To the Nuns in the Rue Du Bac, Paris (31 May 1980)

On 31 May 1980, the Holy Father addressed the nuns in the Garden of Rue du Bac, asking them, "to continue to marvel and give thanks, until the evening of your life, for the mysterious call that resounded one day in the depths of your heart: 'Follow me.'"

My dear Sisters,

1. In the course of my apostolic journeys, I experience a very deep and ever-new happiness in meeting women religious, whose existence, consecrated by the three evangelical vows, “belongs inseparably to the life and holiness of the Church”[ 1 ]. Let us bless the Lord together who has made this meeting possible! Let us bless him for the fruits that will result in your personal lives, in your Congregations, in the people of God! Thank you for coming in such large numbers from all the districts of Paris and the Paris region, and even from the provinces! I am happy to express to you who are here, as to all the nuns of France, my esteem, my affection, my encouragement.

This gathering, almost rural, makes me think of those moments of pause and breathing that Christ himself reserved for his first disciples upon returning from certain apostolic tours. You too, my dear Sisters, have come from your places and tasks of evangelization: dispensaries or hospital-houses, schools or colleges, catechesis centers or youth chaplaincies, parish services or insertions in poor circles. It pleases me to repeat to you the words of the Lord: “Come aside... and rest a little”[ 2 ]. Together we will meditate on the mystery and the Gospel treasure of your vocation.

2. Religious life is not your property, any more than it is the property of an Institute. It is “ the divine gift which the Church has received from her Lord and which, by grace, she faithfully preserves”[ 3 ].

In short, religious life is a heritage , a reality lived in the Church for centuries, by a multitude of men and women. And the profound experience that they have made of it transcends the socio-cultural differences that may exist from one country to another, also goes beyond the descriptions that they have left of it, and is situated beyond the diversity of today's achievements and research. It is important to respect and love this rich spiritual heritage. It is important to listen to and imitate those who best embodied the ideal of evangelical perfection, and who were so numerous to sanctify and illustrate the land of France.

Until the evening of your life, remain in wonder and thanksgiving for the mysterious call that resounds one day in the depths of your heart: “Follow me”[ 4 ]; “Sell all that you have, give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me”[ 5 ]. You first carried this call as a secret, then you submitted it to the discernment of the Church.

It is indeed a great risk to leave everything to follow Christ. But already you felt - and you have since experienced - that He was able to fill your heart. Religious life is a friendship, a mystical intimacy with Christ. Your personal itinerary should be like an original reissue of the famous Song of Songs poem. Dear Sisters, in the heart to heart of prayer, absolutely vital for each one of you, as on the occasion of your various apostolic commitments, listen to the Lord murmuring to you the same call: “Follow me”.

The ardor of your-response will keep you cool on your first oblation. You will thus go from fidelity to fidelity!

3. Following Christ is much more than admiring a model, even if you have a good knowledge of Scripture and theology. Following Christ is something existential. It means wanting to imitate him to the point of allowing oneself to be configured to him, to assimilate to him, to the point of being - in the words of Sister Elisabeth of the Trinity - “an additional humanity”. And this in his mystery of chastity, poverty and obedience.

Such an ideal is beyond understanding and beyond human strength! It can only be achieved through strong moments of silent and ardent contemplation of the Lord Jesus. The so-called “active” nuns must be “contemplative” at certain times, following the example of the nuns I will address in Lisieux.

Religious chastity, my Sisters, is truly wanting to be like Christ; all the reasons that can be advanced elsewhere vanish before this essential reason: Jesus was chaste. This state of Christ was not only a transcendence of human sexuality, prefiguring the future world, but also a manifestation, an “epiphany” of the universality of his redemptive oblation.

The Gospel never ceases to show how Jesus lived chastity. In his human relationships, which are singularly broadened compared to the traditions of his environment and his time, he perfectly joins the deep personality of the other. Her simplicity, her respect, her kindness, her art of arousing the best in the hearts of the people she meets, upset the Samaritan woman, the adulteress and so many other people.

May your vow of consecrated virginity - deepened and lived in the mystery of the chastity of Christ - and which already transfigures your persons, push you to truly join your brothers and sisters in humanity, in the concrete situations which are theirs!

So many people in our world are lost, crushed, desperate! In fidelity to the rules of prudence, make them feel that you love them in the manner of Christ, drawing from his heart the human and divine tenderness he has for them.

You also promised Christ to be poor with Him and like Him. Certainly, the society of production and consumption poses complex problems for the practice of evangelical poverty. This is not the time and place to debate it. It seems to me that any Congregation should see in this economic phenomenon a providential invitation to give a response, both traditional and completely new, to the poor Christ. It is by contemplating him often and for a long time in his radically poor life, it is by assiduously seeing the humble and the poor, who are also his face, that you will be able to give all that you are and all that you have. The Church needs to be moved by your testimony. Measure your responsibility.

As for the obedience of Jesus, it occupies a central place in his redemptive work . You have often meditated on the pages where Saint Paul speaks of initial disobedience, which was like the gateway to sin and death in the world, and he speaks of the mystery of Christ's obedience which initiates the ascent of humanity towards God.

Self-dispossession and humility are more difficult for our generation that loves autonomy and even fantasy. One cannot, however, imagine a religious life without obedience to the superiors, who are the guardians of fidelity to the ideal of the Institute. Saint Paul underlines the link of cause and effect between the obedience of Christ until the death of the cross[ 6 ] and his glory as Risen and Lord of the universe. Likewise, the obedience of every nun - which is always a sacrifice of the will, out of love - bears abundant fruits of salvation for the whole world.

4. You have therefore accepted to follow Christ and to limit more closely, in order to show his true face to those who already know him as well as to those who do not know him. And this, through all these apostolic activities to which I alluded at the beginning of our meeting.

In this plan of commitments, safeguarding the particular spirituality of your Institutes, I strongly urge you to integrate yourselves into the immense network of pastoral tasks of the universal Church and of the dioceses[ 7 ] . I know that Congregations cannot - for lack of subjects - respond to all the appeals that come to them from bishops and their priests. However, do the impossible to ensure the vital services of the parishes and dioceses. May duly prepared nuns collaborate in the pastoral care of the new realities of which there are many.

In a word, invest all your natural and supernatural talents to the fullest in contemporary evangelism. Be always and everywhere present in the world without being of the world[ 8 ]. Never be afraid to allow your identity as women consecrated to the Lord to be clearly recognized. Christians and non-Christians have a right to know who you are. Christ, the Master of all of us, made his life a courageous unveiling of his identity[ 9 ].

Courage and confidence, my dear Sisters! I know that for years you have reflected a great deal on religious life, on your Constitutions. The time has come to live, in fidelity to the Lord and to your apostolic tasks. I pray with all my heart that the testimony of your consecrated lives and the face of your religious Congregations will awaken in the hearts of many young people the project of following Christ, like you. I bless you as well as all the nuns of France working on the soil of the fatherland or on other continents. And I bless all those you carry in your heart and in your prayers.

 [ 1 ] Lumen Gentium , 44.

 [ 2 ] Cfr. Mark . 6, 31.

 [ 3 ] Lumen Gentium , 43.

 [ 4 ] Cfr. Matt . 9, 9; Io . 1, 43.

 [ 5 ] Ibid . 19, 21.

 [ 6 ] Cfr. Phil . 2, 6-11.

 [ 7 ] Cfr. Perfectae Caritatis , 20.

 [ 8 ] Cfr. Io . 17, 15-16.

 [ 9 ] Cfr. Luke . 9, 26.

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