Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

I would like to begin by thanking Cardinal Rossi for his words, as well as those who have shared their testimonies and everyone for their warm welcome.  I am very pleased to be here today with all of you, those of you in consecrated life, seminarians, priests, and all the baptized, who have dedicated your lives to the service of the Lord and his people.

During that last song, many of you had your hands in the air — perhaps to greet me, perhaps to sing along.  These are the hands that Jesus is looking for, and he wants your hands to carry on his mission.

As I was preparing these remarks, the Spiritual Exercises — so deeply rooted in the history of this land — came to mind. It was a happy coincidence to hear Sister María Elisabeth recall one of her meditations.  When the practice was in danger of being lost, Mama Antula traveled great distances to keep it accessible to everyone. Decades later, Saint Joseph Gabriel of the Rosary made them a central part of his ministry.  He crossed the mountain ranges alongside his fellow countrymen all the way to this city so that they might encounter God personally. More recently, an Argentine Jesuit, Pope Francis, brought with him the richness of Ignatian spirituality and shared it with the universal Church.

Even today, priests, seminarians, religious communities and laypeople set aside time to observe silence and ask themselves anew before God what he wants from their lives. I would therefore like to allow some of the questions from the Exercises to accompany us this afternoon.  Saint Ignatius begins with the Principle and Foundation (cf. n. 23). The first question is this: Why are we here? Before we undertook any responsibility, ministry or task, there was a call. Christ passed through our lives one day and called us, and we realized that it was worthwhile to follow him. Everything that comes afterward should continue to spring from that first “yes.”

Over the years, something paradoxical can happen: we work hard for God yet spend less and less time with him. We continue serving, celebrating and attending to so many necessary tasks, but we may end up relying more on what we do than on the One for whom we do it. The Principle and Foundation then puts everything back in its proper place: our life belongs to God and finds its order only when everything else has him as its center. Let us therefore simply return to the Eucharist, to listening to the word and to that relationship with the Lord that sustains everything else. Let us tend to the fire that once kindled our vocation and not allow the pressures of daily life, weariness or routine eventually to extinguish it.

During the Exercises, we are faced with questions we cannot avoid: What has become disordered within us? In what ways have we failed God? (cf. nos. 32–43). After a few or many years of having said “yes” to the Master, we may have grown accustomed to things that would once have troubled us, such as harshness toward others, resistance to being corrected, rivalries, attachments, sins or clinging to things that gradually rob us of our freedom.  Something even more serious can happen: that we learn to justify everything, finding “pastoral reasons” or communal or personal motives for doing what we know is wrong.

We also fail when we do not do the good that is required of us, when we no longer listen patiently, when we choose comfort or when we remain silent in the face of something we should address. There is no age at which conversion is unnecessary.  We need to examine our consciences, go to confession and be humble enough to allow ourselves to be corrected. Dear brothers and sisters, let us have the courage clearly to acknowledge where we have been unfaithful to God and to place this before his mercy.

It is precisely only after we have clearly confronted our own sin that Saint Ignatius places us before Christ, the eternal King (cf. nos. 91–98), who continues to call and to send us forth. The Lord knows of what we were made, and yet he still chooses to count on us (cf. 2 Cor 4:7). The question, therefore, is not how much we have failed him, but whether we remain available to him. At the start of our vocation, we tend to offer everything.  Then the years go by, and our own preferences set in. We find the places where we feel comfortable and we adopt a certain idea of how our own story should unfold.  Can the Lord still send us where we had not planned to go?  Can he ask us to leave behind something to which we have devoted years, or to accept a task we would never have chosen?

It is this freedom that is purified through the meditations on the Two Standards, the Three Classes of Persons, and the Election (cf. nos. 136–189).  We learn to recognize what binds us, what conditions our decisions and to what extent we are willing to let God work in our lives. Indeed, we have been sent to a people, and we must ask ourselves what we are called to offer them.  Dear seminarians, learn to see through God’s eyes and to allow yourselves to be evangelized by his people. Even those who have the least can teach us a great deal, as Julian discovered at Mass.

The pilgrim Church in Argentina is enriched by a deep sensitivity to the social needs of its children. From this sensitivity have sprung so many generous efforts to stand alongside those who suffer. However, this closeness must take us even further, because every person we serve is called to encounter Christ and to be transformed by him. Pope Francis expressed this in words that deserve to be remembered: “the worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care” (Evangelii Gaudium, 200).

