Bergoglio to the Sodalitium: “Seek to Announce the Gospel.”

Buenos Aires 07/09/13 (Sodalite News – Argentina). Six years ago the Sodalitium had the blessing to celebrate another anniversary of their Pontifical Approval in a mass presided over by the then Cardinal Bergoglio who had warm words for the Sodalites.

In 2005 the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae arrived to Buenos Aires, invited by the then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to open it’s first community in Argentina to do youth and university apostolate, integrating two fundamental aspects of the Sodalite spirituality: Youth and Cultural evangelization. Among the many gestures showed by the Cardinal towards the Sodalitium, one of the most cherished by the community was when Cardinal Bergoglio celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Pontifical Approval of the Sodalitium as a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right, granted by Blessed John Paul II in 1997.

On July 8th, 2007, in the Eucharistic celebration attended by the different members of the Sodalite Family in Argentina, the Cardinal offered a simple and concise reflection about the call to be apostles from the biblical passage where “the disciples ‘returned full of happiness, full of joy’ because they had completed what the Lord had asked of them. They had gone to announce the Gospel, they had gone to announce what the Lord had taught them.”

“Christian happiness fills us when we receive the faith and don’t keep it locked up in our own heart, for ourselves, so that it’s something only my own. Upon receiving it we feel the impulse to communicate it, to share it with others— said the now Bishop of Rome—; upon doing this, it’s not about trying to convince, we aren’t a developing association looking for new members.” Underlining that the faith is a gift, the Cardinal reminded those present that “we give a gift that we have freely received because non of us deserve the faith. It has been given to us. It is a complete gift from Jesus, a complete gift from God, and this faith, given to us, we offer as a gift to others.”

He finally directed a few words to the Sodalites after thanking God for the tenth anniversary of the Pontifical Approval of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. He said “those who are members of the Sodalitium, aren’t members of a soccer team or a cultural association, they are members of a body that is directed by Jesus to give the faith that it has received as a gift, and of coarse, — he said to the Sodalites reminding them of the consequences of living the Gospel—you know that it is not going to be easy… but God is greater.” He invited those consecrated to “announce the Gospel, seek to give as a gift what you have received as a gift and to which you have consecrated your life; and continue loving Jesus letting yourselves be protected by the Virgin Mary.

Today, by the hand of our Lady of the Reconciliation, the Sodalites joyfully continue looking to respond to the challenges of the New Evangelization. Certainly the encouragement of pastors, among them the now Pope Francis, leads them to take on, with confidence in God, the challenge of continuing the works that the Holy Spirit commenced a little more than 40 years ago.