"Pope Benedict XVI to Consecrated People: Imitate the Life of St. Paul"

From Vatican Information Service:

VATICAN CITY, 3 FEB 2009 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon in the Vatican Basilica Benedict XVI met with members of religious congregations, institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life, at the end of a Mass marking the thirteenth Day of Consecrated Life, an annual celebration established by John Paul II.

At the end of the Eucharistic celebration for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, presided by Cardinal Franc Rode C.M., prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the Holy Father greeted those present.

In this year dedicated to St. Paul the Pope focused his remarks on the Apostle "who", he said, "has always been recognised as father and master of those who, called by the Lord, have chosen to dedicate themselves unconditionally to Him and His Gospel. ... Imitating him by following Jesus is the best way to respond fully to your vocation of special consecration in the Church", he said.

St. Paul's lifestyle "expresses the substance of a consecrated life inspired by the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience. In the life of poverty he saw a guarantee that the Gospel would be announced gratuitously. At the same time, such a life is an expression of real solidarity towards brothers and sisters in need".

"Accepting God's call to chastity", noted the Holy Father, the Apostle of the Gentiles "gave his heart entirely to the Lord in order to be able to serve his brethren with greater freedom and dedication. Moreover, in a world in which the values of Christian chastity enjoyed little popularity, he offered secure guidelines of behaviour".

On the subject of obedience, Benedict XVI recalled how St. Paul was "under daily pressure because of his anxiety for all the churches'', and how this "inspired, shaped and consumed his life, making it a sacrifice agreeable to God".

"Another fundamental aspect of Paul's consecrated life was that of mission. He was entirely for Jesus in order to be, like Jesus, for everyone. ... In him, so closely bound to the person of Christ, we recognise a profound capacity to unite spiritual life and missionary activity. In him, these two dimensions support one another".

The Pope told the consecrated people of his hope that the Pauline Year may "give you further encouragment to welcome the witness of St. Paul, meditating daily upon the Word of God through the faithful practice of 'lectio divina', and singing 'psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts'. May the Apostle help you to accomplish your apostolic service in and with the Church, with an unreserved spirit of communion, making a gift of your charisms to others and bearing witness to the greatest charism of all, which is charity".

"Ask the Lord for Many New Vocations to Consecrated Life"

From Pope Benendict XVI:

VATICAN CITY, 1 FEB 2009 (VIS) - Following the Angelus, the Pope recalled the fact that tomorrow marks the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. "Forty days after the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph took Him to Jerusalem, in accordance with the norms of the Law of Moses. Indeed, according to Scripture, each first born belonged to the Lord and had to be redeemed with a sacrifice.

"This event", he added, "makes manifest the consecration of Jesus to God the Father and - associated thereto - that of the Virgin Mary. For this reason my beloved predecessor John Paul II wished this day, on which many consecrated people pronounce or renew their vows, to be the World Day of Consecrated Life".

The Holy Father also indicated that tomorrow evening, following a Mass due to be celebrated in the Vatican Basilica by the prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, he will enter the basilica to greet the consecrated people gathered there.

"I invite everyone to thank the Lord for the precious gift of these brothers and sisters and to ask Him, through the intercession of Our Lady, for many new vocations in the many charisms which make the Church so rich".

Turning then to address Italian pilgrims, Benedict XVI expressed special greetings to members of "the Movement for Life, delegations from the faculty of medicine and surgery of the University of Rome, and everyone involved in the defence and promotion of the fundamental gift of life. I appreciate and encourage the commitment of the diocese of Rome in this field, and express my cordial best wishes for its 'Family Week', which begins today".

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI FOR THE XII WORLD DAY FOR CONSECRATED LIFE

FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD
12th WORLD DAY OF CONSECRATED LIFE

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Vatican Basilica
Saturday, 2 February 2008

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am very pleased to meet you on the occasion of the World Day of Consecrated Life, a traditional gathering whose significance is enhanced by the liturgical context of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. I thank Cardinal Franc Rodé, who has celebrated the Eucharist for you, and with him the Secretary and the other collaborators of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. With great affection I greet the Superiors General present and all of you who form this unique assembly, an expression of the varied richness of the Consecrated Life in the Church.

