Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Guaratinguetà (Agenzia Fides) - On 12 May, after celebrating Mass in the Chapel of the Bom Jesùs Seminary in Aparecida, Pope Benedict XVI went to visit the Fazenda da Esperança at Guaratinguetá which cares for young people addicted to drugs who wish to reintegrate into society (see Agenzia Fides 11/5/2007). In the Fazenda's new church the Pope had a meeting with the Sisters and he said: “ Dear Sisters, spiritual daughters of Saint Clare, our gathering here in this Fazenda da Esperança is a sign of the affection of the Successor of Peter towards the cloistered Sisters, and also a serene manifestation of love, echoing through the hills and valleys of the Mantiqueira mountain-range and spreading throughout the whole land: “No speech, no word, no voice is heard; yet their span extends through all the earth, their words to the utmost bounds of the world” (Ps 18:4-5). From this place, the daughters of Saint Clare proclaim: “Be praised, my Lord, for all your creatures!’.”
Then the Pope recalled “ In places where society no longer sees any future or hope, Christians are called to proclaim the power of the Resurrection: it is here, in this “Fazenda da Esperança” - home to so many, especially young people, who are seeking to overcome drug addiction, alcoholism, and chemical dependency - that a clear witness is given to the Gospel of Christ amid a consumer society far removed from God.… here at the Fazenda da Esperança, the prayers of the Poor Clare Sisters are united with the demanding work of medicine and therapy in order to vanquish the prisons and break the chains of drugs that bring so much suffering to God’s beloved children. In this way God’s creation is restored to the beauty that so delights and amazes its Creator. He is the Almighty Father, it is he alone whose essence is love and whose glory is man fully alive, in the expression of Saint Irenaeus.”
Benedict XVI said “ Through the strength of silent prayer, through fasting and penance, the daughters of Saint Clare live out the commandment of love for God and neighbour in its supreme form, loving to the end.!” The Pope then encouraged the religious: “ This means that we must never lose hope! Hence the name given to this work by Brother Hans: Fazenda da Esperança. We need to build up hope, weaving the fabric of a society that, by relaxing its grip on the threads of life, is losing the true sense of hope. This loss, according to Saint Paul, is the self-imposed curse of “heartless persons” (cf. Rom 1:31).My dear Sisters, make it your task to proclaim that “hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5). … with your silent prayerful self-offering, an eloquent silence that the Father hears, proclaim the message of love that conquers sorrow, drugs and death. Proclaim Jesus Christ, a human being like us, who suffers like ourselves, who took our sins upon himself in order to deliver us from them!!” He concluded by asking the Poor Clare Sisters to accompany with the prayers the work of 5th General Conference of the Council of Bishops' Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean in Aparecida so close to the Fazenda da Esperança. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 14/5/2007; righe 31, parole 471)
