only the Gospel keeps alive the hope of the world

The audience to the Chapter of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate who are present in 70 countries of the world. “It is a drama when the ministers of the Church abandon the poor. Let yourselves be evangelized by the encounter with them”.

Vatican City () – “Let yourselves be evangelized by the poor who evangelize,” Pope Francis told the Oblate missionaries of Mary Immaculate this morning at the Vatican. The congregation has gathered these days for its Chapter, during which it has elected the Spanish priest Luis Ignacio Rois as the new superior general.

“As disciples of Jesus and followers of his founder Saint Eugene de Mazenod – Pope Francis told them – you have been called to bring the Gospel of hope, joy and peace” to a world that, “if on the one hand it seems having achieved goals that seemed unattainable, on the other he remains a slave to selfishness and full of contradictions and divisions. The cry of the earth and of the poor, the wars and conflicts that shed blood in human history, the distressing situation of millions of migrants and refugees, an economy that makes the rich ever richer and the poor ever poorer. poor, are some aspects of a scenario where only the Gospel can keep the light of hope burning”.

Francis recalled that in the origins of this religious congregation, its founder, de Mazenod, himself became a wayfarer, “walking with his first companions through the villages of his native Provence, preaching the popular missions and leading the poor who had moved away and that even the ministers of the Church had abandoned. It is a drama – he stressed – when the ministers of the Church abandon the poor”. Today the Oblates of Mary Immaculate are present in 70 countries around the world, including many in Asia “To this Church, which the Founder has taught you to love like a mother -said the Pope-, offer her your missionary impulse and your very life, participating in her exodus towards the peripheries of the world loved by God and living a charism that leads them to those who are farthest away, to the poorest, to whom no one reaches”.

On this path, the pontiff pointed out the importance of two dimensions: hope and communion. “Being missionaries of hope – he explained – means knowing how to read the signs of their hidden presence in people’s daily lives. Learn to recognize hope among the poor to whom you have been sent, who are often able to find it in the midst of the most difficult situations. Allow yourselves to be evangelized by the poor who evangelize: they teach you the path of hope, for the Church and for the world”. As for communion “today – Francis observed – it is a challenge on which the future of the world, of the Church and of consecrated life may depend. To be missionaries of communion we must first of all live it among ourselves, in our communities and in reciprocal relationships, and then cultivate it with everyone without exception. May the Good Samaritan of the Gospel be an example and an encouragement to make them close to each person, with the love and tenderness that led him to care for the man they had assaulted and injured” .

Finally, referring to the attention given in the chapter to the theme of commitment to care for creation as a common home, the pontiff encouraged the Oblates of Mary Immaculate to continue working in this direction. “Our mother earth feeds us without asking for anything in return; she depends on us to understand that she can’t keep doing it if we don’t take care of her too. All are aspects of that conversion to which the Lord continually calls us. Returning to the common Father – concluded Pope Francis -, returning to the sources, returning to the first love that prompted them to leave everything to follow Jesus: that is the soul of consecration and mission”.