In this year of Consecrated Life, Pope Francis has sent a video message to the Meeting of Hungarian Consecrated.
He encourages the consecrated persons to be people of prayer, and to draw strength from Christ to find His wounds in the wounds of the people.
Here is a translation of the full text:
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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I greet you all affectionately, and I wish you every good for your Meeting in the Year of Consecrated Life.
I thank the Lord and each one of you for the service you render to the Gospel, to the Church and to Hungarian society. May the Risen Lord’s promise always sustain you: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:20). This certainty infuses consolation and hope in us, in every circumstance of life and of the mission.
I think of you, in the different forms of consecrated life, close to the anxieties and the expectations of the people; I think of you committed in the contexts in which you are placed, with their difficulties and their signs of hope. I encourage you to rejoice with those who rejoice, and to weep with those who weep; to ask God for a heart capable of compassion, to bend over the wounds of the body and the spirit and to take to many people the consolation of God.
I think that the most beautiful “face” of a country and of a city is that of the Lord’s disciples — Bishops, priests, Religious, lay faithful – who day to day live with simplicity the style of the Good Samaritan and make themselves close to the flesh and wounds of brothers, in whom they recognize the flesh and wounds of Jesus.
This charity full of mercy — we know well — comes from the heart of Christ, and we draw it in prayer, especially in Adoration, and in approaching the Eucharist and Penance with faith. May Mary our Mother help you to be increasingly men and women of prayer.
Dear brothers and sisters, I hope you will continue your service with joy, giving witness of a humble and detached life from the interests of the world. This joyful and fresh witness of our consecration is an example and incitement for those that the Lord calls to serve him. May the lay faithful, especially young people, be able to perceive in you the perfume of Christ, the perfume of the Gospel.
I bless you all and your communities from my heart, and I ask you, please, to pray for me.
[Original text: Italian] [Translation by ZENIT]
