BIBLICAL PROPHECY AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

Address of Archbishop Luigi Ventura,
Apostolic Nuncio to Canada
Plenary Assembly of the Canadian Religious Conference
June 9, 2006 Cornwall, Ontario

Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Members of the Canadian Religious Conference,

I thank you for your very kind invitation to address your assembly this year. I greet especially Fr. Alain Ambeault, C.S.V., President of the Executive of the CRC as well as the members of his team. I also extend greetings to all the representatives of the different Canadian Religious communities, gathered here for this assembly. As I look at you I cannot help but thank the Lord for the good that he has done in Canada through the religious men and women, from the first moments of this country’s history up until our present day. Religious are the signs of God’s love for his people – by their courage, generosity, service and the gift of their lives – in a word their proclamation of the Gospel in word and deed. An impartial and serious review of the history of Canada cannot help but recognize the significant contribution and the innumerable merits of religious women and men who have brightened the history of the Church and history itself, especially though the lives of martyrs and saints.

1. As you are undoubtedly aware, the Bishops of Canada are in the process of making their Ad Limina Visits to the Holy Father this year. The Bishops of Quebec [AECQ] and those of the Atlantic Region [AEA] have just returned from their very important and successful meetings at the Vatican. During his address to the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Quebec on May 11, Pope Benedict XVI touched on the following themes.

2. He thanked the Institutes of Consecrated Life in Canada for the "apostolic and spiritual commitment of their members," highlighting how "consecrated life is a gift of God benefiting the entire Church and serving life in the world." Hence, it must take place in a context of "solid ecclesial communion." Benedict XVI invited consecrated men and women "to work ever more closely with pastors, welcoming and spreading Church doctrine in all its integrity." “You can only meet the great challenges facing religious life today by having a profound unity amoung your members together with the whole church and her pastors. I invite all consecrated persons to work together in a deeper relationship with your shepherds, welcoming and spreading the doctrine of the Church in its full integrity and content.”

3. “Ecclesial communion,” continued the Holy Father, “that is founded on the very person of Jesus Christ, also requires of us fidelity to the doctrine of the Church, especially through a correct interpretation of the Second Vatican Council, as I have already had occasion to say “in a hermeneutic of reform, of renewal that is a continuity of the Church that the Lord has given to us” (Talk to the Roman Curia, December 22, 2005). In fact, if you read and receive the Council in this way, “it can be and still become a great force of renewal of the Church that is still necessary” (ibid).

4. On May 20, during his meeting with the Bishops of the Atlantic Region, Pope Benedict XVI continued his message to Canadian religious: “Additionally you have with good reason underlined the fine contribution of Religious Sisters and Brothers to the mission of the Church. This deep appreciation of consecrated life is rightly accompanied by your concern for the decline in Religious vocations in your country. A renewed clarity is needed to articulate the particular contribution of Religious to the life of the Church: a mission to make the love of Christ present in the midst of humanity (cf. Instruction Starting Afresh From Christ: A Renewed Commitment to Consecrated Life in the Third Millennium, 5). Such clarity will give rise to a new kairos, with Religious confidently reaffirming their calling and, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, proposing afresh to young people the ideal of consecration and mission. I again assure Religious Priests, Brothers and Sisters of the vital witness they provide by placing themselves without reserve in the hands of Christ and of the Church, as a strong and clear proclamation of God’s presence in a way understandable to our contemporaries (Homily for the World Day of Consecrated Life, February 2, 2006).”

5. So you see, dear brothers and sisters your lives, your examples, are a true richness for the Church, a totality that is essential for the proclamation of the Gospel. The witness of a life that is totally offered to God, to the Church, to sisters and brothers of the human family is a form of prophecy in our day. Your gifts are greatly appreciated not only by the many people you encounter and serve each day, but by the shepherds of the Lord’s flock, and through them by the Successor of Peter.

The Prophetic Dimension of Religious Life

6. I would like to share with you some brief reflections about the prophetic dimension of the religious and consecrated life. Religious Life has always been a vital form of prophecy in the Church and it continues to be prophetic in our day. What does it mean to be prophetic in our contemporary Church and society? We must begin by admitting that the very word “prophetic” is often used today out of context of the great biblical tradition which gave birth to this phenomenon in ancient Israel.

7. The Israelite prophet is one who has received a divine call to be a messenger and interpreter of the Word of God. Whatever the form of the message, the true vision of Israel’s prophets has permeated the manner of his thoughts so that he sees things from God's point of view and is convinced that he so sees them. The Spirit of God enabled the prophets to feel with God. They were able to share God's attitudes, God's values, God's feelings, God's emotions. This enabled them to see the events of their time as God saw them and to feel the same way about these events as God felt.