In his account of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, at least three times the Evangelist Luke emphasizes that Mary and Joseph acted in accordance with "the Law of the Lord" (cf. Lk 2: 22, 23, 39), moreover they always appear to be listening attentively to the Word of God. This attitude is an eloquent example for you, men and women religious; and for you, members of Secular Institutes and of other forms of Consecrated Life. The next Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will be dedicated to The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church: dear brothers and sisters, I ask you to make your contribution to this ecclesial commitment, witnessing to the importance, especially for those who like you, the Lord calls to a more intimate "sequela", of placing the Word of God at the centre of all things. In fact, the Consecrated Life is rooted in the Gospel. Down the centuries, the Gospel - as it were, its supreme rule - has continued to inspire it and the Consecrated Life is called to refer constantly to the Gospel, to remain alive and fertile, bearing fruit for the salvation of souls.

At the root of the different expressions of Consecrated Life there is always a strong Gospel inspiration. I think of St Anthony Abbot who was moved by listening to Christ's words: "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me" (Mt 19: 21) (cf. Vita Antonii, 2, 4). Anthony listened to these words as if they were addressed to him personally by the Lord. St Francis of Assisi in his turn affirmed that it was God who revealed to him that he should live according to the form of the holy Gospel (Testament, 17; Franciscan Omnibus 116). "Francis", wrote Thomas of Celano, "who heard that Christ's disciples were supposed to possess neither gold, nor silver, nor money, nor purse; were to have neither bread nor staff, were to have neither shoes nor two tunics... rejoicing in the Holy Spirit said: "This is what I want! This is what I ask! This is what I want to do from the bottom of my heart!'" (I Celano 83; Franciscan Omnibus 670, 672).

The Instruction Starting Afresh from Christ recalls: "It was the Holy Spirit who sparked the Word of God with new light for the Founders and Foundresses. Every charism and every Rule springs from it and seeks to be an expression of it" (n. 24). And indeed, the Holy Spirit attracts some people to live the Gospel in a radical way and translate it into a style of more generous following. So it is that a work, a religious family, is born which with its very presence becomes in turn a living "exegisis" of the Word of God. The Second Vatican Council says that the succession of charisms in the Consecrated Life can therefore be read as an unfolding of Christ down the ages, as a living Gospel that is actualized in ever new forms (cf. Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, n. 46). The mystery of Christ is reflected in the works of Foundresses and Founders, a word of his, an illuminating ray of his radiant Face, the splendour of the Father (cf. Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata, n. 16).

In the course of the centuries the proposal of the following of Christ without compromise, as it is presented to us in the Gospel, has therefore constituted the ultimate and supreme rule for religious life (cf. Perfectae Caritatis, n. 2). In his Rule St Benedict refers to Scripture as the "most exact rule of human life" (n. 73: 2-5). St Dominic, whose words and works proclaimed him a man of the Gospel at all times (cf. Libellus de Principiis Ordinis Praedicatorum, 104: in P. Lippini, San Domenico visto dai suoi contemporanei, Ed. Studio Dom., Bologna, 1982, 110) desired his brother preachers also to be "men of the Gospel" (First Constitutions or Consuetudines, 31). St Clare of Assisi imitated Francis' experience to the full: "The form of life of the Order of the Poor Sisters", she wrote, "is this: to observe the Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rule, I, 1-2; Franciscan Omnibus, n. 2750). St Vincent Pallotti said: "Since the life of Jesus Christ is the fundamental rule of our small Congregation... we must aim at what is most perfect always and in everything" (cf. Complete Works, II, 541-546; VIII, 63, 67, 253, 254, 466). And St Luigi Orione wrote: "Our first Rule and life is to observe the holy Gospel, in great humility and in loving sweetness and on fire with God" (Letters of Don Orione, Rome, 1969, Vol. II, 278).

