Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Mexico City (Fides Service) - The Institute of Santa Maria de Guadalupe for Foreign Missions in Mexico City hosted the last event on Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe’s brief pastoral visit to Mexico. Here, on Thursday 10 March the Cardinal, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, had a meeting with the Superiors of Religious Institutes and men and women missionaries engaged in evangelisation.
“Allow me first of all to greet you on behalf of the Holy Father and to extend to you his Blessing - the Cardinal said at the beginning of his address. To him and to his person we renew our sincere affection and filial devotion. We thank God for the missionary fruitfulness of his Pontificate and we ask God to give him health and strength for his mission as Shepherd of the universal Church… may our gathering strengthen communion and sustain us in the mission the Lord has entrusted to us; a mission born of faith in Jesus Christ, a mission through which people come to know and acknowledge God’s plan for the salvation of humanity”.
Remarking on the fact that the meeting was taking place at the Institute of the Missionaries of Guadalupe, the Cardinal said: “The fervid pastoral zeal of Bishop Alonso Manuel Escalante and the entire Bishops’ Conference of Mexico, gave rise to this Society of Missionaries ad vitam a specific charisma in the Church which the Holy Father defines “paradigm of the Church’s missionary activity”... Dear missionaries of Guadalupe, you are certainly in Mexico and in the countries where you are posted, “examples, models, paradigms” of the Church’s missionary activity.”
After recalling “the generous work of evangelisation in this land by those who have gone before us” and offering thanks “for intense promotion of the missionary dimension of consecrated life… and for concrete fruits of missionary co-operation obtained”, Cardinal Sepe underlined the urgency of the missionary mandate: “given the unlimited horizon of the universal mission, there is still much to be done!”. He then made an appeal: “You men and women religious of Mexico can and must do more than what you have already accomplished, with great generosity, for mission ad gentes. Today more than ever the world needs men and women in whose hearts the exclamation of the Apostle “woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Cor 9,16) burns like a fire. Therefore I cannot fail to take this opportunity to encourage you to confirm with vigour the priority of the proclamation of Jesus Christ in America and from America to individual non believers and peoples who have yet to encounter his Person.”
Cardinal Sepe encouraged the Religious Superiors “to assure for mission ad gentes”, deep renewal of their institutes, increased fervour of consecrated life in chastity, poverty and obedience, the disappearance of internal tension, an increase in vocations, since faith is strengthened when it is shared. The Cardinal ended his address with this call: “Today as yesterday you are called to evangelise the outposts of mission, the most difficult areas of the world, announcing the Gospel and the gifts of God with impartial love which excludes no one. Have faith in Jesus Christ, be faithful to the Church !, Revive the grace of your vocation and intensify, faithful to your original charisma, your path towards mission ad gentes. Prefer -in a spirit of faith and in communion with your Bishops - the most places most humble and arduous to the far ends of the earth! You will have the comfort and joy which the Lord alone can give.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 11/3/2005; righe 42, parole 607)
