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JOHN PAUL II

SPREAD THE WORK OF REDEMPTION BY TRAVELLING

THE EVANGELIC WAY OF THE CROSS 

To the 4th Congress of Secular Institutes

(8. 26. 1988)

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Secular Institutes,

1. With great joy I welcome you on the occasion of your fourth World Congress, and I thank you for your meaningful presence in such great numbers. You are the distinguished representatives of an ecclesial reality which, especially in this century, is a sign of a special "movement" of the Holy Spirit in the heart of God's Church. In fact, the Secular Institutes have clearly stressed the value of the consecrated life for those who work "in the world", that is, for those who are involved in secular activities, whether as diocesan priests, or, especially, as lay persons. For the laity, in fact, the story of the Secular Institutes marks an important stage in the development of the doctrine concerning the special nature of the lay apostolate and in the recognition of the laity's universal call by Christ to holiness and service.

Your mission today is strengthened by a theological tradition; it consists in the "consecratio mundi", that is, in restoring all things in Christ as the sole Head (cf. Eph 1:10), working from within, in secular life.

I am pleased with the theme chosen for the present assembly: "The mission of the Secular Institutes in the world of 2000". In fact, this is a complex subject which corresponds to the Church's short-term hopes and expectations.

This program is extremely challenging for you, because it opens up the horizons of the Third Millennium to your specific vocation and spiritual experience. It does so in order to help you to become more and more aware of your call to holiness while living in the world, and collaborate in the work of salvation and evangelization of the whole People of God through your consecration, interiorly and authentically lived.

2. I greet Cardinal Jean Jerome Hamer, Prefect of the Congregation for Religious and for Secular Institutes, who has spoken to you about the conclusions of the recent Synod of Bishops and about the consequences of these conclusions for your community. In greeting all the collaborators, the organisers, and all of you who are present here, with the brothers and sisters whom you represent, I extend to all a heartfelt wish, namely, that the present assembly will be a propitious occasion to live a deep experience of ecclesial communion, solidarity, grace and consolation for your way, and that it may throw particular light on your specific vocation.

 3. The impact of the Third Millennium of the Christian era is doubtless stimulating for all who intend to dedicate their lives to the good and progress of humanity. All of us would wish that the new era would correspond to the plan which the Creator has designed for humanity. It is he who makes and develops history, as the story of salvation for people of every epoch. Therefore in the new millennium each person is called to be committed to making a new chapter in the history of the Redemption. You intend to contribute to the sanctification of the world from within "in saeculo viventes", working from then midst of the world, "praesertim ad intus", according to the law of the Church (CIC 710).

Although in the "secular" state, you are "consecrated". From this comes the originality of your task: you are fully "laity", but you are consecrated; you are bound to Christ by a special vocation, to follow him more closely, to imitate his condition as "Servant of God", in the humble profession of chastity, poverty and obedience.

4. You are aware of sharing with all people the dignity of being God's children, Christ's living members, incorporated into the Church, invested through Baptism with the common priesthood of the faithful. However, you have also accepted the message intrinsically connected with this dignity: that of the commitment to holiness, to the perfection of love; that of answering the call of the evangelical counsels which consists of a gift of self to God and to Christ with an undivided heart and total abandonment to the will and guidance of the Spirit. You fulfil this commitment, not by being separated from the world, but from within the complex situations of work, culture, the professions, and social services of every kind. This means that your professional activities and the condition of sharing earthly cares with other lay persons will be the area of trial, challenge, the cross; it will also be the call, the mission, and the moment of grace and of communion with Christ, in which your spirituality is built up and developed.

 As you well know, this requires a continual spiritual progress in your behaviour as regards people, the actual situation, and history. You are required, both in the little and major events of the world, to be able to show "a presence", that of Christ, who always walks beside people, even when these ignore and deny him. This also requires permanent attention to the salvific importance of the events of daily life, so that they can be interpreted in the light of faith and Christian principles.

Therefore, a deep union with Christ, and fidelity to his ministry is required of you. A loving, total adherence to his thought and message is asked of you, in full awareness that this is because of the special bond which binds you to it.

This does not mean a lessening of the legitimate autonomy of the laity as regards the consecration of the world; rather it is a question of placing it in its proper light, so that it is not weakened, and does not operate in isolation. The dynamism of your mission, as you see it, far from distancing itself from the Church's life, is realised in a union of love with it.

 5. Another fundamental requirement consists in the generous and conscious acceptance of the mystery of the Cross.

 Every ecclesial action is objectively rooted in the work of salvation, in Christ's redemptive action. It draws its strength from the sacrifice of the Lord, from his blood shed upon the Cross. Christ 's sacrifice, ever present in the work of the Church, constitutes her strength and her hope, her most mysterious and greatest gift of grace. The Church well knows that her history is one of renunciation and sacrifice. Your situation as consecrated laity makes you verify the truth of that every day, even in the area of your activity and mission. You blow what sacrifice the work of struggling against self, the world and its evil desires involves. Yet it is only thus that it is possible to achieve that true interior peace which only Christ can, and does, give.

 Precisely this evangelic life, followed sometimes in conditions of loneliness and suffering, is the life which gives you hope, because in the Cross you are sure to be in communion with our Redeemer and Lord.

 6. Let the Cross not discourage you. It will be a help and a support to you in extending the work of redemption and in bringing Christ's sanctifying presence to others. Such an attitude on your part will show the provident action of the Holy Spirit, who "blows where he wills" (Jn 3:8). Only he can enkindle strength, initiative, powerful signs through which Christ's work is brought to completion.

The task of spreading the gift of the Redemption to all human activity is the mission which the Spirit has given to you. It is a sublime mission, yet it is always a reason of happiness for you, if you live in the communion of charity with Christ and with others.

The Church of 2000 expects from you a worthwhile collaboration along the difficult journey of the world's sanctification.

I hope that this meeting will really strengthen your resolutions, and enlighten your hearts more and more.

With these wishes I gladly impart my blessing to all of you, and extend it to the persons and initiatives connected with your ecclesial service.