lalo na nung sinabi nya na " For other people we are fool, coz we have a job but why are we here? hindi naman tayo medyo pangit pero bakit? we can have our own family and have many children pero bakit? maybe they think that we are fool, ready to sacrifice everything even our love ones but for us we are fool for the love of our beloved, our lord Jesus Christ..." i told my s...