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160TH ANNIVERSARY,
HOLY CHILDHOOD ASSOCIATION
Helping others welcome Jesus brings a rich store of spiritual gifts |
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On the occasion of the 160th anniversary
of the Holy Childhood Association, The Holy Father sent a Message
to the missionary children, its members in 110 nations. Today, with
their contributions the missionary children are funding more than
3,000 projects. Here is a translation of the Pope's Message.
Dear Missionary Children,
1. In the first half of the 19th century, Europe experienced a great
missionary expansion and the Church, realizing the missionary potential
of children, began to ask children to take an active part in proclaiming
the Gospel to their peers.
On 9 May 1843, Bishop Charles de Forbin-Janson of Nancy, keen to
support the activities of Catholics in China, suggested to the children
of Paris that they help their contemporaries by reciting a Hail
Mary every day and offering a coin every month. It was not long
before this missionary initiative that provided material and spiritual
support crossed the frontiers of France and spread to other countries.
On 30 September 1919 my venerable Predecessor Benedict XV wrote:
"We warmly recommend to all the faithful the Society of the
Holy Childhood which has the objective of guaranteeing baptism to
non-Christian children. We recommend that all Christian children
join this society, so that through it they may learn to help with
the evangelization of their neighbour and, already at their age,
understand the great value of the faith" (Maximum illud).
This year the Feast of the Epiphany has a special importance because
the Society of the Holy Childhood, present in 110 countries, observes
the 160th year of its existence. It offers children in all the dioceses
of the world a programme that consists of prayer, sacrifice and
concrete acts of solidarity: in this way they can become evangelizers
of their peers.
The time of the young mission
2. Dear young missionaries, I know with what great care and generosity
you live this apostolic activity. In so many ways you try to share
the lot of the children who are forced to work as children and you
help relieve the distress of the children who are in need. You show
solidarity for the troubles and tragedies of children involved in
the wars of adults and who are often victims of the violence of
adults. Pray every day that the gift of faith which you have received
may be granted to the millions of your small friends who do not
yet know Jesus.
You rightly believe that whoever meets Jesus and accepts his Gospel
receives a rich store of spiritual gifts: the divine life of grace,
the love which makes brothers and sisters, dedication to others,
forgiveness given and received, willingness to welcome and to be
welcomed, the hope that lifts our hearts to eternal life, peace
as a gift and a duty.
In this Christmas season, in many local Churches, the children of
the Holy Childhood Society, go from house to house dressed as Magi
or shepherds to proclaim the glad tidings of Christmas. This is
the delightful custom of the "Star Singers" which the
Society began in German-speaking countries and that later spread
to many other countries: boys and girls knock at the door, sing
Christmas carols, recite their prayers and explain to families the
projects of solidarity to be funded. In this way little ones evangelize
even grown-ups.
Love that embraces the world
3. This work of evangelization and solidarity - as you well know
- is not limited to just a few weeks of the Christmas season, but
continues throughout life. This is why I encourage you to respond
generously to the many requests for help that come from poor countries.
How many children in Europe, America, Asia, Africa and Oceania pray
and work for the same ideal! A global solidarity fund has been created
and is growing thanks to the gifts from everywhere in the world.
It finances small and big projects that help young children.
There are lovely stories of children who by their long-distance
adoption of small friends, became sellers of stars or stamp-collectors.
They have given a toy or an expensive game to free their peers who
are forced to be in the army. They have pledged themselves to save
in many ways in order to fund catechetical textbooks or to build
schools in mission areas. There are many other examples. Missionary
children with their contributions fund more than 3,000 projects.
Is this not a true miracle of the vast and silent love of God that
makes a mark on the world?
Dear missionary children, you must all take part in this miracle!
And those who possess nothing can make the gift of their prayer
and the suffering of their poverty.
The educational power of the mission
4. Dear boys and girls, missionary activity helps you to grow in
faith and makes you joyful disciples of Jesus.
Showing solidarity to those who are less fortunate opens your heart
to humanity's great needs. You can recognize the face of Jesus in
poor and needy children. This is what such missionaries as Francis
Xavier, Matteo Ricci, Charles de Foucauld, and Mother Teresa of
Calcutta and others did in every part of the world.
I warmly hope that your pastors, your bishops and priests, and your
catechists, spiritual guides, your parents and teachers will take
to heart the Society of the Missionary Childhood. From the very
beginning, it has borne heroic missionary fruit and has written
beautiful pages in the history of the Church. The first Chinese
children, saved by the "missionary children" became teachers,
catechists, doctors and priests. The gift of Baptism was transformed
into light for them and for their families.
Among the children helped by the offerings and prayers of other
children are the martyr Paul Tchen and the first Archbishop of Peking,
Cardinal Tien Kenhsin. Subsequently, with the passage of time, the
vocation to total consecration to evangelization grew in the hearts
of many girls and boys.
How can we forget little Thérèse of Lisieux who, at
the age of seven, on 12 May 1882 enrolled in the Society of the
Holy Childhood and at the age of 14 had already decided to give
herself to Jesus for the salvation of the world? Today this spiritual
fruitfulness continues in the Church. Let us pray that a greater
number of children put at the service of the Gospel not just one
period of their lives, but their whole existence. Likewise, we ask
God to multiply everywhere the charitable activity of the Missionary
Childhood.
Another Hail Mary
5. The needs of children the world over are so many and complex
that no box for saving coins, no gesture of solidarity however great,
would ever be enough to relieve them. God's help is needed. Dear
missionary children, by enrolling in the Society of the Holy Childhood,
you take as your first pledge the promise to say a daily Hail Mary.
Indeed, you know that the success of the mission depends, above
all, on prayer, and for this reason you turn to Our Lady, Star of
Evangelization.
For 160 years, you have been calling on her in the name of children
around the world. I urge you to persevere in this loving practice
with greater faithfulness in the "Year of the Rosary".
Once in a while the older ones among you should recite a whole decade
or even five decades of the Rosary. The Missionary Rosary links
us with the missions: the white is for Europe, so that it can regain
the evangelizing fervour that give rise to so many Churches; the
yellow decade is for Asia, which is exploding with life and youth;
the green decade is for Africa, tried by suffering but ready for
the proclamation; the red decade is for America, the promise of
new missionary forces; the blue decade is for the continent of Oceania,
which awaits a more grass-roots spread of the Gospel.
Dear missionary children, may Our Lady accompany you in your generosity!
To her I entrust you with your relatives and the Christian communities
you belong to. I bless you all with affection.
From the Vatican, 6 January 2003, Solemnity of the Epiphany of the
Lord. |
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