Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) – After his visit to Rome's Town Hall, a little after 12 noon, on March 9, the Holy Father Benedict XVI travelled to the nearby Convent of the Oblate Sisters of Santa Francesca Romana at Tor de'Specchi. The sisters and the young women, students and guests of the University Housing Center, had gathered in the Choir Chapel. After a brief moment of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and veneration of the body of Saint Francis of Rome, opened by an address from Mother Maria Camilla Rea (President of the Monastery), the Holy Father gave an address in which he expressed his gratitude to the Lord for having been able to pay homage to the “most Roman of saints,” on the feast of Saint Francis of Rome and in the 400th anniversary of his canonization, which took place on May 29, 1608.
Recalling Saint Francis of Rome's complete dedication to God and neighbor, which led to the community of Tor de' Specchi, the Holy Father affirmed that: “Contemplation and action, prayer and the service of charity, the monastic ideal and social commitment: all these things have found here a 'workshop' that has brought abundant fruit, in close union with the Olivetan Brothers of Santa Maria Nova.” The central position of the monastery, in the heart of the city, is almost symbolic of the “need to bring the spiritual dimension back to the heart of civil living, to give full meaning to the many activities of the human person,” the Pope observed, saying that “our community, along with all other communities of contemplative life, is called to be a kind of spiritual 'lung' of society, so that all the activities and all the activism of a city may not lack spiritual 'breath': the reference to God and His plan of salvation. This is the service that can be offered especially by convents, places of silence and meditation of the Divine Word, places that assure that that earth is always opened up towards heaven.”
Benedict XVI then mentioned the unique character of the Convent of Tor de'Specchi, which naturally reflects the charism of Saint Francis of Rome. “Here, a special balance is lived between religious and lay life, between life in the world and life outside the world,” the Pope said. “This is a model that has not come about from plans written on paper, but from the concrete experience of a young Roman woman, which we could say was written by God Himself in the extraordinary life of Francis, in the story of her childhood, adolescence, very young wife and mother, mature woman, conquered by Jesus Christ, as Saint Paul would say. This is why the walls of this place are decorated with images from her life, to show that the real building that God loves to build is the life of the saints.”
In concluding his address, the Holy Father highlighted the fact that “Also in our own time, Rome has need of women entirely dedicated to God and entirely dedicated to others; women capable of prayer and of generous and discreet service; women who know how to obey pastors but also to support and stimulate them with suggestions that arise from their intimacy with Christ and from direct experience in the field of charity, assistance to the sick, the marginalized and young people in difficulties. This is the gift of maternity which is an inseparable part of religious oblation, following the model of Mary Most Holy.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 10/3/2009)
