Fr. Rogerio Gomes, Superior General writes a letter to the Congregation on the occasion of the feast of St Alphonsus. St. Alphonsus is more than a founder; he remains a living source of inspiration and a bold example of how to respond to a wounded world. His life challenges Redemptorists today to be faithful to their charismatic identity. He calls for a response to the Sufferings of the Time. Alphonsus responded to the spiritual and material suffering of his era with creativity, compassion, and courage. His ministry focused on the poor and abandoned, especially through confession.
The letter challenges Redemptorists to ask: How do we listen to people today? What language do we use theologically? Are we forming consciences with depth and compassion? He calls for an urgent call of Prophetic Mission Today. In a world marked by war, exclusion, and crisis, the Church needs missionaries of hope like St. Alphonsus. Missionary disciples who act with the compassion of the Good Samaritan. The letter expresses deep gratitude to all collaborators who make the mission possible.
As the Congregation approaches its 300-year Jubilee: It must ask: What kind of Congregation do we want for the future? Each Redemptorist, cleric, brother, lay or formandi is important to the Congregation’s identity and mission.
Fr. General encourages the whole Redemptorist Family to celebrate with open hearts and active missionary commitment. Let St. Alphonsus inspire perseverance, creative renewal, and deep compassion. He invites us to be “Missionaries of Hope in the footsteps of the Redeemer.”
Kindly read the complete message of Fr. Rogerio Gomes below:
Prot. N.: 0000 145/2025
Rome, 1st August 2025
Feast of St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
Missionaries of Hope in the Footsteps of the Redeemer
A YEAR DEDICATED TO MISSION
The Lord sends us as Missionaries and Pilgrims of Hope to a wounded world
Lk 4:16-19, Mk 6:7-12, Lk 9:2-6, Ps 130:7 Const. 1-20, St. 01-020
TO,
CONFRERES, REDEMPTORIST BISHOPS AND FORMANDI,
TO SISTERS OF THE ORDER OF THE MOST HOLY REDEEMER;
TO SISTERS AND BROTHERS OF RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS WHO SHARE THE ALPHONSIAN CHARISM;
TO LAY PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH OUR MISSION, REDEMPTORIST OBLATES AND FORMER REDEMPTORIST SEMINARIANS:
- On this day when we celebrate St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, our founder, we are invited to contemplate him not only as a teacher and guide, but as a living source of charismatic inspiration and a courageous model of response to the wounded world in which we live. What challenges does St. Alphonsus make to us today in order to be faithful to the charism we have received?
- In the midst of the sorrows of his time – the misery of the peasants, the spiritual abandonment of the poor, the rigidity of a morality that oppressed consciences – Saint Alphonsus responded with creativity, audacity and evangelical compassion. His missionary spirit led him to leave his noble status to go to the countryside; he made the confessional his cathedra, to be with the most forgotten, to listen to them, to forgive them and to announce the Good News of mercy. His closeness to the poor, and his theology centred on tenderness, God’s mercy and pastoral kindness, continue to illuminate the Redemptorist mission. Alphonsus did not offer easy answers and often did not even get them, given the circumstances of his time, but he opened new paths with inner freedom, creative fidelity and passion for the Gospel. And we Redemptorist missionaries, in the tradition of our founder: how are we listening to the people who come to us? What theological language are we using? How are we helping to form their conscience? Answering these questions requires of us ongoing formation, openness to the Spirit and a heart always available for the service of mission.
- In a world wounded by wars, exclusions, crises of faith and surrounded by geographical and existential peripheries, the presence of men and women with the audacity of Alphonsus is urgently needed: prophets of hope, missionary disciples who recognise the pains of the world and commit themselves to them. The virtue of the Samaritan is necessary, who sees the fallen, is moved, comes near, binds up the wounds, cares for them and takes him to the inn to continue the care, and assumes responsibility and care until his complete restoration (cf. Lk 10:25-37). Equally essential, however, is the collaboration of those who make this mission possible. I remember with gratitude the many people who, in the various realities where we are active, walk alongside us in the proclamation of abundant redemption.
- To carry out this mission, we need a deep spirituality, rooted in the source of the Gospel. This is what sustained Alphonsus throughout his life and mission. Redemptorist spirituality is not an escape from reality, but an incarnational and compassionate response to the cry of the poorest and most abandoned. Inspired by the great mystery of redemption, it urges us to touch, with tenderness and faith, the wounds of humanity, especially in the geographical and existential peripheries. For this reason, mission cannot be postponed or lived lukewarmly. Every community, every confrere, every lay Redemptorist is called to be a living sign of God’s mercy: a presence that welcomes, listens, consoles and encourages. For this reason, the present time is our sacred field. To it we are sent to live our vocation with active hope, evangelical courage and nourished by the missionary ardour of our Founder.
- In the current Jubilee of Hope, the Church invites us to live it as a grace and missionary renewal. As a Congregation, we are challenged to welcome this Jubilee as an impulse for a new listening to the Spirit. What is the Lord asking of us today? What renewal does the Spirit desire in our way of being among the poor and proclaiming the Redeemer? The Jubilee challenges us to a missionary conversion: to take up again the initial ardour, to go courageously to the peripheries, to let ourselves be touched by the reality of the most vulnerable, as St. Alphonsus did. The hope we profess is an antidote to the pessimism which, when it enters into Christian and consecrated life, causes a great blindness and paralysis which, little by little, makes us sick and leads us to die as persons and as an institution.
- As a Congregation, we are preparing to celebrate the Jubilee of 300 years of foundation. This is a providential opportunity to ask ourselves: What Congregation do we want for the future? The future depends on our ability to look wisely at the past, without being trapped in it, and to assume with co-responsibility, creative fidelity and without fear, the today of our history. We are often tempted to wish for a Congregation moulded in our own image and fantasy. However, this way of thinking can stifle the charism and impoverish the mission, leading us to the emptying of our identity. The Congregation is made up of all of us: priests, brothers, formandi and laity, with our frailties and gifts. Together we form a living mosaic that reflects the face of the Redeemer. It is this diversity, welcomed and generously offered, that makes the beauty of our mission shine. When we refuse to offer our part – that small but unique fragment of our life and vocation – the mosaic loses its strength and luminosity. Every contribution is indispensable if the Congregation is to remain a sign of hope and redemption in the world.
- Dear confreres, formandi and members of the Redemptorist Family, let us celebrate this day with open hearts and firm feet on the paths of mission. St. Alphonsus teaches us that hope perseveres, he points to a creativity that renews and a mercy that consoles. May his example continue to inspire us to be ‘Missionaries of Hope, in the footsteps of the Redeemer’, becoming living signs of God’s presence in the heart of a wounded and hurting world. May our Mother of Perpetual Help accompany us on this journey, together with the Redemptorist Saints, Blesseds and Martyrs who, following the example of our Founder, remained faithful to the Redeemer’s mission to the end.
Fraternally,
Fr. Rogério Gomes, C.Ss.R
Superior General
Original text: Spanish