8. The word which came to the prophet compelled him to speak. Amos asks: "The Lord has spoken, who can but prophesy?" (Amos 3:8). Jeremiah, despondent because of his unrelieved message of woe to the people he loved would stifle the word: 'If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, I cannot' (Jeremiah 20:9). It is not only the words, but the actions and life of the prophet that are prophecy. The marriage of Hosea is a symbol (Hosea 1-3). Isaiah and his children are signs (Isaiah 8:18).

9. The prophet is also the conscience of a community and the conscience of a nation. Ezekiel tells us a prophet is like the watchman, the person who is out there watching for what might happen to the community, issuing a warning, trying to alert everyone, "Things are going the wrong way" or "We're in danger. We have to change. We have to be ready to protect ourselves." The prophet is the one who sees farther, perhaps, than others, and the one who sees implications in what is going on.

10. At times prophets shared God's anger, God's compassion, God's sorrow, God's disappointment, God's revulsion, God's sensitivity for people, God's seriousness. They did not share these things in the abstract, rather, they shared God's feelings about the concrete events of their time. This is the type of prophet that John the Baptist was. We read in the Evangelist John's prologue that even before "the true light that enlightens every person comes into the world" (1:9), "there was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him" (1:7). John the Baptist is finally imprisoned and later executed by Herod Antipas because of his public rebuke of the tetrarch for his adulterous and incestuous marriage with Herodias (Mt. 4:12; Mk. 1:14; Lk. 3:19-20). The baptizer didn’t mince words. He got right to the point and said what needed to be said.

Mission of the Prophet

11. Fundamental to the mission of the prophet is obedience to God’s Word. The prophet always goes forth reluctantly, bearing a message that is not his own. Isaiah said, "I'm a sinner. You can't send me to prophesy!" But God said, "I'll touch your tongue with burning coal and you'll be healed of your sins." Or Jeremiah’s "I'm too young! Don't send me. I'm too young!" And God said, "I'll be with you." Remember Amos: "Well, I'm just a shepherd. What do you expect, a shepherd to be a prophet, to speak for God?" Each one of us might say similar things. "Who am I? I'm a sinner. I'm just this ordinary person, and I'm supposed to be God's prophet?" As religious women and men in Canada, God is calling you to go beyond human frailty and weakness, to bear a message that is the Lord’s and not our own, and to make known that Word of God to others.

12. The biblical prophets announced darkness, gloom and death to remind Israel of its infidelities, but also to prepare for the renewal of the covenant and be open to a future of hope. The Religious vocation is an invitation extended to our world to return to what is essential, to discover a relationship with God whose love is eternal, and who offers humanity a new and eternal covenant that is celebrated in each Eucharist. On May 22, Pope Benedict XVI met with some 1,500 superiors of women's and men's religious orders representing hundreds of thousands of priests, nuns, brothers and consecrated virgins around the world. The Holy Father recalled that “Reforms undertaken by religious orders aimed at ensuring deeper fidelity to the Gospel, to the church and to the poor are threatened by too many adaptations to a modern, materialistic culture.”

13. "To belong to the Lord: This is the mission of the men and women who have chosen to follow the chaste, poor and obedient Christ so that the world would believe and be saved. Consecrated men and women are called to be a "credible and shining sign of the Gospel and its paradoxes, without conforming themselves to the mentality of this century." This encourages humility, self-giving and the renunciation of earthly goods for the sake of spiritual goods.

14. The Holy Father continued: «The Lord wants men and women who are free, not bound, able to give up everything to follow him and to find in him alone their very all.» « In these last years, consecrated life has been re-examined with a more evangelical, ecclesial and apostolic spirit; but we cannot ignore that some concrete choices have not offered to the world the authentic and vivifying face of Christ. In fact, the secularized culture has penetrated the mind and heart of not a few consecrated persons, who understand it as a way to enter modernity and a modality of approach to the contemporary world. As a result, in addition to an undoubted thrust of generosity capable of witness and of total giving, consecrated life today knows the temptation of mediocrity, of middle-class ways and of a consumer mentality. Courageous choices must be made, both at the personal and communal levels, which give a new discipline to the life of consecrated persons and bring them to rediscover the all-encompassing dimension of the sequela Christi.”

15. In an increasingly disoriented and confused world, members of religious orders are called to live, behave and dress in a way that communicates their total dedication to following Christ and serving others. The vow of chastity or consecrated virginity, continued the Holy Father, "is the most 'unreasonable' of the Christian paradoxes, and not everyone is able to understand it and live it." "Religious men and women are called to demonstrate this even in their choice of dress, a simple habit that is a sign of poverty lived in union with him who, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” [II Corinthians 8:9].

