VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 128
DATE 09-07-2015

Summary:
- The Pope meets clergy in the shrine of El Quinche and bids farewell to
Ecuador
- "Jallalla Bolivia!"
- The Pope prays at the site of Fr. Luis Espinal's assassination
- To the civil authorities of Bolivia: Francis calls for an integral ecology
- Other Pontifical Acts

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 The Pope meets clergy in the shrine of El Quinche and bids farewell to Ecuador
 Vatican City, 9 July 2015 (VIS) - Pope Francis visit to Ecuador concluded
yesterday with two events. The first was his visit to the Missionaries of
Charity rest home for the elderly, located 21 kilometres from the capital
Quito,
and close to the highway leading to the airport. The Holy Father was received
by
the Superior, who accompanied him to the chapel in the Centre to pray with the
rest of the small community of ten brethren, and subsequently greeted the
residents, around seventy people, in the courtyard. He did not pronounce a
discourse, but simply expressed his closeness to the elderly present.
 The Pope then transferred to the National Marian shrine of El Quinche, home of
the wooden image of the Virgin of El Quinche, carved at the end of the
sixteenth
century by the artist Diego de Robles, and which in the second week of November
attracts more than 800,000 faithful who depart from the village of Calderon on
a
nocturnal pilgrimage, reaching the church at dawn.
 In El Quinche, the last of Pope Francis' visits in Ecuador, he met with
clergy,
men and women religious, and seminarians. He handed the discourse he had
prepared for the occasion (reproduced below) to Bishop Celmo Lazzari C.S.I.,
representative for consecrated life in the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference, and
made some unscripted comments to those present, highlighting the spiritual
richness that he had encountered in Ecuador and asking all to remember the
importance of gratuity and service in life.
 "All this wealth you have - spiritual wealth, piety, depth - comes from having
had the courage, as there have been some very difficult moments, to consecrate
the nation to the Heart of Christ", said the Pope, "this divine and human Heart
that loves us so much. And afterwards, a few years later, the consecration to
the Heart of Mary. Do not forget: this consecration is a milestone in the
history of the people of Ecuador.
 "Today I am to speak to the priests, seminarians, women and men religious, and
to say something to them. I thought about the Virgin, I thought about Mary ...
Mary never took centre stage. She was a disciple all through her life. The
first
disciple of her Son. And she was aware that everything she had was due to the
pure gratuity of God. She was aware of this gratuity. Therefore, men and women
religious, priests, seminarians, in all the days to come, take the path back to
the gratuitousness with which God chose you. ... We are subject to God's
gratuitousness. If we forget this, slowly, we gradually move away from the
basis
from which Mary never wavered: God's gratuitousness.
 "A second thing I wanted to say to you is to take care of your health, but
most
of all take care not to fall into a sort of spiritual Alzheimer's: do not lose
your memory, especially the memory of where you are from. St. Paul intuited
this
danger, and to his dearest son, the bishop Timothy, to whom he gave pastoral
counsel, he said: 'Do not forget the faith of your grandmother and your
mother'.
That is, 'Do not forget where you come from, do not forget your roots, do not
feel as if you have been promoted'. Gratuity is a grace that cannot co-exist
with promotion and, when a priest, a seminarian, a man or woman religious,
embarks upon a career - a human career - he or she begins to sicken with
spiritual Alzheimer's and begins to lose the memory of where he or she is
from".
 Francis suggested two basic principles to the priests and consecrated persons.
"Every day, renew the feeling that everything is free, the feeling of the
gratuity with which each one of you was chosen - none of us deserved this - and
ask for the grace of not losing your memory, of not feeling more important. And
these two principles will revive two attitudes. First, that of service. God
chose me, but why? To serve ... and there is nothing else, to serve when we are
tired, when people annoy us. ... An old priest, who was a genius all his life,
said to me, 'the holy faithful People of God are essentially Olympian, or
rather, they do what they want, and can be ontologically tiresome'. And this
contains much wisdom, as taking the path of service means allowing oneself to
be
troubled without losing patience.
 "Service, mixed with gratuity and then ... that of Jesus: 'Freely you have
received; freely give'. Please, please," he repeated, "do not expect something
in return; please, let your ministry be freely given. And the second attitude
...
is that of joy and cheer. And it is a gift from Jesus ... that He gives to us
if
we ask for it and if we do not forget these two pillars of our priestly or
religious life: the sense of gratuity and not losing the memory of where we
come
from. May God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, bless you. And
please, please, I ask you to pray for me, as I am very often tempted to forget
the gratuity with which God chose me and of forgetting where I come from. Pray
for me".
 The following is the written discourse the Pope gave to the bishop:
 "I place at the feet of Our Lady of Quinche the vivid experiences of my visit.
I entrust to her heart the elderly and the sick whom I visited in the house of