Hunger and injustice are pressing and demand a response.  So too do illness, loneliness, unemployment and the lack of dignified housing.  Christian charity is deeply committed to addressing all of these.  At the same time, we must not forget that those who suffer need to receive from us the greatest gift the Church possesses, namely Jesus Christ.  My beloved predecessor expressed this with particular clarity: “The Church is not a business; it is not a humanitarian agency; the Church is not an NGO; the Church is sent to bring Christ and his Gospel to everyone… If, hypothetically, it were ever to happen that the Church did not bring Jesus, she would be a dead Church” (General Audience, 23 October 2013). Therefore, how great is our vocation!  We are called to make it possible for people to encounter Christ through the word, the sacraments and a closeness that helps them to recognize his presence in their own lives. The people entrusted to you long to receive from you what the Church has been preserving for them for centuries.

After the Election, the Spiritual Exercises lead the retreatant to remain with Christ in his Passion (cf. nos. 190–217). Those who have chosen to follow the Lord now learn to be with him, even when following him means enduring the cross (cf. Lk 9:23). Our vocation also has such moments, for example, when there is no visible fruit of our efforts, when service is difficult and when fidelity is no longer sustained by the enthusiasm of the early years.  Many of you are well acquainted with this form of exhausting fidelity: continuing to pray when prayer becomes arid and continuing to serve when, no matter how hard you work, it seems that nothing changes. There are stages in priestly and consecrated life in which simply persevering is already a very concrete form of self-giving.  Even amid doubts and weariness, one continues to say with one’s life: “Here I am.”

Saint Héctor Valdivielso Sáez, the first Argentine saint, is a model of that fidelity. He was only twenty-four years old and had barely completed his annual Spiritual Exercises when what he had just placed before God became what sustained him in the trial. Prayer became his witness, and that witness led him to the point of shedding his blood.

There are also other ways to bear witness, including by persevering in the midst of suffering. Laura and Father Martín have made me reflect on my recent hospitalization.  I also recall Father Brochero, who, though blind and suffering from leprosy, continued to serve his people. In our day, the idea of using technology to continue bearing witness is wonderful; be creative and find new ways to keep preaching. Dear friends, remember that the way we live out our vocation is what evangelizes.  Neither age nor physical limitations can extinguish our zeal. Our strength may run out, but God’s power never will.

That power is revealed in the Lord’s Resurrection. Saint Ignatius leads the retreatant to the risen One and asks him to contemplate how Christ exercises the “office of consoler” (no. 224). There he teaches us to discover where the Master is at work and to receive from him the strength to return to the mission. The pilgrim Church in Argentina also needs to look at herself, gratefully recognizing what God is already bringing about within her and asking herself where he wishes to open new paths. The risen One is already there, and he goes before us (cf. Mt 28:7).

At the end of the Spiritual Exercises, the Contemplation to Attain Love invites us to reflect on how much we have received from God (cf. nos. 230–237).  In the face of so many gifts, Saint Ignatius proposes this response: “Take, Lord, and receive…” (no. 234). The retreat’s journey ends where it all began, with a life once again placed at God’s disposal, with all of its possibilities and limitations. Perhaps the question we should try to answer today is: Can the Lord still make use of me? If the answer remains “yes,” then there is much ahead of us. Let us not give up! Jesus continues to walk with his Church and to make fruitful the lives of those who place themselves in his hands.

Argentina knows well what God can do with a life that is open to him.  Mama Antula arrived in Buenos Aires barefoot and with nothing but a crucifix. She carried little, but it was enough to get started. Father Brochero kept preaching, even though often only God and his mule were witnesses to his weariness. Blessed Ceferino died before he turned nineteen; he did not have time to grow old, but he did have time to make it very clear for whom he wanted to live. God continues to pour out his grace and wants to count on you to spread it from La Quiaca to Ushuaia, and to the very ends of the earth (cf. Mk 16:15).

Dare to look at Argentina through the eyes of God!  Dream of young people asking themselves if Christ is calling them; of parishes that are vibrant communities of faith; of religious families that have the boldness of their founders; of seminaries and novitiates where saints are formed.  Dream of a Church that continues to make noise, just as your fellow countryman Francis asked you to! (cf. Meeting with Young People from Argentina, Rio de Janeiro, 25 July 2013).  A noise that brings the Church into every corner and makes the Gospel of Jesus Christ resound everywhere.

Dear brothers and sisters, if the Spiritual Exercises teach us anything, it is that after examining our own lives before God, we must return to them transformed. Let us return to our communities with hope, freedom and a desire to continue serving. Perhaps we will not see all that God will do with what we sow today; nor did those who came before us see it, but without their dedication, we would not be here today.

May God find in us men and women willing to follow him and to be shaped by his love — people who do not “give up” until they become holy. The Lord has done great things in this land, and I am convinced that he will do many more. May Our Lady of Luján accompany us on this journey and help us to tell the Lord, through our lives, that he can continue to count on us. Thank you very much.