3 December 1991
Ambovombe, Madagascar

My dear Confreres and Sisters,

I would like first of all to greet the Pastor of the Cathedral Parish and to thank him for having invited me to preside at this Eucharistic celebration in the Cathedral, which is the Mother of all the churches in the diocese. It is this church which in a special way is the Church of the Bishop, and the Bishop is the father of the diocese. It is the Lord Himself who has invited us and encouraged us to collaborate always with the Bishop of the diocese, each of us according to our particular vocation. When a family is united, all its members are happy. When the people of a diocese are united with the Bishop, and when each person respects the special vocation of others, then that diocese will be, not only happy, but it will also be effective in establishing here the Kingdom of God. We must often remind ourselves that our work, whatever it may be, is to establish God's Kingdom, not ours. It is by collaborating well with the Bishop that we can have the assurance that it is God's Kingdom and not ours that we are building. I am happy to greet the Vicar General, who is the Bishop's representative at this celebration, and to assure the Bishop, through him, of our respect and of our prayers.

Some years ago I had the joy of visiting the castle near Pamplona where St. Francis Xavier was born. It is a very well preserved castle, and one can still see the living quarters of the family and the oratory where the saintly mother of the future saint taught her young child to pray. In that oratory, too, one can still see the large crucifix before which the family prayed. The expression on the face of the suffering Christ is a smile. The artist wished to convey the joy of the Resurrection breaking through the sufferings of Christ. The castle itself is a sort of fortress. To the young Francis it must have seemed impregnable. Everything in the castle speaks of security.

The greatness of St. Francis Xavier lies not so much in the immense missionary labors as in his ability to exchange the security of such a home for the insecurity of life on the missions. Had he not been able to make that exchange, he would not have been able to bring so many to Christ. It was that initial sacrifice which made all the rest possible and what an achievement was his. The list of countries which St. Francis touched in his lifetime is impressive, even by the standards of a jet age: India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaya, Japan, the shores of China--all these in a lifetime of forty-seven years. Estimates vary about the number of people he baptized, and possibly some today will question the principle of baptizing so many people without deeper catechesis. That may or may not be true. We must, however, always resist the temptation to devalue success stories, for in devaluing the achievements of others, we may be only excusing our own lack of generosity and courage.

St. Francis exchanged the security of his castle for the insecurity of life in a world totally different from that which he knew. Security! How conscious we are of security today. We make provision for security in our old age. Violence has made us conscious of the need for security on planes and even in our own homes. Has all this left us less prepared to take risks in life? I am not thinking of foolish risks, but have we become too security conscious? Has it left us overcautious, overconcerned about what people or society will think of us? Our vocation is an invitation to take risks for Christ.

Taking vows is a risk. Our vow of Obedience implies that we will go where others will ask us to go, and to each of us Our Lord may be saying what He said to St. Peter about his future: "You will stretch out your hand and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go." (Jn 21:18). The very process of consultation, which the Church has recommended to us as a means for discovering more clearly the Will of God, can, if it is not seen in the perspective of faith, empty our vow of Obedience of that sense of risk. We can use the process of consultation to build up fortifications around ourselves that protect the heart, like the castle which St. Francis Xavier left to answer the call of Christ. The risks we take in Community must be taken in the context of obedience. It is interesting to note that in the adventurous life of St. Francis Xavier, he wrote long letters to St. Ignatius, some of which he wrote on his knees in order to express his sense of obedience. The thousands of miles that separated Francis from Ignatius, and the wide diversity of conditions in which the two men were working, did not weaken the sense of obedience in Francis Xavier. St. Francis Xavier would have understood very clearly what the Constitutions of the Sisters state, that "far from diminishing the dignity of the person, obedience enhances it by increasing the freedom which belongs to the children of God." (C. 2.8).

Even when we do take what we can call prudent risks, we are faced so often with the indifference of those who are not concerned and the cynicism of those who are not convinced. Do not lose heart. Above all, do not be afraid to be known as people who have received a special vocation from God. Do not be disheartened by the poor results that come from tasks which you have undertaken because of your generous heart. To a missionary who was somewhat discouraged by the situation in which he worked, St. Vincent wrote: "A long time passes before a laborer sees the results of his work. Sometimes he does not see at all the abundant fruit which his sowing has produced. This happened to St. Francis Xavier, who did not see in his lifetime the admirable fruits which his holy work produced after his death, nor the marvelous progress of the mission which he had commenced. This consideration ought to keep your heart strong and elevated to God, confident that all will be well, even though it may seem the contrary to us." (Coste V, Fr. ed., ltr. 1951, p. 457).