Dear Friends,
In his first homily as Pope the morning after his election, Leo XIV emphasized that his and our mission is “to announce the good news, to announce the Gospel…And this, the good news of salvation, is to be spread…through the holiness of her members.”
Addressing the Holy Father in a congratulatory letter, the president of the World Conference of Secular Institutes, Elba Fleita, speaks of the role and contribution of secular institutes, noting that we in secular institutes are “committed by our charism in the midst of the world to be leaven and light in all spheres. Our commitment as a particular form of consecrated life in the Church invites us to correspond to your own episcopal and now papal motto: In the One, we are one. You can count on our closeness and fraternal sense of co-responsibility to carry out the mission with you.”
The word co-responsibility is a reminder that–in the words of Pope Francis we must never tire of showing God’s closeness and tenderness through daily acts of love. And for this we need the nourishment of the Holy Eucharist and a deep and consistent prayer life.
Pope Leo’s coat of arms is also a key to what influenced him as priest and will guide his direction as pope. We see the papal symbols of ecclesial authority (the mitre) and Petrine power (the keys). But it is the shield which is specific: the top left blue represents the fleur de lis of the purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the lower quadrant shows a flaming heart pierced by an arrow, sitting on an uncovered book.
This is the emblem of the Order of St Augustine of which the Pope served as Prior General for two terms, and symbolically evokes Saint Augustine’s words in The Confessions: “You have wounded my heart with your love.” The book represents the word of God. The message is clear: meditate and act on knowledge of God’s intense and constant love of each of us through mercy and message.
In this Jubilee Year, we hope you will join us the weekend of September 26-28, 2025, at our annual conference to be held at the Bons Secour Retreat Center in Marriottsville MD to renew friendships, to pray with, learn with, and break bread together. “In the One, we are one.”
Sue
