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Recent testimonials
Letter from the President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity regarding Regnum Christi Homily of Archbishop Franc Rodé in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Estemed Father Founder, Reverend father General Director, dear Brothers in Jesus Christ: 1) I send a particular greeting to Fr. Marcial Maciel who has been God’s chosen instrument to carry out one of the greatest spiritual projects in the Church during the twentieth century. I especially greet the new general director, Fr. Álvaro Corcuera and his counsel, who assumes the guidance of a consolidated and vigorous congregation, with an undeniable apostolic dynamism and a penetrating vision of the present and future mission in the Church and in the world. Please receive my warmest greetings to all the participants of the Third Ordinary General Chapter of the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ. Dearly esteemed Fr. Maciel, after having fulfilled with such prudence, wisdom and fortitude your role as general director for more than 60 years, you now place the leadership of the Legion in younger hands, with a justified feeling of having completed your duty as a true soldier of Christ, accompanied by the admiration and gratitude of your sons. I am sure that fidelity to the precise norms which you have left to the Legion of Christ and which sets her as a model of harmony and maturity, will continue illuminating, like a shining beacon, the Congregation’s following generations. 2) A general chapter is always a privileged moment, an hour of grace, a καιρός for a religious congregation. I hope that the reflections of these days, with the help of Our Lord, will bring you to consolidate the fundamentals and to cast a prophetic vision toward the future. 3) Allow me, in this sense, a reflection on my part. The world in which we live in, although situations change significantly from one continent to the other, is a world whose idols are pleasure, money, freedom without limits, selfishness. Man is considered as the center and the god of himself, the measure and norm of the world. Concerning Europe, the Holy Father speaks of a silent apostasy, that expresses itself in the rebellion against the Church and the Christian roots of our culture, the rejection of faith. The most frequent phenomenon, however, is not an explicit negation, but apathy, disinterestedness, and passive acceptance of these dominant trends. This indifference replaces the faith. Against the attempt to establish a secular culture and a society without God, we have to commit ourselves to a global vision of life, in which God has his just place and man is seen from the perspective of his true purpose, so as to advance a Christian culture in all the sectors of society. If we want to bring the Gospel to the world, we have to be stronger than the world, “and this is the victory that conquers the world: our faith” (1 Jn 5:4). It is necessary to recuperate the vigor of our faith, intensely living in union with Christ, firmly founded upon him, mindful of our responsibility to be his witnesses, bearers of his Living Word. All this has a name: striving for sanctity, the acceptance of the universal call to holiness. This was the first indication that Pope John Paul II made to us at the start of the new millennium. Only a Legion, faithful to your profound vocation, will enable today’s man to listen; condescending commitments and minimalistic demands attract and convince no one. And remember: every crisis of history and of the Church has always been overcome by energetic and attractive groups that know what they want and want it intensely. “The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent are taking it by force” (Mt 11:12). 4) To have a true impact on the world today, it is necessary to begin by adopting a critical attitude in respect to the time in which we live. As Romano Guardini says, “to transcend time, so as to be within time more firmly.” In this sense I have to congratulate you for your attitude before the influential currents that have invaded certain sectors of the Church’s life after the second Vatican Council. Wisely, you have resisted the waves of secularism and its consequences. You have not feared to present religious life as it really is: to accept the Gospel in all its radicality, that is to say, in all its beauty. This carries with it a type of separation from the world, a rupture with the forms of secular life. It is not possible to be a religious and live a worldly life. The priestly garb that you bear with dignity, is a sign of your fidelity and –if you would allow me to say it- of your intelligence. Before the disarray which various areas of the Church have conceded, you have prudently recognized the value of discipline. Living in the equilibrium of faith and motivated by love for God, discipline brings freedom, a balanced personality, the dominion of self, and, obviously, apostolic efficacy. 5) Dear friends, remain faithful to the great heritage that your Father Founder passes on to you! Love Jesus Christ with a personal and passionate love! May he be the center and converging point of all your thoughts, aspirations and desires, the first and last yearning of your hearts, the model without equal to conform your life to, the Redeemer who you must proclaim to the world. As sons, tenderly love the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother. Mary has to find a place in your heart. She is a necessity for the health and balance of your interior life. Imitate her virtues, her faith, her obedience, her humility, her total openness to collaborate in the redemptive plan of God. Fervently love the Church: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, image and beginning of the Reign of God on earth. Always pay sincere attention, in your will and intellect, to the decisions of the Vicar of Christ and the indications that he makes for the Church. May fidelity and unconditional adherence to the Holy Father be the mark and honor of the Legion of Christ. Strive to collaborate loyally with the Bishops in their pastoral duties. Love all mankind without distinction, as the Lord has loved you, remembering that all men are made in the image and likeness of God, made to live with him forever. Man can not definitively set aside God without flooding his life in solitude and desperation. Real atheism, which is the winter of the world, is not the normal situation. The moment will come in which man will confess that God is not a threat to his liberty, but the foundation of his dignity and the very source of his happiness. This will be the springtime of faith. We work so that this day will come, fearlessly proclaiming the Gospel of freedom and hope, reflecting in our life the true face of Jesus Christ. Your Kingdom come! Amen.
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