the Sisters of Charity, as well as the other meetings I have had. I entrust all
of them to Mary's heart; but at the same time I commend them to the hearts of
each you, the priests, men and women religious, and seminarians. As those
called
to labour in the vineyard of the Lord, may you be protectors of all the
experiences, the joys and sorrows of the Ecuadorian people. I thank Bishop
Lazzari, Father Mina and Sister Sandoval for their words, which lead me to
share
some thoughts on our common concern for God's People.
 "In the Gospel, the Lord invites us to accept our mission without placing
conditions. It is an important message which we must never forget. Here, in
this
Sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady of the Presentation, it resounds in a special
way. Mary is an example of discipleship for us who, like her, have received a
vocation. Her trusting response, 'Be it done unto me according to your word',
reminds us of her words at the wedding feast of Cana: 'Do whatever he tells
you'. Her example is an invitation to serve as she served.
 "In the Presentation of the Virgin we find some suggestions for our own call.
The child Mary was a gift from God to her parents and to all her people who
were
looking for liberation. This is something we see over and over again in the
Scriptures. God responds to the cry of his people, sending a little child to
bring salvation and to restore hope to elderly parents. The word of God tells
us
that, in the history of Israel, judges, prophets and kings are God's gifts to
his people, bringing them his tenderness and mercy. They are signs of God's
gratuitousness. It is he has chose them, who personally chose them and sent
them. Realising this helps us to move beyond our self-centredness and to
understand that we no longer belong to ourselves, that our vocation calls us to
let go of all selfishness, all seeking of material gain or emotional rewards,
as
the Gospel has told us. We are not hired workers, but servants. We have not
come
to be served, but to serve, and we do so with complete detachment, without
walking stick or bag.
 "Some traditions about devotion to Our Lady of Quinche relate that Diego de
Robles made the image after being commissioned by the indigenous Lumbici
people.
Diego did not do this out of piety, but for economic benefit. Since the Lumbici
were unable to pay him, he brought the image to Oyacachi and exchanged it for
cedar planks. But Diego ignored their earnest plea that he also make an altar
for the image, until, after falling from his horse and in danger of death, he
felt the protection of the Virgin Mary. So he went back to the town and built
the foot of the image. All of us have had the experience of a God who brings us
to the cross, who calls us in the midst of our faults and failings. May pride
and worldliness not make us forget what God has rescued us from! May the Our
Lady of Quinche make us leave behind ambition, selfish interests, and excessive
concern about ourselves!
 "The 'authority' which the Apostles receive from Jesus is not for their own
benefit: our gifts are meant to be used to renew and build up the Church. Do
not
refuse to share, do not hesitate to give, do not be caught up in your own
comforts, but be like a spring which spills over and refreshes others,
especially those burdened by sin, disappointment and resentment.
 "Something else that Our Lady's Presentation makes me think of is
perseverance.
In the evocative iconography associated with this feast, the Child Mary is
shown
moving away from her parents as she climbs the steps of the Temple. Mary does
not look back and, in a clear reference to the evangelical admonition, she
moves
forward with determination. We, like the disciples in the Gospel, also need to
move forward as we bring to all peoples and places the Good News of Jesus.
Perseverance in mission is not about going from house to house, looking for a
place where we will be more comfortably welcomed. It means casting our lot with
Jesus to the end. Some stories of the apparition of Our Lady of Quinche speak
of
'a woman with a child in her arms' who appeared on several successive evenings
to the natives of Oyacachi when they were fleeing from attacks by bears. Mary
kept appearing to her children, but they didn't believe her, they didn't trust
this woman, even though they admired her perseverance in coming each evening at
sunset. To persevere even though we are rejected, despite the darkness and
growing uncertainty and dangers - this is what we are called to do, in the
knowledge that we are not alone, that God's Holy People walks with us.
 "In some sense, the image of the child Mary ascending the steps of the Temple
reminds us of the Church, which accompanies and supports every missionary
disciple. Mary is with her parents, who handed on to her the memory of the
faith
and now generously offer her to the Lord so that she can follow in his way. She
is part of a community, represented by the 'maiden companions' who escort her
with lamps alight; in those companions the Fathers of the Church saw a
foreshadowing of all those who, in imitation of Mary, seek wholeheartedly to
become friends of God. Finally, she is received by the waiting priests, who
remind us that the Church's pastors must welcome everyone with tender love and
help to discern every spirit and every calling.
 "So let us walk together, helping one another, as we humbly implore the gift
of
perseverance in God's service. The apparition of Our Lady of Quinche was a
moment of encounter, of communion, so that this place which from Incan times
has
been a place where people of various ethnicities have settled. How beautiful it

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