16. I have reread these passages with you on religious life in recent talks of Pope Benedict XVI because through his ministry as Successor of Peter, as he indicated in his third catechesis on St. Peter during the weekly Wednesday General Audience, Peter is the “custodian of the communion with Christ; he must guide in the communion with Christ so that the net will not tear but sustain the great universal communion. Only together can we be with Christ, who is Lord of all. Peter's responsibility thus consists of guaranteeing the communion with Christ with the charity of Christ, guiding the realization of this charity in everyday life.” [June 7, 2006]. My presence amoung you today is a sign of the love and affection that the Holy Father has for your communities and for each one of their members. At the same time I wish to express the Holy Father’s gratitude for your fidelity, your constant prayer for him and for the different ways that you respond to his calls and support the mission of unity and charity in the Church.

17. The example of the prophets of ancient Israel offers us some paths of reflection for religious life in our time. First of all, the prophets remind us of the duty and obligation to be faithful to the Lord and his word. “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening” said the young Samuel (I Samuel 3:10). Through prayer and deep communion with the Lord, we are able to listen clearly to his voice as the first step of building up the Church. The voice is the Lord’s and his Body is the Church. In our day we cannot marginalize Christian revelation and its ecclesial transmission by proposing a non-Christian vision where the "Kingdom or Reign of God" is a substitute for Jesus Christ and his Church. There is no doubt that the People of God shares also in Christ's prophetic office [Lumen Gentium 12]. Christ, the great Prophet, who proclaimed the Kingdom of His Father both by the testimony of His life and the power of His words, continually fulfills His prophetic office not only through the hierarchy who teach in His name and with His authority, but also through the laity whom He made His witnesses [ibid. 35]. But it is also clear that if the prophetic denunciation of the Church is to be legitimate, it must always be for the building up of the Church herself. It must not only accept the hierarchy and its institutions, but it must also cooperative positively in the strengthening of internal communion. Moreover, the supreme criteria for judging not only its harmonious activity, but also its authenticity, belongs to the hierarchy” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Notification on the Book «Church: Charism and Power. Essay on militant Ecclesiology » by Father Leonardo Boff, O.F.M., March 11, 1985 AAS 77 (1985) 756-762; DOCUMENTA 58 OR 20/21.3.1985, 1-2;DocCath 82 (1985) 484-485; EV 9, 1384-1391; LE 5108; Dokumenty, II, 13).

18. Jesus Christ is the only full Revelation of God and he is the Lord and Savior of all mankind. Religious and consecrated life are not beyond the Church but in the body of the Church. We must be watchful and vigilant that the Christian terminology about religious life is never emptied of its theological meaning so as to be better integrated into a "vision" or a supposedly "new wisdom" of this age, fashioned out of our personal ideologies.

19. Let us listen once again to the Holy Father’s words spoken during his meeting with Religious, Seminarians and representatives of the Ecclesial Movements in Jasna Gora, during his recent apostolic visit to Poland : « At the moment of your religious profession or promises, faith led you to a total adherence to the mystery of the Heart of Jesus, whose treasures you have discovered. You then renounced such good things as disposing freely of your life, having a family, acquiring possessions, so as to be free to give yourselves without reserve to Christ and to his Kingdom. Do you remember your enthusiasm when you began the pilgrimage of the consecrated life, trusting in the grace of God? Try not to lose this first fervour, and let Mary lead you to an ever fuller adherence. Dear men and women religious, dear consecrated persons! Whatever the mission entrusted to you, whatever cloistered or apostolic service you are engaged in, maintain in your hearts the primacy of your consecrated life. Let it renew your faith. The consecrated life, lived in faith, unites you closely to God, calls forth charisms and confers an extraordinary fruitfulness to your service.

20. I conclude with another biblical image: that of the desert and its dry and barren climate. In Isaiah's prophetic vision in chapter 35:1-10, waters gush forth in the desert, and the dry, parched land springs to life. This image is a promise of life in the midst of desolation. Isaiah sees the desert come alive this way, sees its blossoming abundance as new life announcing the glory and majesty of God. Perhaps this is the image of our time and of our world.

21. We have experienced some of this bareness and desolation in religious and consecrated life in Canada over the past years. The diminishment of members, the lack of vocations, the closure of houses make us ask what the Lord is trying to say to us, or where this path is leading us. We might be tempted to ask ourselves: “Where is the Spirit of Pentecost?” And yet last Sunday in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, over 400,000 people from the ecclesial movements and new communities came together to celebrate the gift of the creative Holy Spirit who continues to renew the face of the earth.

22. With the exiles of Israel and the disciples of John the Baptist, we seek to enter the Promised Land, and we await Him who will enable new life to blossom. Those who are weary, enfeebled or fearful can take heart because God is with them and is their strength and help. It is my wish and prayer that through your vocation and your life, the Lord will make his presence, strength and hope felt in the midst of his people on their journey to the heavenly Jerusalem.

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