In an October 14 address, Pope Francis encouraged the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo (Scalabrinians) in their ministry to migrants as they gathered for a conference on Scalabrinian spirituality.
In doing so, the Pontiff emphasized the importance of silent Eucharistic adoration and urged the missionaries to “rediscover it.”
St. Giovanni Battista Scalabrini (1839-1905), the institute’s founder, insisted “on the need for the missionary to have a relationship of love with Jesus, the Son of God Incarnate, and to cultivate it especially through the Eucharist, celebrated and adored,” Pope Francis said. “I emphasize this word ‘adored.’ I think we have lost the sense of adoration.”
“We know how much Scalabrini loved adoration, to which he devoted himself even at night, despite his tiredness from his exhausting work schedule, and which he did not renounce during the day, even in his busiest moments,” Pope Francis continued. “He had no illusions: without prayer there is no mission!”