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ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE MEETING
PROMOTED BY THE PONTIFICAL COUNCIL "COR UNUM"

Clementine Hall
Friday, 11 November 2011

I am grateful for the opportunity to greet you as you meet under the auspices of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum” in this European Year of Volunteering.

Let me begin by thanking Cardinal Robert Sarah for the kind words he has addressed to me on your behalf. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to you and, by extension, to the millions of Catholic volunteers who contribute, regularly and generously, to the Church’s charitable mission throughout the world. At the present time, marked as it is by crisis and uncertainty, your commitment is a reason for confidence, since it shows that goodness exists and that it is growing in our midst. The faith of all Catholics is surely strengthened when they see the good that is being done in the name of Christ (cf. Philem 6).

For Christians, volunteer work is not merely an expression of good will. It is based on a personal experience of Christ. He was the first to serve humanity, he freely gave his life for the good of all. That gift was not based on our merits. From this we learn that God gives us himself. More than that: Deus Caritas est – God is love, to quote a phrase from the First Letter of Saint John (4:8) which I employed as the title of my first Encyclical Letter. The experience of God’s generous love challenges us and liberates us to adopt the same attitude towards our brothers and sisters: “You received with paying, give without pay” (Mt 10:8). We experience this especially in the Eucharist when the Son of God, in the breaking of bread, brings together the vertical dimension of his divine gift with the horizontal dimension of our service to our brothers and sisters.

" If you are what you should be , you will set the world ablaze" ( Pope John Paul II ) .

From humble beginings we at Muintir Mhuire have held strong in our ethos that we welcome you to be involved in our Community. Through Prayer we are a community of people who love, support and respect each other in a practical sence, always keeping the other persons needs in first place. It is important to us that you feel comfortable and benefit from being involved with us and sometimes that means being comfortable with yourself first, not eveyone is in this position and we are fully aware of this. Our Seven years experience to date in the community has shown us that we are a solid, fruitbearing, outpouring, foward looking community that still holds each persons needs in first place and this will always be our priority. From time to time within the community we have adapted our daily tasks to suit each persons talent or expertise and again the Lord has lead us to a new wonderful place where he would like to share his Love with us and with you.

The community has completed another year without being able to take up permanent residence in Ballybutler. This will be our special aim for the coming year and with God’s help we will soon be back working on the project in Ballybutler.
Last year brought many blessings and we were very pleased with the continued success and progress of our many members. The continued progress of our passed members as we see them go from strength to strength gives us great courage and hope as we continue to guide and encourage those who are beginning their journey of discernment and renewal.

In reflecting on this past year, we give thanks for the great outpouring of blessings on us and many of those involved with us.
At the end of March we reopened Our House “EUROPA” in Medjugorje , when Frank and Fr. Donal travelled out on the first Ryanair flight to Zadar to be joined a week later by Keith. The house was in great condition even though it had been closed for ten weeks. Even the lemon trees at the back were doing well we got some lovely ripe fruit on them.

On Thursday 15th oct Seamus Wilkinson and his brother in-law Joe Mcelwee embarked on a massive journey transporting a special Wheelchair Bus and special disability equipment through eight countries, two ferry trips and an over whelming 3500km journey from Cork to Medjugorje, Bosnia i Herzegovina for the parents of disabled children that have formed a new wheelchair association. The journey took 5 days.

When speaking to Seamus about the journey he said " It was all worth it to arrive in Bosnia and see the happy faces of the parents who recieved the bus, the fact that the children could now go to school and also people recieved wheelchairs that they needed... I would do it all again".

Many of you will be surprised and delighted to know that Josephine Bradley whom you may remember meeting at our house in the 2005, 2006 or 2007 summer season when she helped us especially with her photography, is now in her Noviciate year in religious life. In the middle of last year she entered the relatively new community of The Servants Of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara in Italy.

Some of us had the priveledge and great joy of attending her Investiture on Dec 8th.

As we begin a new year we are filled with joy and hope,
Joy because with everything that is new there is the freshness and beauty of God’s creativity. Hope because when we look at every year that has passed we can see the wonderful ways by which God in His love for us, has always been ahead of us on our journey through life, providing the people, the places, the whole environment and our own particular needs, in such a way as to draw us ever closer to Himself