Pope Francis today paid tribute to women, the first witnesses of the Resurrection of the Lord, courageous and capable of creating new paths in the Church, but he warned the religious about the temptation of bitterness.
“Bitterness is the devil’s liquor: the devil cooks us inside, with that liquor, always repeating that things are not going well,” said Pope Francis, who urged the religious to be careful with the “diseases of consecrated life.”
The Holy Father received this Thursday in audience the participants in the 70th General Assembly of the Union of Major Superiors of Italy (USMI), which is taking place in Rome, from April 13 to 14, 2023, on the theme “In the synodal journey, women witnesses of the risen Lord”.
“I am not talking about optimism: optimism is something psychological. I speak of hope, of openness to the Spirit, and this is theological, and a religious vocation must follow this path”, the Pontiff said before 200 representatives of the Union that brings together 50,000 religious in Italy.
“ But when you grow vinegar instead of sugar, something is off. The bitterness, the acidity of the heart, hurts a lot ”. For this reason he made an appeal: “Please, when you see that in a community or in some religious, help them to get out of the situation of melancholic people who always think: ‘Ah, the old days were better! Things don’t go, and here and there…'”.
And he reiterated: “ This is the devil’s elixir, this bitterness. Please, none of this! Let the Spirit give us this sweetness, which is a spiritual sweetness ”.
At another time, he also joked with the nuns who are celebrating the anniversary of their Union: “The number 70 already indicates a beautiful path made together, for this we must thank the Lord: that you, as an organization, have not retired!”
Pope Francis indicated that women are the first witnesses of the Resurrection of the Lord, “the female disciples, who with their audacity remind us time and time again that Jesus Christ can also break the boring schemes in which we try to lock him up and surprise us with his constant creativity divine”.
In her speech, she paid homage to those “brave women who allowed themselves to be surprised and pushed by the strength and light of the Risen Christ and went out to look for him”. She stated that “they were aware of how important it is to have the Lord alive in our hearts”.
In this sense, he stressed that these women teach the Church the “courage to return to the source and recover the original freshness of the Gospel.” In this way, “new paths will emerge, creative methods, other forms of expression, more eloquent signs”, which will renew today’s world.
” It is typical of a woman to be generous: yes, there are some neurotics, but this happens a little like everywhere. The woman is to give life, open paths, call others… ”
The Pontiff also thanked Mother Yvonne Reungoat, a French Salesian, former superior general of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, and president of the USMI for the last 5 years, for the words of greeting.
At the end, he blessed the nuns and invited them to pray for him: “Because this work is not easy at all. Thank you”.