OUR LADY OF FATIMA
CATHOLIC CHURCH
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OUR LADY OF FATIMA CATHOLIC CHURCH |
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The following text is an address of His Holiness John Paul II to the Abbot and monks of the Abbey of St. Madeleine in Le Barroux, France, given at Castel Gandolfo, in September 1990, and as published in L'Osservatore Romano. "I receive you with joy today, sons of St. Benedict of the Abbey of St. Madeleine in Le Barroux: you who wish, through this common pilgrimage, to express your loyalty to the Lord and to His Church. "Together, with you, I give thanks to Divine Providence, which helped you to return to unity with the Holy See on the occasion of the sad events of June 1988. Since that time your loyalty to the Successor of Peter has grown continually stronger and I am pleased to hear that your relations with the diocesan church are growing stronger and more fraternal.
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"You also gave valuable encouragement and lasting help to the Benedictine Sisters of the Annunciation (who are building their cloister not far from your own) on their way to full ecclesial communion, and you have successfully contributed to the convent's becoming more closely bound to the diocese.
"The Holy See has permitted your monastery to make use of the liturgical books in use in 1962, in order to meet the expectations of those "who feel bound to certain earlier forms of liturgical and disciplinary expressions of the Latin tradition." (Ecclesia Dei, No. 5c) In this way, the Holy See has upheld what the Council document defines concerning the holy liturgy, when it recalls "that the Church, in all areas that do not affect Her general welfare or the Faith, does not wish to impose a strict uniformity, not even on the liturgy; on the contrary, She fosters the distinctive traits and gifts of the various peoples, and develops them." (Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 37) Far from wishing to hinder the implementation of post-conciliar reform in any way, this permission is meant to render ecclesial communion easier for persons who feel bound to these liturgical forms. (cf. Ecclesia Dei, No. 5c)
"I express the wish that the praises of God and especially the Eucharist, which are celebrated in the aforementioned forms in your monastery, may contribute to the realization of your monastic ideal -- this ideal which certainly also finds its nourishment in work, in the silence which leads to contemplation, and in the good zeal with which you are, above all, seeking God. In this way, your young and enthusiastic community will be able to bear witness in today's world to the reality of the invisible world. Together with the other Benedictine monasteries, moreover, your abbey will also be a place where one can withdraw for spiritual renewal; there, God is granted the primary place that is His due, and thus "the human is ordered to, and subordinated to, the Divine, the visible to the invisible, activity to contemplation, the present city to the city to come, the city for which we strive." (Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 5)
"I take advantage of the opportunity of this encounter to address all those who are still associated with the Society of St. Pius X: with urgency I invite you to entrust yourselves to the guidance of the Successor of Peter and to enter into contact with the Ecclesia Dei commission, which was set up to ease your integration into full communion with the Church. The Abbey of St. Madeleine of Le Barroux should be an encouraging example for you of the rediscovery of fruitful union with the Bishop of Rome.
"I recommend to your prayer the great intention of the reconciliation of all the Church's sons and daughters in one community.
"As an aid to your monastic life in the heart of our mother, the Church, I give you wholeheartedly my apostolic blessing."
  
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