AMERICA/BOLIVIA - Religious close to the people of God in many ways during the pandemic, expression of a "Church that goes forth"

Friday, 17 April 2020 coronavirus   religious institutes  

Cochabamba (Agenzia Fides) - "Creativity in spiritual accompaniment by men and women religious, priests, deacons, pastoral workers, with many expressions, with different means, has penetrated very deeply into the community in general, into the People of God. This was a manifestation of the 'Church that goes forth' and of a living presence in the existential peripheries. Thank you brothers and sisters of Consecrated Life for such a beautiful testimony!", writes His Exc. Mgr. Carlos Curiel, Auxiliary Bishop of Cochabamba, national responsible for consecrated life, in a message to the men and women religious of Bolivia, sent to Agenzia Fides.
The Bishop recalls that "all humanity is afflicted by this scourge, which has affected, and continues to affect, the lives of many of our brothers and sisters, without distinction". Faced with this reality that surrounds us, "in days of pain, suffering, anguish, anxiety and fear", we ask ourselves: "how do I face this reality, how can I respond, what can I do".
Recalling the words of Pope Francis during the Urbi et Orbi prayer and blessing of March 27, Mgr. Curiel highlights: "What the COVID-19 pandemic has caused cannot paralyze us. If you believe that we are dead or inert; it is not true, the facts indicate that we are alive, with the grace of God. Our work as sons and daughters of God, of the Church, is to testify that Jesus is among us, that he is risen, that God is our life and our hope. Let us continue to bear this testimony in our communities".
Caritas and religious communities, in the various ecclesiastical jurisdictions, were able to continue their work in favor of the most vulnerable people of our society (reception centers, prisons, kindergartens, street children and adults, families, migrants in quarantine among others), with the human and economic support of many realities. "Let us continue brothers and sisters - urges the Bishop -. Let us embrace the Cross that we worshipped on Good Friday, and thus embrace the contrarieties of the life we are living. We live in the Easter Vigil to be attentive to what the Spirit wants to inspire in us. He is the only one capable of provoking and motivating us to create new spaces and ways of fraternity, reception, solidarity. We too, like the holy women, can grab the feet of the Risen One and worship him by listening to his voice that tells us: 'Do not be afraid'. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee; they will see me there (Mt.28,9b-10). We discover the 'Galilee' where we have to go to see the Lord".
Finally, remembering that we are in the Easter period, the Bishop invites us to continue, despite limited means, to help the most vulnerable and to look to the future with Hope, "seeing it as an opportunity to continue building fraternity and solidarity, rooted in our Faith , Prayer and Hope that does not disappoint. May the risen Jesus, his Spirit, be our strength, our hope and give us the wisdom to know how to face this reality and respond generously, according to our possibilities". (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 17/4/2020)


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