(Rivista Internazionale - December 1996: The spirituality of the Hospitaller Order of St. John in Jerusalem - 3/3)

Pietrabissara. Genoa, Italy. Seminar on the Saints and the Blessed of the Order organised by the Scientific Commission of the Order at the Olubrense Academy.

Helping the needy in this spirit can also provide us with inner strength and balance despite the indescribable misery we are witnessing; an inner strength and balance which can be lacking in the relief worker not anchored in faith, so that many fall into despair: the slogan of the 1789 revolutionaries and those who came after them "fraternity, equality and liberty" is thus reduced to the creation of a "secular" brotherhood.
According to the Holy Father John Paul II's apostolic letter "The Coming Third Millennium", the year 1997 we have before us is devoted to reflection on Jesus Christ, the only saviour of the world "yesterday, today and for ever" (Cristus heri, hodie et in aetemum).
We will return to reading the Bible this year with renewed interest. We will rediscover in baptism the foundation of our Christian life. Because, after being born again by the water which has washed away our sins, we are clothed in Jesus Christ. This year we must have an authentic yearning for sanctity bound to a continuous personal renewal, in an atmosphere of increasingly intense prayer: We must fly high the banner of solidarity and acceptance of our neighbours, especially the more needy, to whom we are bound in virtue of our membership in the Order, recognising Our Lord Jesus Christ in them: we will pray for this in our Order's oration, every day.

Dakar. Senegal. Holy Mass celebrated in the Cathedral on the occasion of the Feast of St. John, Patron of the Order, in the presence of the Senegalese members, the Diplomatic Corps and government authorities.

We must accept in all humility the institution of the Church of Christ as it is, sign and instrument of salvation. In so doing, we will reinforce our fidelity to Him and His Representative on earth.
Let us gather around the Magisterium of the Church, against all the secessionist tendencies which only provoke conflict, disturbing our vision of the symbiosis between tuitio fidei and obsequium pauperum, which make us waste our energy. Our incorrect, dishonest and sinful behaviour our distance from God, or our cowardice, must not allow the Church to become the object of the mockery of some so-called "artists" of the media, avid for sensational news; not to mention hedonists and relativists, who scorn the values of the indissoluble marriage bond, destined by God as a lasting union between man and woman, for the transmission of human life. We must prevent, finally, the Church becoming a sad spectacle in the eyes of the angels and saints.
Therefore let us fill this new year with life, with prayer and social commitment, solicitously living our faith "ad maiorem Dei gloriam et ad maiorem prosperitatem Ordinis Nostri".

With decree of the Sovereign Council, the Grand Commander, Bailiff Fra' Ludwig Hoffman von Rumerstein, was appointed "Head of Chancery", with the functions and powers constitutionally reserved for the Grand Chancellor, Amb. Baron Felice Catalano di Melilli being absent for health reasons.

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