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Pope Francis’ address to the Society of the Divine Word (Verbites)
Clementine Hall – Friday, 28 June 2024
”The Word of God generates, gives life, inspires, and motivates’
Arnold Janssen was a German-Dutch Catholic priest and missionary who is venerated as a saint.
He founded the Society of the Divine Word, a Catholic missionary religious congregation,
also known as the Divine Word Missionaries, as well as two congregations for women.
“Your Light Must Shine Before Others (Mt 5:16): Faithful and Creative Disciples in a Wounded World.”
Dear brothers and sisters,
A special greeting to the Superior General, who has just been appointed Archbishop of Ende in Indonesia.
You have chosen a significant theme for your General Chapter: “Your Light Must Shine Before Others (Mt 5:16): Faithful and Creative Disciples in a Wounded World.” A Chapter is a pause for reflection on a Congregation’s charism and mission. Since you are the Society of the Divine Word, in these days you are returning to the source of your identity: the Lord Jesus, the Word of salvation.
God’s Word generates, gives life, inspires, and motivates; it is the focal point of your mission.
That Word, which took flesh in Jesus, revealed the face of the Father and his merciful love.
In this way, the Word incarnate became the light of the world, who then commanded his disciples, “Let your light shine before others” (Mt 5:16).
How does this happen?
By being with him and going forth, by abiding in his love and by bearing witness to him.
Evangelization is only possible through this way, and “it demands familiarity with God’s word” (Evangelii Gaudium, 175).
This, brothers and sisters, is the source from which you are always born and reborn as faithful disciples and creative missionaries.
Let us pause for a moment to reflect on these two aspects.
Faithful disciples.
All the baptized are called to be missionary disciples, and faithfulness to this vocation is our commitment, always by the grace of God.
Faithful disciples can be recognized by the joy of the Gospel that lights up their faces, by the way they live their lives thus transmit to others the love that they first received and continue to receive every day.
Experiencing the love of the Trinity and keeping alive the flame of the Spirit is essential to our growth as missionary disciples and religious.
This flame renews us daily; it purifies and transforms us as we make our pilgrimage, always aware of our sins, amidst the temptations of this world.
But you must be courageous and trust in the mercy of God who always forgives.
We, too, must always forgive and never refuse absolution.
Creative missionaries.
What is the source of your creativity? Good and healthy creativity, not the kind that is always superficial, self-referential, and worldly.
Instead, good missionary creativity comes from the Word and the Spirit, that is, from Christ who lives in you, who makes you co-workers.
It is He, not we, who draws hearts to himself!
The Spirit is the “protagonist”, while our role is to work with all our strength, with all our talents, in the certainty that the Creator Spirit is always at work, while we are called to be his docile instruments, “channels” that reflect his presence transparently.
You serve in seventy-nine different countries: you are there to proclaim the Gospel and to “make the Kingdom of God present in the world”” (Evangelii Gaudium, 176).
This is done, as you well know, by spreading joy rather than by imposing obligations.
Creative missionary activity are born of love for the Word of God; and creativity is born of contemplation and discernment.
While our personal initiatives are good, creative activity on the part of the community is better for the unity and strength of the Church.
Dear brothers, I thank you because your Chapter’s “guidelines” allow me to highlight some pressing current issues.
1. First: the need to be peacemakers. Our world is scarred by conflicts, wars, environmental destruction, violent acts against human life and dignity, fundamentalist ideologies, and many other wounds. Peace is the cry rising from the peoples of the world.
Let us listen to this crt and become peacemakers!
The risen Jesus repeatedly said to the apostles: “Peace be with you” (Jn 20:19, 21, 26).
He wants them to be peacekeepers, by saying “Peace be with you”.
To which he added, “As the father has sent me, even so I send you” (v. 21).
Let us bring the peace of Christ to all, especially to the poor, to migrants who suffer much, to women who face discrimination against, to children, and to the marginalized.
God heard the cry of an enslaved people (cf. Ex 3:9); may we not close our ears to the cry of those who are oppressed in our own time, and may we be creative in promoting peace.
2. The second urgent need: to be the hope for every culture. You must be the hope for every culture. On the eve of the Jubilee Year, in this wounded world, our communities must become signs of hope. This is prophetic. It means that, before giving hope, we must be hope, exercising the character that comes from our baptism.
In your case, consecration in accordance with your original charism confirms and strengthens these baptismal gifts and impels you to become committed witnesses in the various social and cultural contexts in which you find yourselves, “being prophetic hope for every culture.”
This is a great challenge!
Only the Church, enlivened from the beginning by the Spirit of Pentecost, can respond to it.
I like to read in the Acts of the Apostles about what the Holy Spirit does.
There is confusion, everyone is talking, but they all understand each other!
So often, in confusing situations, the Spirit moves the Church forward.
Do not be afraid of conflicts! Do not create conflicts, but don’t be afraid of conflicts either.
Do not be afraid of the confusion of today’s culture.
The Spirit can come in. “Be the hope for every culture”.
You are experts in inculturation, one of the fruits of your charism.
Over the years, you have learned to live your missionary vocation with respect for all cultures and peoples. But discernment is needed. Today, the Internet and social media, used uncritically, influence people’s lifestyles and values. Saint John Paul II, on the other hand, called us to shape a new culture of love and of hope inspired by the truth that frees us in Christ Jesus.
This is the goal of inculturation.”
It takes discernment, so let us ask the Holy Spirit for this grace of discernment.
3. Now, a third aspect: to be missionaries of synodality.
A Church that “goes out” is open to others. It is a welcoming and embracing community where the Lord lives and the Spirit is at work. The Church that goes out is extroverted, while a partisan Church is introverted. Always be open, put your heart into it!
Today the Church must grow in a synodal approach, listening to everyone, dialoguing with everyone, and discerning in the Holy Spirit its mission is.
Synodality is not a question of being in fashion.
“Synodality is essentially missionary and, vice versa, mission is always synodal” (Message for World Mission Day, 20 October 2024). For this reason, I encourage you to promote synodality in every aspect of your life. May each community grow and enjoy a synodal “style” whereby each member feels listened to and accepted. Finally, do as the Spirit leads you, but be sure to be sensitive to the way the Spirit moves: gently, among the simple and in the most distant places.
Dear brothers and sisters, in 2025 you will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the Society of the Divine Word.
Your hearts are filled with gratitude to God for his immense love, which has moved you to go to every part of the world to preach the Word and to spread God’s love, to build communities, to serve the poor, to work for social justice, to offer education and empowerment, and to care for the environment.
In this spirit of gratitude, you now reflect on how to creatively share the joy of Jesus’ resurrection.
St. Arnold Janssen knew how to discern God’s will and to guide the Society in the way of the Spirit. This is the charism of a founder!
Today, may you follow this charism, and may his example and intercession guide your discernment as a community and help you to take courageous steps forward, in humility and in trusting abandonment to God.
I thank you for who you are and for all that you do. I offer you my heartfelt blessing, and I ask you, please, not to forget to pray for me. Thank you.
