Letter of Pope Benedict XVI to Passionist General Chapter

FROM THE VATICAN, 29 September 2006

N. 46.325

Reverendo Padre P. Ottaviano D’Egidio, C.P.
Preposito Generale della Congregazione della Passione di Gesù
Piazza SS. Giovanni e Paolo, 13
00184 ROMA

Reverend Father,

His Holiness was pleased to know that the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ is about to celebrate its General Chapter in Rome, from 1 to 21 October of this year. On this special occasion he sends to you and to the participants his best wishes, that are extended to all of this religious Family, with which he shares a long friendship, and by means of which he has come to admire, since the early years of his academic life in Germany, the figure of Saint Paul of the Cross. He hopes that the work of the capitulars is fruitful, a work that is especially dedicated to “restructuring” and to the “revitalization” of the presence of the Passionists in the Church and in the world, to translate the ageless teachings of the Founder into works that are in keeping with the times.

Paul of the Cross perceived the Passion of Jesus as the greatest manifestation of the love of God, possessing a capacity for converting hearts more effectively than any other means. In fact, only by the light of the Cross can one draw near to the mystery of divine Love. “His death on the Cross”, Benedict XVI affirms in his Encyclical Deus caritas est, “is the culmination of that turning of God against himself in which he gives himself in order to raise man up and save him. This is love in its most radical form.” (No. 12)

This is the message which you are also called to announce in this day and age; this is the heart of your charism, that which inspires the contemplation to which you must dedicate yourselves in the solitude of your retreats, as Paul of the Cross referred to your religious houses, or by creating an analogous space for contemplation in the various situations in which you currently carry out your mission. It concerns a mission that is always valid: i.e. to demonstrate that the Cross is love and that love is God. As your Founder often repeated: from the ocean of the love of the Father flows the ocean of suffering of the Passion of Jesus; from the Heart of the Father comes the Passion of the Heart of Jesus and his Body which is the Church. Your Founder was deeply convinced that the evils of the world derive from forgetting the Passion of Jesus. Consequently, his constant endeavor was to remember the Passion and to invite others to do the same. Union with Christ Crucified became for him the inspiration to be in communion with all people; the passion for justice and for charity. In the mystery of the Cross he found the strength to act and to value self-denial and suffering, always desiring to share in the suffering of the Redeemer for the evils of humanity.

The Supreme Pontiff, while thanking the Lord for the witness of your religious lives and for the numerous works of apostolic ministry that you undertake, encourages you to bring to a good conclusion the task of “Restructuring” that you have undertaken with the goal of better responding to the challenges of our time, while bearing in mind the different cultural contexts in which you are present. The teaching expressed in various documents of the pontifical Magisterium can serve to guide your spiritual and pastoral efforts, among them the Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consacrata in which we read: “Institutes of Consecrated Life are thus invited courageously to propose anew the enterprising initiative, creativity and holiness of their founders and foundresses in response to the signs of the times emerging in today’s world. This invitation is first of all a call to perseverance on the path of holiness in the midst of the material and spiritual difficulties of daily life. But it is also a call to pursue competence in personal work and to develop a dynamic fidelity to their mission, adapting forms, if need be, to new situations and different needs, in complete openness to God’s inspiration and to the Church’s discernment.” (No. 37)

In your work of “Restructuring” keep in mind the urgent goal of the unity of the Congregation and each one’s responsibility for its various entities; the search for formation that is always more unified and profound; the exchange of personnel and means of support above all keeping in mind reciprocal support between countries that are economically sound and those that are developing; receptivity to collaboration with the local Churches, with Institutes that are associated with you, with the laity; a consciousness of new forms of poverty and the “crucified” of our time. By employing new means, may your concern be that of manifesting that same love for the Church and the same apostolic zeal for souls that characterized your Founder. Furthermore, the involvement of all the members of your Congregation in reflection on the charism of the Passion, as well as in a search for lifestyles and apostolates that are more authentic and faithful to your origins, cannot do other than inspire within you the desire for a more profound intimacy with Christ. This will keep you from the risk of succumbing to worldly influences and the culture of secularization, which also tries to penetrate the minds and hearts of consecrated religious. In particular, the Holy Father exhorts the cloistered nuns founded by St. Paul of the Cross to renew their fervor in prayer, the offering of themselves and their witness, accepting with docile trust the directives of the competent Authorities of the Holy See toward a modification of their structures in keeping with present day needs.

His Holiness Benedict XVI, assuring you of a special remembrance in his prayer, invokes upon the General Chapter the maternal protection of Mary, who from your beginnings has been venerated in her Presentation in the Temple and whom you have subsequently chosen, under the title of “Mother of Sorrows”, as your Patroness, and the heavenly intercession of the Founder and the saints and beati of your Congregation. With these sentiments, he imparts to you, Reverend Father, and to all the Passionist Family the Apostolic Blessing.

I also include by sincere best wishes and I take this opportunity to reaffirm my religious esteem.

Devotedly yours in the Lord,

TARCISIO CARD. BERTONE
Secretary of State