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Pope Francis’ address to the clerics regular of St. Paul (Barnabites)
Consistory Hall – Monday, 29 May 2023
Dear brothers and sisters,
I am pleased to share this moment of encounter with you, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Antonio Maria Zaccaria, and as you prepare for two important General Chapters.
You are Fathers, Sisters and laypeople, gathered in three “colleges”, as your Founder defined them; all animated by the apostolic spirit of Saint Paul, who inspires your origins and under whose protection you work in different parts of the world.
I will take as my point of departure a characteristic expression of Saint Antonio Maria.
He used to say to his followers: “You must run like crazy! Run towards God and towards others”. To Run like crazy, not to be crazy people who run: that is something else.
I would like to highlight three aspects of this typically Pauline exhortation:
relationship with Christ, apostolic zeal, and creative courage.
1.“Running towards God”
In Zaccaria’s experience, the foundation of the mission is “running towards God”, that is, a strong relationship with the Lord Jesus, cultivated since his youth in a serious journey of growth, especially through the contemplation of the Word of God with the help of two good religious brothers.
This led him first to the catechism, then to the priesthood and finally to the religious foundation.
This type of relationship with Christ is also fundamental for us, so that we can say to everyone, having personally experienced it, that life is not the same with or without the Lord, and This is why we continue to “run toward the finish line”, as St. Paul used to say, involving all those entrusted to us in this race (cf. 1 Cor 9:24-27).
Our missionary proclamation is not proselytism – I insist – but rather the sharing of a personal encounter – if you will, this is how the Lord is, this is life, but not proselytism – that has changed our lives!
Without it, we have nothing to proclaim, and we have no goal to which we can go together.
I had a bad experience in this regard, in a youth meeting, some years ago; I came out of the sacristy and there was a woman, very elegant, and you could see that she was also wealthy, with a boy and a girl.
And this lady, who spoke Spanish, said to me: “Father, I am happy because I have converted these two: this one is from so-and-so, that one from so-and-so”.
I was angry, you know, and I said, “You didn’t convert anyone, you have no respect for these people: you didn’t accompany them, you didn’t proselytize, and that’s not evangelizing”.
She was proud to have converted!
Be careful to distinguish apostolic action from proselytism: we do not proselytize.
The Lord never proselytized.
2. “Run towards others”:
This is the second point. This is also fundamental.
In fact, if we lose sight of the goal of proclamation in our life of faith, we end up closing ourselves in and withering in the arid deserts of self-absorption.
This happens to us as it does to an athlete who continues to prepare for the great race of his life without ever setting out: sooner or later he ends up feeling depressed and begins to let himself go, his enthusiasm waning. And so, we become sad disciples.
We do not want to become sad disciples!
But here too I ask a question: is this worm of sadness in me?
Do I sometimes, as a religious, as a lay person, let that worm in?
Someone used to say that a sad Christian is a bad Christian: it is true.
But for us, consecrated persons, sadness must not enter, and if someone feels this sadness, he or she should go straight away to the Lord and ask for light, and ask some brother or sister to help him or her get out of it.
That is why, Jesus places at the very roots of the Church the mandate, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation” (Mk 16:15), and Saint Paul confirms this when he says, speaking of his apostolate, “I am in need.. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16).
There was no room for sadness, he wanted to keep going.
Woe to us if we do not preach the Gospel!
Therefore, I encourage you to continue in the direction indicated by your charism: “Bring the living Spirit of Christ everywhere”.
The “living” Spirit of Christ is the one that conquers the heart, that does not leave you sitting in your armchair, but makes you go out to your brothers and sisters with your backpack light and your eyes full of charity..
Bring the Spirit everywhere, without excluding anyone, and open also to new forms of apostolate, in a changing world that needs flexible minds and open hearts, and common paths of research to find suitable ways of transmitting the one and only Gospel.
3. “Run like crazy”,
And so we come to the third point: “run like crazy”, which is not the same as being crazy people who run, it is something else – it is, creative courage.
It is not so much a question of developing sophisticated evangelization techniques, but rather, as St. Paul says, of being “all things to all people, that I may, be all means, save some” (I Cor 9:22), of not stopping in the face of difficulties, of looking beyond the horizon of habit and the quiet life of “it’s always been done this way”.
Saint Antonio Maria had this courage, to create institutions that were new for his time: a Congregation for the Reform of the Clergy, at a time when so many clerics were accustomed to a comfortable and privileged life; a Congregation of women religious, not cloistered, dedicated to evangelization, at a time when the consecrated life for women was cloistered; a Congregation of lay missionaries, actively engaged in evangelization, at a time when a certain clericalism prevailed.
These were all new realities – he was creative, but with fidelity to the Gospel.
These realities did not exist before: the Founder understood that they could be useful for the good of the Church and for society, and so he invented them and defended them against those who did not understand their meaning and usefulness, to the point of coming to Rome to give an account of them.
And in this, there is an important lesson, because he did not exercise his creativity outside the Church: he did so within, accepting corrections and rebukes, trying to explain and illustrate the reasons for his choices and preserving communion in obedience.
Conclusion: Ding things together
n conclusion, I would like to recall one last important value for your “colleges”: the importance of doing things together.
Indeed, communion in life and in the apostolate is the first witness you are called to bear, especially in a world divided by struggles and selfishness.
It is inscribed in the DNA of Christian life and of the apostolate: “that they may all be one” (Jn 17:21), as the Lord prayed.
Moreover, the very word “College” indicates exactly this: chosen to be together, the College, to live, work, pray, suffer and rejoice together, as a community.
And then, dear brothers and sisters: “run like crazy, towards God and towards others, but together!”
And may Our Lady, who hastened to help Elizabeth, accompany you.
I cordially bless you. And please, do not forget to pray for me.
Thank you very much.
