Vatican City, Nov 8, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Pope John Paul II, in a meeting with Teresian Carmelite Missionaries this morning, re-affirmed that the challenge of consecrated life is "to make Christ present in the world through personal witness," and that “we can be inspired by the Eucharist” to fulfill this challenge.
"You must inspire in all your sisters true 'passion for the Church: God and our neighbors,' so that every community may enrich the local church and make the marvels of God visible 'with the eloquent language of a transfigured life, capable of amazing the world'," said the Pope to the participants in the order’s 13th General Chapter.
"I reminded the entire Church of the central and irreplaceable nature of the Eucharist in Christian life, in order be faithful to the vocation to sanctity,” said the Holy Father, who added that he was sure that because of their contemplative spirit, the missionaries will “make the Blessed Sacrament the pinnacle of spiritual life and an inspiration for every missionary and apostolic project.”
“In effect,” he concluded, “in the Blessed Sacrament we encounter Christ, and therefore, it is a privileged point of encounter for souls in love with Him."