Pope Leo XIV meets with Augustinian Recollect Sisters in the Vatican (@Vatican Media)
Pope to
Augustinian Sisters: The Lord has filled you with joy
Pope Leo XIV
receives Augustinian Recollect Sisters, rejoicing in their God-given joy and
encouraging them to continue walking with the Lord.
By Deborah
Castellano Lubov
"To encounter
the Lord in the life we have so gladly embraced, we must walk a path, as
pilgrims do," Pope Leo XIV told Augustinian Recollect Sisters of the
Federation of Mexico in the Vatican before his Wednesday General Audience.
The Holy Father
began by recalling that the sisters traveled to Rome in this Holy Year to live
a moment of encounter with the Lord, "and I can see that He has filled you
with joy."
“I can see that
He has filled you with joy.”
Pilgrims walking
joyfully toward the Lord
The Pope recalled
how Saint Thomas of Villanova explained the origin of this joy as being the
Lord Himself, and that therefore we embrace the path of being 'pilgrims.'
While there are
countless paths one can pursue, the Holy Father recalled they all come down to
two, It’s true that there are many such paths, but they all come down to
two, mercy and truth.
"Through
these two ways," he said, "let us walk toward the Lord — serving like
Martha in works of mercy, or resting like Mary at the feet of Jesus to
contemplate the truth."
Without love,
labours lack meaning
Pope Leo called
them to exemplifying love for God and their neighbours, and how this love must
be lived in one's heart.
“God, in fact,
does not look at what or how much you do, but at how much you grow in desire
and love for Him; because, although it is true that each will be judged by
their works, the true weight of the work is the charity of the heart” (ibid.,
VI, 487).
The Holy Father
reminded them that if the fire of love is lacking, our labours lose their
meaning and become “a burden to the soul,” but rather, “where there is love,
there is no suffering.”
Finally, Pope Leo
invoked the maternal protection of "Our Mother of Good Counsel and
the intercession of Saint Thomas of Villanova, who so deeply loved the mission
in the Americas, so that we may walk this path of perfection with patience and
courageous spirit, until we reach the end."
Pope Leo XIV meets with Augustinian
Recollect Sisters in the Vatican (@Vatican Media)
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