Part Four

WITNESSES TO LOVE

Knowing and Serving Christ

33. A life transformed by the evangelical counsels becomes a prophetic and silent witness and at the same time an eloquent protest against an inhuman world. It calls for the promotion of the individual and for a new creativity of charity. We have seen it in the holy founders. It is manifested not only in the effectiveness of their service but especially in their ability to identify with those who suffer in such a way that the helping hand is experienced as heartfelt sharing. This kind of evangelization, realized through works characterized by love and dedication, ensures an unmistakable efficacy to the charity of words.¹⁰⁵

In its own right, the life of communion is the first message of consecrated life, since it is an efficacious sign and persuasive force which leads to belief in Christ. Thus, communion itself is mission, indeed “communion begets communion and is essentially a missionary communion”.¹⁰⁶ Communities once again find themselves wanting to follow Christ on the paths of human history,¹⁰⁷ with an apostolic fervour and a witness of life which conforms to their individual charism.¹⁰⁸ “Those who have come into genuine contact with Christ cannot keep him for themselves, they must proclaim him. A new apostolic outreach, which will be lived as the everyday commitment of Christian communities and groups is needed”.¹⁰⁹

34. When one starts afresh from Christ the spirituality of communion becomes a strong and solid spirituality of disciples and apostles of his Kingdom. For consecrated persons this means committing themselves in service to their brothers and sisters in whom they recognize the face of Christ. In the exercise of this apostolic mission being and doing are inseparable because the mystery of Christ constitutes the absolute base for all pastoral action.¹¹⁰ “The contribution of consecrated persons, both men and women, to evangelization is, first of all, the witness of a life given totally to God and to their brothers and sisters, imitating the Saviour who, out of love for humanity, made himself a servant”.¹¹¹ Consecrated persons do not limit themselves to giving only part of their time but rather give their whole life to participating in the mission of the Church.

In Novo Millennio Ineunte, it seems that the Pope wants to make even greater strides in concrete love for the poor. “The century and the new millennium now beginning will need to see, and hopefully with still greater clarity, to what length of dedication the Christian community can go in charity towards the poorest. If we have truly started out anew from the contemplation of Christ, we must learn to see him especially in the faces of those with whom he himself wished to be identified: 'I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me' (Mt 25:35-36). This Gospel text is not a simple invitation to charity, it is a page of Christology which sheds a ray of light on the mystery of Christ. By these words, no less than by the orthodoxy of her doctrine, the Church measures her fidelity as the Bride of Christ”.¹¹² The Pope also offers a concrete direction of spirituality with the invitation to recognize in the person of the poor a special presence of Christ which imposes upon the Church a preferential option for them. It is through such an option that consecrated persons also¹¹³ must witness to “the nature of God's love, to his providence and mercy”.¹¹⁴

35. The field in which John Paul invites us to work encompasses the whole world. Facing this scenario, consecrated persons “must make their act of faith in Christ by discerning his voice in the cry for help that rises from this world of poverty”.¹¹⁵ Finding the proper balance between the universal breath of a missionary vocation and its insertion into the context of a local church will be the primary challenge for all apostolic activity.

Despair at the lack of meaning in life, drug addiction, fear of abandonment in old age or sickness, marginalization or social discrimination are new forms of poverty which have been added to its traditional forms.¹¹⁶ Mission, in its traditional and new forms, is first of all a service to the dignity of the person in a dehumanized society because the greatest and most serious poverty of our time is the callous treading upon the rights of the human person. With the dynamism of charity, of forgiveness and of reconciliation, consecrated persons strive in justice to build a world which offers new and better possibilities for the life and development of the individual. Having the spirit of one who is poor, cleansed of self-interest, ready to exercise a service of peace and non-violence in a spirit of solidarity and full of compassion for the suffering of others is essential for this intervention to be effective. The way of proclaiming God's word and carrying out God's deeds, begun by Jesus (cf. Lk 4:15-21) and lived by the primitive Church cannot be forgotten at the end of the Jubilee or the passing of a millennium, but presses to be realized with greater urgency in charity towards a different future. One must be ready to pay the price of persecution because in our day the most frequent cause of martyrdom is the struggle for justice in faithfulness to the Gospel. John Paul affirms this witness: “even recently this has led to the martyrdom of some of your brothers and sisters in various parts of the world”.¹¹⁷