From Catholic News Service

Pope encourages Catholic movements, religious

By Jonathan Luxmoore, Catholic News Service

CZESTOCHOWA, Poland (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI urged Catholic movements and religious orders to proclaim their faith openly and have confidence in the church's capacity to nourish and support their mission.

"Believe in the grace of God which accompanies you and bring it into the living fabric of the church, especially in places the priest or religious cannot reach," Pope Benedict told representatives of Poland's 150 movements and associations during a May 26 service at Our Lady of Jasna Gora shrine.

"You are nourished by different schools of spirituality recognized by the church. Draw upon the wisdom of the saints, have recourse to the heritage they have left us," the Pope said. "Form your minds and your hearts on the works of the great masters and witnesses of the faith, knowing that the schools of spirituality must not be a treasure locked up in convents or libraries."

Pope Benedict paid a two-hour visit to the Marian shrine on the second day of his May 25-28 visit to Poland.

He prayed the Catholic movements would "grow ever more numerous," while ensuring the Gospel's wisdom was "brought in a mature way, not childishly or aggressively, to the world of culture and work, to the world of the media and politics, to the world of the family and social life."

He also urged the 6,400 students at Poland's 86 diocesan and order seminaries, who make up nearly one-third of Europe's total, to be "mindful and attentive to the signs of holiness which God will show you among the faithful."

"When you take into your hands the eucharistic body of Jesus so as to nourish his people, and when you assume responsibility for that part of the mystical body which will be entrusted to you, remember the attitude of wonder and adoration which characterized Mary's faith," the Pope said. "Do not fear future duties or the unknown. Do not fear that words will fail you or that you will encounter rejection. The world and the church need priests, holy priests."

Pope Benedict was welcomed to the shrine by Father Izydor Matuszewski, prior general of the Pauline Fathers, who administer the Jasna Gora shrine. The Pope prayed with 700 clergy and religious before the Black Madonna icon in the Chapel of Our Lady.

He later met mayors from five "Marian cities" in partnership with Czestochowa, including Fatima in Portugal, Lourdes in France, and Altotting in Germany.

A Salesian seminarian told Catholic News Service he believed the Pope's address had confirmed his "continuity with John Paul II" and would help maintain an "explosion of vocations" since the April 2005 death of the Polish pontiff.

"God is at work here, strengthening the spiritual capital created by John Paul II," added the seminarian, who was one of more than 50 Polish Salesian seminarians at the event.

Meanwhile, a group of Poor Sisters of Nazareth nuns predicted the Jasna Gora meeting would generate new enthusiasm for the contemplative life of prayer.

"Benedict XVI comes across as a warm person of resolute faith -- his words show how important prayer and meditation are in his life," said Sister Rafaela, who identified herself by her first name only.

Addressing a crowd of 300,000 from the shrine's walls at the Chapel of Our Lady, Pope Benedict said Mary sustained the faith "with feminine tact and with the ability to combine penetrating intuition with words of support and encouragement," adding that she also showed how Christians could "place their confidence in God, giving themselves to him unreservedly, with their talents, their limitations and their future."

"At the moment of your religious profession or promises, faith led you to a total adherence to the mystery of the heart of Jesus, whose treasures you have discovered. You then renounced such good things as disposing freely of your life, having a family, acquiring possessions, so as to be free to give yourselves with reserve to Christ and his kingdom," the Pope told representatives of Poland's 156 religious orders.

"Whatever the mission entrusted to you, whatever cloistered or apostolic service you are engaged in, maintain in your hearts the primacy of your consecrated life. Let it renew your faith. The consecrated life, lived in faith, unites you closely to God, calls forth charisms and confers an extraordinary fruitfulness to your service," he said.

The Pope said claiming to understand God would mean "to confine him within our thinking and knowing, and, consequently, to lose him."

"With faith, however, we can open a way through concepts, even theological concepts, and touch the living God. And God, once touched, immediately gives us his power," the Pope added. "We must pay great attention to the development of our faith, so that it truly pervades all our attitudes, thoughts, actions and intentions."

Banners in the crowd, which stretched down Czestochowa's Holy Virgin Avenue, proclaimed the names of Catholic movements such as the Neocatechumenal Way and Focolare, as well as names of religious orders and diocesan seminaries.

A member of Hungary's charismatic renewal movement, Tunde Poor, said lay Catholics in neighboring countries would welcome the Pope's confirmation of their role in church life.

"Priests and bishops are often afraid of Catholic renewal groups like ours -- it's a pity they're not here today," Poor told CNS. "The Pope has said clearly that the Holy Spirit is a reality and that the church's leaders have nothing to fear from people who directly feel its guidance."

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