EUROPE/ITALY - Saint Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori, model for the whole Church in missionary outreach

Rome (Agenzia Fides) - "As recognition of this important anniversary, the 150th of the proclamation of Saint Alphonsus as Doctor of the Church, Pope Francis has sent us a message in which he proposes Saint Alphonsus, as a 'model of missionary outreach'. The Holy Father invites us, like Saint Alfonso, to go out to meet the most fragile members of our society as brothers and sisters, which implies the development of a moral theological reflection and a pastoral action capable of committing ourselves to the common good rooted in the proclamation of the kerygma, and which offers a decisive word in defense of life, towards creation and brotherhood". Thus writes the Superior General of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Father Michael Brehl, C.Ss.R. in a letter also sent to Agenzia Fides.
In the message of the Holy Father, published yesterday March 23, we read: "One hundred and fifty years after this joyous anniversary, the message of Saint Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori, patron of confessors and moralists, and model for the entire Missionary outreach of the Church, she continues to vigorously point out the elevated path to bring consciences closer to the welcoming face of the Father, because "the salvation that God offers us is the work of his mercy".
The message is divided into two parts: "Listening to reality" and "Mature consciences for an adult Church". In the first part, he invites us to take up the "missionary experience" of St. Alphonsus: "The missionary experience in the existential peripheries of his time, the search for those far away and listening to confessions, the foundation and the direction of the new Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, or even the responsibilities as Bishop of a particular Church, lead him to become a father and teacher of mercy, certain that "the paradise of God is the heart of man".
"The gradual conversion towards a decidedly missionary pastoral care, capable of being close to the people, of knowing how to accompany their steps, of concretely sharing their life, even in the midst of serious limitations and challenges, prompted Alfonsus to review, not without difficulty, the theological and legal approach received during his years of formation, initially marked by a certain rigor, to subsequently transform into a merciful approach, an evangelizing dynamism that can act by attraction". "Advocate of the last, the fragile and the rejected by the society of his time, he defends the "rights" of all, especially the most abandoned and the poor".
In the second part of the message, the Pope underlines the direct action of the Saint of Naples: "Like Saint Alphonsus, we are called to meet the people as an apostolic community which follows the Redeemer among the abandoned ... the fact of going out to meet the most vulnerable makes it possible to combat the "logic of competitiveness and the law of the strongest" which "considers human beings in themselves as a consumer good, which can be used and then thrown away "giving" start to the culture of waste".
"The formation of consciences for the good appears to be an essential objective for every Christian. Giving space to consciences - a place where the voice of God resounds - so that they can carry out their personal discernment in concrete life (cf. AL 37) constitutes a mission of formation to which it is necessary to remain faithful".
The message concludes: "I invite you, as Saint Alphonsus did, to go out to meet the fragile brothers and sisters of our society. This includes the development of a reflection of moral theology and of a pastoral action capable of engaging in favor of the common good which has its root in the announcement of the kerygma, which has a decisive word in the defense of life, towards creation and brotherhood".
Today there are nearly 5,000 Redemptorists, 64 Bishops, more than 3,600 priests and about 330 brothers. They work in 82 countries on all 5 continents, helped by many men and women who collaborate in their mission and form the Redemptorist Family. "Our Lady of Perpetual Help" is the missionary icon of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 24/3/2021)

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