Artículos de la prensa internacional en los años que rodean a la beatificación de Josemaría Escrivá por Juan Pablo II

Enlaces

AA.VV., 19-29.5.92 (suplementos semanales)

Texto

Weekly Edition

L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO

N. 20-20 May 1992

the Gospel, are evident, as is also shown in the fruitfulness with which God has blessed the life of and work of Josemaría Escrívá. The land of his birth, Spain, is honoured by this son of hers, an exemplary priest, who succeeded in opening up new apostolic horizons of missionary and evangelizing activity. May this joyful celebration be an auspicious occasion

that will stimulate all the members of the Prelature of Opus Dei to greater commitment, in their response to the call to holiness and to a more generous participation in ecclesial life, being always witnesses of genuine evangelical values, and may this be expressed in an ardent apostolic dynamism, with particular attention to the poorest and most needy.

5. In Blessed Josephine Bakhita too we have an eminent witness of Ø's fatherly love and a luminous sign of the perennial modernness of the Beatitudes. Born in the Sudan, in 1869, kidnapped by slavers when she was still a child and sold many times in African markets, she experienced the atrocities of a slavery which left on her body the deep marks of human cruelty. In spite of these experiences of suffering, her innocence remained intact, full of hópe. "As a slave I never despaired", she used to say, "because I felt within me a mysterious power that sustained me' The name Bakhíta = as she had been called by her kidnappers - means Fortunate, and such she became, thanks to the God of all consolations who ever held her by the hand and walked at her side.

Having arrived in Venice, through the mysterious workings of Divine Providence, Bakhita soon opened her heart to grace. Baptism, and some years later religious profession among the Canossian Sisters who had taken her in and educated her, were the logical consequences of the discovery of the treasure of the Gospel, for which she sacrificed everything, including her return in freedom to her native land. Like Maddalena óf Cano sa, she too wanted to live for God

alone, and with heroic constancy she set out humbly and trustingly along the path of fidelity to a higher love: Her faith was strong, clear and ardent. "If only you knew what a great joy it is to know God!", she used to say.

6. The new Beata spent 51 years of religious life as a Canossian Sister, allowing herself to be guided by obedience in a daily commitment, humble and hidden yet abounding in genuine charity and prayer. The people of Schio, where she lived for almost all that time, soon discovered in their "Madre Moretta" - as they called her - human qualities rich ín self giving, an • uncommon interior power which attracted people. Her life was lived in constant missionary prayer, in humble and heroic fidelity to charity, which enabled her to live the freedom of the children of God and to encourage it around her.

In our time, in which the unbridled race for power, money and pleasure is the cause of so much distrust, violence and loneliness, Sister Bakhíta has been given to us once more by the Lord as a universal sister, so that she can reveal to us the secret of true happiness: the Beatitudes.

Hers is a message of heroic goodness modelled on the goodness of the heavenly Father. She has left us a witness of evangelical reconciliation and forgiveness, which will surely bring consolation to the Christians of her homeland, the Sudan, so sorely tried by a conflict that has lasted many years and reaped so many victims. Their fidelity and their hope are a source of pride_ and thanksgiving for the whole Church. At this time of great trials, Sister Bakhíta goes before them on the path of

the imitation of Christ, of the deepening of Christian life and of unshakable attachment to the Church. At this time I desire once more to address a heartfelt appeal to those who control the destiny of the Sudan, that they will put into practice the ideals of peace and harmony which they proclaim; that respect for fundamental human rights - and in the first place the right to religious freedom - will be ensured for everyone, without ethnic or religious discrimination.

A source of grave concern is the situation of the hundreds of thousands of refugees from the South, forced by the war to abandon their homes and work. Recently they have also been compelled to leave the camps where they have found at least some form of assistance and have been transported to desert locations, while the free passage of relief convoys from the international agencies has even been prevented. Theirs is a tragic situation, and it cannot leave us unmoved.

I strongly urge the international welfare agencies to continue to send their timely and urgently needed assistance.

As I greet the delegations from the Church in the Sudan present at this celebration, my thoughtš turn with affection accompanied: by prayer to the whole Church in that nation: to the Bishops, the diocesan and missionary clergy, the laity involved in pastóral work, and also the catechises, generous and needed cooperators in the spreading of the truth, the word and the love of God.

The people of the Sudan are always present in my heart and my prayers: I entrust them to the intercession of the new Beata, Josephine Bakhits.

7. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn 13:34-35). With these words of Jesus the Gospel of today's Mass ends. In this saying we find the summing úp of . all holiness; the holiness which Josemaría Escrívá de Balaguer and Josephine Bakhita attained, by paths that were different and yet met in one and the same goal. They loved God with all the strength of their heart and gave proof of a charity taken to the point of heroism through their works of service to their brothers and sisters. For this reason the Church today raises them to the honour of the altars and holds them up as examples in the imitation of Christ, who loved us and gave himself for each one of us (cf. Gal 2:20).

8. "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and in him God is glorified" (Jn 13:31): the Paschal Mystery of glory.

Through the Son of Man this glory extends to all that is seen and unseen:

"All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your -saints shall bless you!

"They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom" (Ps 145[144]:10-11).

Behold the Son of Man: "Was it not necessary that.:. he should suffer these things and enter into his glory?"

Behold those who have followed Christ in every generation: "Through many trials they have entered into the kingdom of God".

"Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom" (Ps 145[144]:13).

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