CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, JULY 29, 2011 (Zenit.org).- There is a poverty at the root of every serious human problem, says Benedict XVI, and that poverty is the lack of love.
The Pope made this reflection in a July 20 note to the Somascan Fathers, who are set to begin a jubilee in celebration of the 500th anniversary of their founder’s miraculous release from prison.
The founder of the order, St. Jerome Emiliani, was born to a wealthy family in Italy. He lived his youth far from God and became a soldier in 1506. He was captured and imprisoned in 1511 and prayed to Our Lady for help. He was miraculously freed and laid the chains that had bound him before Mary’s altar. Converted to the love of God, he undertook the care of the sick and orphans, founding six orphanages.
He was canonized in 1767 and is the patron of orphans and abandoned people.
The Pope’s message noted that the order’s charism to care for and educate youth “continues to be a commitment of the Church, at all times and in all places.”
He said that new generations need to be nourished not only with “cultural and technical notions, but above all by love, which conquers individualism and egoism and enables one to pay attention to the needs of every brother and sister.”
The Holy Father spoke of the saint’s example as one that “helps us to be concerned about all the poverties experienced by our youth: moral, physical, existential and above all, the poverty of love, the root of every serious human problem.”
God’s plan
Benedict XVI’s message to the Somascan Fathers also included an invitation to trust in God.
He noted how the founder lived in the 16th century, a time when the Church faced the Protestant Reformation and a need for internal reform.
A “re-flowering of holiness” in that time “became the first and most original answer to requests for renewal,” the Pope said. “The testimony of saints shows that one must only have confidence in God: Trials, in fact, both on the personal as well as the institutional level, serve to increase faith. God has his plans, even when we do not succeed in understanding his ordinances.”
— — —
On ZENIT’s Web page:
Full text: www.zenit.org/article-33180?l=english
