Pope Leo XIV said during an audience with a group of religious belonging to different orders that the rooting in Christ allows “doing things that perhaps would never have thought they could do.”
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The sisters of the Order of San Basilio Magno, the daughters of Divine Charity, the Agustinas del Amparo sisters and the Franciscan sisters of the Sacred Hearts, went to the Vatican this morning in the framework of their general chapters and the Jubilee de la Esperanza.
After praising the diversity of charisms and remembering the “great models of spiritual life” that inspired its foundation – as San Agustín, San Basilio and San Francisco – the pontiff thanked the religious for their service, especially the weakest.
In addition, he remarked that “the vicissitudes of his past and the vivacity of the present make experiencing how fidelity to the ancient wisdom of the Gospel is the best engine for whom, driven by the Holy Spirit, he travels through new paths of donation, dedicated to the love of God and the neighbor in the attentive listening of the signs of time.”
Next, the Pope remembered a few words from St. Augustine: “For you God is all: if you are hungry, God is your bread; if you are thirsty, God is your water; if you are in darkness, God is your light, because it remains incorruptible; if you are naked, God is your dress of immortality.”
In light of the above, he addressed the following questions to the religious: “To what extent is this true for me? How much does the Lord become my thirst for life, of love, of light?”
For the Holy Father, this “rooting in Christ” is what has led us to those who have preceded us “to do things that perhaps would never have thought they could do, allowing them to spread seeds that, through centuries and continents, today have achieved practically everyone, as you demonstrate your presence.”
Subsequently, as a conclusion, the Pontiff recalled the words that Saint Paul directed to the Christians of Ephesus:
“That Christ inhabits in their hearts by faith, and are entrenched and built in love. Thus you can understand, with all the saints, what is the width and the length, height and depth, in a word, you can know the love of Christ, who overcomes all knowledge, to be filled by the fullness of God” (Ef 3,17-19).
Almudena Martínez-Bordiú
Graduated in journalism and advertising from the CEU San Pablo University of Madrid. Specialized in religious information in Spain since 2015. It has been a senior correspondent for ACI Press and Ewtn News at the Vatican for two years and is currently a correspondent for Europe based on Spain.