Service "under the Roman Pontiff"

Thanks to Rorate Caeli for news of a homily given this morning by Cardinal Rode (Prefect for Religious) at the opening Mass of the 35th General Congregation of the Jesuits at the Church of the Gesù in Rome.
With sadness and anxiety I also see a growing distancing from the Hierarchy. The Ignatian spirituality of apostolic service “under the Roman Pontiff” does not allow for this separation. In the Constitutions which he left you, Ignatius wanted to truly shape your mind and in the book of the Exercises (n 353) he wrote” we must always keep our mind prepared and quick to obey the true Spouse of Christ and our Holy Mother, the Hierarchical Church”. Religious obedience can be understood only as obedience in love. The fundamental nucleus of Ignatian spirituality consists in uniting the love for God with love for the hierarchical Church.
This a a great antidote against the tendency to contrast the "hierarchical Church" with some other expression of christian community. The quotation in the ipsissima verba Ignatii was very well chosen.

Here is a link to the full text of the homily.

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