Facing up to the challenges” “

Primacy of God, community life, reconciliation and the choice “freely” taken to live in chastity, poverty and obedience: these values constitute the “richness of the religious life”. Henceforth today they wish to become “a response to the challenges of Europe”. The message that the men and women religious of the continent issued yesterday, at the end of the 12th Assembly of the Union of European Conferences of Superiors Major (Uecsm), held at Fatima in Portugal from 6 to 12 February, on “Religious life today: our spiritual life in response to the European challenges”, is a pledge of commitment. The Uecsm includes superiors major of religious congregations throughout Europe; it represents approximately 395,000 men and women religious. Founded in 1980, the Uecsm has always placed itself within the process of the European integration, in the consciousness – as stated in the Union’s “objectives” – that “the evangelical values and the person are at the heart of Europe”. The Uecsm therefore intends to “help men and women religious and the members of societies of apostolic life to bear witness to the Gospel” in the European countries in which they live. Below we publish the “Message to the men and women religious of Europe”, issued at the end of the Assembly in Fatima. Europe is facing a multitude of challenges that raise hope and creativity as well as fear, withdrawal and mistrust. These challenges concern us all. They are also our challenges, the challenges of us religious men and women in what is most essential and precious: life and its meaning, the dignity of every human being, justice and peace. We share the same wounds, the same vulnerabilities and the same uncertainties as our contemporaries. We are working to build more unity, really respectful of one another. We should become aware of the whole wealth of religious life. Following Christ reveals resources on which we can rely today. THE PRIMACY OF GOD in our lives turns this time into a time of grace. Trusting Jesus deeply bonds us to God and enables us to trust ourselves and others. The experience of praying and contemplation turns us into witnesses who can offer faith to a world that is searching for a meaning, often hopeless and uncertain about the future. COMMUNITY LIFE teaches us a powerful “cohabitation”, full of humanity. It opens us up, so that we can welcome the different and patiently learn dialogue and friendly exchange. For us, it is an invitation to overcome individualism and break the circle of the fear of others, of the alien, of the different…. It leads to wider solidarities between congregations, between cultures, between religions…. It is a place of permanent wisdom for the apostolate. RECONCILIATION is for all of us the fruit of an experience of dialogue, truth and humility that makes us discover the strength of forgiveness. We become the bearers of this forgiveness, able to heal the heartaches that we have within us and between us, amidst the people who suffer under the weight of history and in our societies scarred by violence. THE VOWS OF CHASTITY, POVERTY AND OBEDIENCE that we have freely chosen guide one’s deep desires and make one able to love and to serve. They help us get rid of the temptation to wield our omnipotence on to others and to work for the dignity of all human beings, especially the most disadvantaged ones, before today’s many slaveries. THE WELCOMING OF GOD, which never fails to impress us, even in the difficult situations that religious life experiences, invites us to sense the hopes and the expectations of a Europe that is being built up and that “is searching its soul”. It makes us invent new ways to experience the charismas of our founders to respond to the most pressing appeals of our time, those of the youth, who are the future of Europe. Along with others, religious men and women, confident in the life of the Spirit and the Church, can be the initiators of a new journey for Europe. It is a powerful appeal to build a Europe according to God’s heart.