from Pope Francis' homily to seminarians and religious novices:
Dear
seminarians, dear novices, dear young people discerning your vocations:
“evangelization is done on one’s knees”, as one of you said to me the
other day. Always be men and women of prayer! Without a constant
relationship with God, the mission becomes a job. The risk of activism,
of relying too much on structures, is an ever-present danger. If we look
towards Jesus, we see that prior to any important decision or event he
recollected himself in intense and prolonged prayer. Let us cultivate
the contemplative dimension, even amid the whirlwind of more urgent and
pressing duties. And the more the mission calls you to go out to the
margins of existence, let your heart be the more closely united to
Christ’s heart, full of mercy and love. Herein lies the secret of the
fruitfulness of a disciple of the Lord! Jesus sends his followers out
with no “purse, no bag, no sandals” (Lk 10:4). The spread of the Gospel
is not guaranteed either by the number of persons, or by the prestige
of the institution, or by the quantity of available resources. What
counts is to be permeated by the love of Christ, to let oneself be led
by the Holy Spirit and to graft one’s own life onto the tree of life,
which is the Lord’s Cross.
NB. No mention of advocating for Big Gov't social engineering programs; no mention of "saving Earth" or fighting climate change; no mention of resisting structures of gender/sexual oppression. Mentioned: the joy of consolation, the Cross of Christ, and the necessity of prayer!
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