SPIRITUAL TESTAMENT OF

CARDINAL RAUL SILVA HENRIQUEZ

My word is a word of love. Throughout my life I seek to love deeply my Lord. I have known Him since my childhood. Ever since I was a youth, I was enthusiastic about Him. I seek to serve him as a Priest and a Bishop. If I have an invitation and a prayer to do vehemently, is indeed this one. Love the Lord. Know his Word. Listen to Him in prayer. Celebrate Him in the sacraments. Serve Him in the poor. And practice his Gospel in your day to day life.

My word is a word of love towards the Holy Church. It was the domestic Church, my family, the one that taught me how to pray and serve. It was the Church that educated me with love and gave me faith. It was the Church that called me, thru the example of Don Bosco, to serve the young people and the poor. It was the Church that gave me great responsibilities in spite of my limitations. Fervently, I urge you to: love the Church. Stay united to the Pope and his Bishops. Participate actively in the ecclesial community. Have mercy of its weaknesses and, above all, know how to appreciate its sanctity and its virtues. At all times, help Her proclaim with joy and enthusiasm, the mission received by the Master of announcing the Good News to all.

My word is a word of love to Chile. I have loved my country intensely. It is a beautiful country in its geography and its history. Beautiful for his mountains and for his seas, but much more beautiful for his people. The Chilean people are very noble, very generous and very loyal. They deserved the best. To those who have a vocation or a public responsibility, I ask that they serve, with special dedication Chile, in its men and women. Each citizen must give the best of himself so that Chile never loses its vocation of justice and freedom.

My word is a word of love to the poor. Since my childhood I have loved and admired them. I have always been deeply moved by the pain and the misery endured in this world by so many of my brothers. The misery is neither human nor Christian. I humbly beg that all possible and impossible efforts be made to eradicate the extreme poverty in Chile. We can do it, if in all the habitants of this country a generosity and solidarity current is promoted. The poor have distinguished me with their affection. Only God knows how much I am grateful for their demonstration of affection and their adhesion to the Church.

My word is a word of special love to the farmers who work the land with their sweat and with whom I have shared my life since my childhood. There are so many values in them but the society does not always know how to appreciate them. I ask that they be helped and listened to. To them, I ask that they love and take care of the land as a beautiful gift from our Lord.

My word is a word of love to the young people. In the first and in the last years of my priesthood ministry, I have in a special way dedicated to them my advice and my friendship. The young people are good and generous. But they need the affection of their parents and the support of their teachers to grow in virtue and goodness. The Church and Chile have a lot to hope from the youth who is called to love with transparency and whose voice we cannot turn a deaf ear.

My word is a word of love towards my brothers Bishops and the Priests that with zeal have served their country. I thank those who collaborated with me in so many beautiful tasks that we undertook, first in the loved Church of Valparaiso, and later in my much loved Church of Santiago. To the lay people, that so loyally gave me their friendship and cooperation, I desire that their work will be understood and valued. That they do not get tired in their service. And that they take care in a special way of their families.

My word is a word of love to all. To those who love me and to those that did not understand to me. I do not have resentment. I only have words to ask forgiveness and forgive. I only have words of thanks for such kindness that I have received.

To the Virgin I entrust myself, because she is help to the Christians.

To all I give my blessing in the name of the Lord.

Raul Cardinal Silva Henríquez

Santiago, May 1992