To Reverend Father

PIERO TRABUCCO

Superior General

of the Consolata Missionary Institute

1. One hundred years have passed since that January 29, 1901, when the Consolata Missionary Institute which you now lead was founded. This happy occasion is a cause of joy not just for you and your confrères, dear Consolata Missionaries but for the whole Church engaged in the enormous work of evangelization. This celebration is an occasion to give thanks to our Heavenly Father “who wills that all men be saved and reach the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tm 2,4).

 At the beginning of the twentieth century, Blessed Joseph Allamano, inspired by God, in obedience to his Archbishop and with the support of the Piedmontese hierarchy, created your missionary family. Since that time, with the help of the Vincentian Sisters of Cottolengo, and later the Consolata Missionary Sisters, founded by Blessed Joseph in 1910, your Congregation has worked ceaselessly to spread the Gospel throughout the world, creating new Christian communities that have become flourishing local Churches. 

 How can we not thank the Lord for all the good your Institute has accomplished during this first century of its existence? It has remained faithful to that missionary charism the Founder received from the Holy Spirit and passed on to his spiritual sons.  This faithfulness gives me great pleasure, and I encourage you with all my heart to continue along this path keeping unchanged that spiritual and apostolic enthusiasm that marked your beginnings.

2. This momentous occasion provides an opportunity to reflect on the future prospects of your religious family. Undoubtedly your first commitment must be a vigorous re-confirmation of your missionary vocation “ad gentes.” This is your raison d’être. “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” (Jn 20,21). Convinced that this mandate the Risen Lord gave to the Apostles, and through them to the Church, is ever urgent and valid, your missionary commitment must be reaffirmed unambiguously and without hesitation. “Going, therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” (Mt 28,19). I have often affirmed that the Redeemer’s mission which the Church is called to carry out is far from being accomplished (Cf. Redemptoris Missio, 1; Dominus Jesus, 2). “Missionary activity has only just begun,” (Redemptoris Missio, 33) and it now appears “destined to reach ever broader horizons,” (ibid. 35). In recent years the territorial parameters of evangelization have undergone profound changes; in contrast to the past, missionaries must now go to new places and assume new responsibilities. The modern arenas of evangelization require you to be courageous apostles, creative, resourceful and ever more prepared to face specific challenges. In spite of inherent difficulties, inculturation of the Gospel is an urgent and unavoidable necessity. Interreligious dialogue constitutes an integral part of the mission. It is always an important part of carrying out the mandate of evangelization. These are some of the elements that affect you, missionaries “on the cutting edge.”

3. This task may well appear difficult, if not impossible, if one relies solely on human resources. It is a fact that one can feel powerless when faced with the enormity of the missionary enterprise. The Word of Christ consoles us: “Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world,” (Mt 28, 20). He is our true and solid support. For this reason we must constantly cultivate a personal, internal relationship with the Lord.

 I would like to mention the need to prepare and accompany missionary work with prayer. Prayer, through the logic of cause and effect, translates into a passionate adherence to Christ in daily life. Your founder insisted that every member of the Institute be a missionary “in holiness of life.” He often said, “first be saints, then missionaries.” He wanted all of you to be “first class.” How very eloquent are his words: “If you want to be good missionaries, you must first be very good religious; before converting others, you yourselves must be holy, otherwise you will be useless to yourselves and others.” Prayer, Charity, Faith and Humility. Following the spirituality of his maternal uncle, St. Joseph Cafasso, Allamano taught his followers a singular way of striving for sanctity: “One must do good,” he would say “persistently and without making noise.” “Our holiness consists in doing all things well, from morning to night.” It is not enough to renew our methods or plans to give new impetus to the missions. As I stated in the encyclical Redemptoris Missio, we must above all be zealous apostles: “the true missionary is the saint,” (n. 90).

4. In this regard I would like to mention another aspect of your special charism. From the beginning your missionaries coupled your evangelization with a concrete effort to promote human welfare, paying special attention to the poor and the marginalized. We could call it an holistic apostolate, concerned with all the needs of a human being.

 Your founder, steeped in faith and possessed of a healthy realism had no doubt that people would love “a religion which not only promised another life, but made them happier in this life as well.” Work on behalf of liberation and human welfare, defense of justice and the search for ways to establish a stable peace and foster solidarity – all of these things must be united to the explicit proclamation of the Gospel. These are all aspects of an effective apostolate aimed at meeting the complex needs of a human being. You must walk confidently along this path which distinguishes your Family, always in step with your own particular method of being a missionary. Man is at the center of your every activity; he is the protagonist of development to be helped by every means possible, especially in those matters which concern the formation of consciences (cf. Redemptoris Missio, 58-59).

5. I cannot close this exhortation without calling attention to the fact that your identity as missionaries and religious has a profound Marian dimension. Your institute grew up in the shadow of that great Marian Sanctuary, “La Consolata” the spiritual heart of Christian Turin. Allamano himself often said that the title of “founder” belonged to Our Lady. “The real foundress of this institute is the Consolata,” he would repeat. With the help of Our Lady Consolata, I urge you, dearest brothers, to spread your “consolation,” the salvation that is Christ Jesus, the Savior of Mankind.

 On this hundredth anniversary, with gratitude to God, the Virgin Mary and your blessed Founder, embark again, with renewed fervor, on your journey along the paths of the world. If you continue to commit yourselves to your own specific vocation, to the reasons for which your community was founded, the Lord will comfort you with many vocations. Be courageous witnesses of evangelical hope.

 This is my wish for you. It is accompanied by my prayers and by a special Apostolic Benediction which I impart to you with all my heart, beloved Consolata Missionaries. I impart this blessing to all the members of your families as well, and to all those lay people who work with you in the missions and contribute to your efforts. I impart this blessing to all those people throughout the world who are entrusted to your pastoral care.

From the Vatican, January 25, 2001

    John Paul II