Pope to nuns: give hope to war-torn families
Francis receives women religious of Holy Family of Nazareth and encourages them to be “thresholds” in which to find “refuge” and “peace”
By Edoardo Giribaldi – Vatican City
Prayer and works of charity, to make religious communities “thresholds” through which families “devastated by war and violence” can find refuge, “hope and peace in Christ the Savior.”
With this wish Pope Francis greeted the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, received today, Dec. 4, in the aula of Paul V Hall, before the general audience.
The occasion is the congregation’s 150th anniversary, a milestone the Pope frames as “reason for gratitude” for the graces received, but also an “occasion” for spiritual renewal under the banner of “joyful service to the Lord.”
A work in which Francis was made a participant through the gift of a “spiritual bouquet” and embellished by the sacrifice of the Novogrodek martyrs, who belonged to the Congregation and were shot by German occupiers in 1943, whose relics were transported yesterday to the Roman Basilica of St. Bartholomew on Tiber Island.
Patient and hopeful waiting
The anniversary, falling at the beginning of the Advent season, “with its patient waiting, full of hope in the promises of the Lord,” is a model for “increasing our trust in God’s providence.” Francis then urges collaboration among the different missions of the congregation, united by contemplation of Jesus, “especially in the Blessed Sacrament and in the people you serve.”
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- Vatican News 4 dicembre 2024