Documenta Capituli Generalis

31 charity, who will wrench me from You? If you will join me to You through mercy, who will sever me from You? Let my spirit cleave to You, let Your most merciful right hand support me. May the unworthiest member cling to the Head, and may this small atom suffer along with the entire sacred, afflicted body” ( Christus Patiens , III, I). From this perspective, your service to the Word bears witness to the Risen Christ, whom you have met along your journey and whom, through your way of life, you are called to take wherever the Church may send you. Christian witness also requires a commitment to and for the poor, a commitment which has distinguished your Institute since its origins. I encourage you to keep alive this tradition of service to poor and humble people, through the proclamation of the Gospel in a language they can understand, with works of mercy and prayers for the dead; that closeness to people like us, simple. I like the passage of Paul to Timothy (cf. 2 Tm 1:5): safeguard your faith, which you received from your mother, your grandmother...; from the simplicity of a mother, a grandmother. is is the foundation. We are not princes, children of princes or of counts or barons. We are simple people, of the people and thus, let us approach simple people with simplicity, such as those who suffer the most: the sick, children, abandoned elderly people, the poor, everyone. is poverty is at the core of the Gospel: the poverty of Jesus, not sociological poverty but that of Jesus. Another significant spiritual legacy of your religious family is the one your Blessed Brother Giorgio Matulaitis left you: complete dedication to the Church and to humankind, “boldly moving forward to work and to do battle for the Church wherever the need is greatest” ( Journal , p. 45). May his intercession help cultivate within you this approach, which in recent decades has inspired your initiatives to disseminate the charism of the Institute in poor countries, particularly in Africa and Asia. Today, the great challenge of inculturation asks you to proclaim the Good News with language and means that are comprehensible to today’s people, who are involved in processes of rapid social and cultural transformation. Your Congregation boasts a long history written by brave witnesses to Christ and the Gospel. In these footsteps, you are called today to walk with renewed zeal, to push yourselves with prophetic freedom and wise discernment — both together! — on apostolic paths and missionary frontiers, nurturing a close collaboration with Bishops and other members of the ecclesial Community.