Pope to Spanish seminarians: 'Fill your emptied land with God'

By Lisa Zengarini

Pope Francis encouraged a group of seminarians, priests and bishops from Spain to take up the challenge of bringing God to its depopulated rural areas by welcoming diversity to build a community-based Church.

The encouragement came as he met students and staff of the Seminary Burgos on Saturday.

Bringing the Gospel to an emptied Spain

Noting the variety of backgrounds they come from, the Pope began his address by observing that they are forming as priests in a land full of history and traditions which, however, has become what has been defined as an “emptied Spain”.

As in many other parts of Europe, in recent decades Spain has experienced a significant depopulation in rural areas, accompanied by a profound shift towards secularism with a declining number of practicing Catholics and dwindling clerical and religious vocations.

Charity towards God and our brothers

Reflecting on this situation, Pope Francis, recalled the passage from Luke's Gospel in which Jesus sends His disciples "where [He] was about to go" (Lk 10:1) “It is a good criterion for discernment, he noted, “because we can translate it into our reality with a few simple words: ‘Jesus wants me in this emptied land to fill it with God’, that is, to make Him present among my brothers, to build community, Church, People.”

This purpose, the Pope remarked, can be achieved by welcoming and enriching each other in our diversity: “Without charity towards God and our brothers, without walking ‘two by two’, - as the Evangelist says - we cannot bring God.”

Availability to God's call

Then, he continued, we must show the Lord our absolute availability to His will, "begging’ Him to send us,” even if we may seem small in the face of the big endeavour of reaping His Harvest.

Abandonment to God

Finally, the Pope said, to fill this land with God, we need “abandonment and trust” so we can make space in our hearts “to welcome Him  and our brother, freeing us from our false human securities.”

Only by having God within us, Pope Francis concluded, we can communicate His peace and bring it to all peoples and cities, and therefore “fill the fields that now seem sterile.”