This rich tradition attests that Consecrated Life is "deeply rooted in the example and teaching of Christ the Lord" (Vita Consecrata, n. 1) and can be compared to "a plant with many branches which sinks its roots into the Gospel and brings forth abundant fruit in every season of the Church's life" (ibid., n. 5). Its mission is to recall that all Christians are brought together by the Word, to live of the Word and to remain under its lordship. It is therefore the special duty of men and women religious "to remind the baptized of the fundamental values of the Gospel" (Vita Consecrata, n. 33). By so doing their witness imbues the Church with "a much-needed incentive towards ever greater fidelity to the Gospel" (ibid., n. 3) and indeed, we might say, is an "eloquent, albeit often silent, proclamation of the Gospel" (ibid., n. 25). This is why, in my two Encyclicals as on other occasions, I have not failed to cite the example set by Saints and Blesseds belonging to Institutes of Consecrated Life.

Dear brothers and sisters, nourish your day with prayer, meditation and listening to the Word of God. May you, who are familiar with the ancient practice of lectio divina, help the faithful to appreciate it in their daily lives too. And may you know how to express what the Word suggests, letting yourself be formed by it so that you bring forth abundant fruit, like a seed that has fallen into good soil. Thus, you will be ever docile to the Spirit and you will grow in union with God, you will cultivate fraternal communion among yourselves and will be ready to serve your brethren generously, especially those in need. May people see your good works, a fruit of the Word of God that lives in you, and glorify your Heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5: 16)! In entrusting these reflections to you, I thank you for the precious service you render to the Church and, as I invoke the protection of Mary and of the Saints and Blesseds, Founders of your Institutes, I wholeheartedly impart the Apostolic Blessing to you and to your respective religious families, with a special thought for the young men and women in formation and for your brothers and sisters who are sick, elderly or in difficulty. To all, I assure you of my remembrance in prayer.

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI FOR THE XI WORLD DAY OF CONSECRATED LIFE

FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD
11th WORLD DAY OF CONSECRATED LIFE
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO CONSECRATED MEN AND WOMEN

Vatican Basilica
Friday, 2 February 2007



Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am glad to meet you at the end of the Eucharistic Celebration that has gathered you in this Basilica this year too, on an occasion so meaningful for you who belong to Congregations, Institutes, Societies of Apostolic Life and New Forms of Consecrated Life; you constitute a particularly important element of the Mystical Body of Christ.

Today's liturgy recalls the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, the feast chosen by my venerable Predecessor, John Paul II, as the "Day of Consecrated Life".

With great pleasure I address my cordial greetings to each one of you present here, beginning with Cardinal Franc Rodé, Prefect of your Dicastery, to whom I am grateful for his kind words on your behalf. I then greet the Secretary and all the members of the Congregation which looks after a vital sector of the Church. Today's celebration is especially appropriate for asking the Lord for the gift of an ever more consistent and incisive presence of men and women religious and consecrated persons in the Church journeying along the roads of the world.

Dear brothers and sisters, the Feast day we are celebrating reminds us that your Gospel witness, to be truly effective, must stem from a response without reserve to the initiative of God who has consecrated you to him with a special act of love.

Just as the elderly Simeon and Anna longed to see the Messiah before they died and spoke of him "to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem" (cf. Lk 2: 26,38) so also in our time, especially among young people, there is a widespread need to encounter God.

Those who are chosen by God for the consecrated life make this spiritual longing their own in a definitive way. In it, in fact, they have one expectation: the Kingdom of God: that God reign in our will, in our hearts, in the world. In them burns a unique thirst for love which can be quenched by the Eternal One alone.

By their example they proclaim to a world which is often bewildered but, in fact, increasingly in search of meaning, that God is the Lord of life and that his "steadfast love is better than life" (Ps 63[62]: 4[3]).

By choosing obedience, poverty and chastity for the Kingdom of Heaven, they demonstrate that any attachment or love for people and things is incapable of definitively satisfying the heart; that earthly existence is a longer or shorter period of waiting for the "face-to-face" encounter with the divine Bridegroom, an expectation to be lived with an ever vigilant heart, to be ready to recognize and welcome him when he comes.

Consecrated life, therefore, is by its nature a total and definitive, unconditional and passionate response to God (cf. Vita Consecrata, n. 17). And so, when one renounces everything to follow Christ, when one gives to him all that one holds most dear, braving every sacrifice as did the divine Teacher, the consecrated person who follows in Christ's footsteps necessarily also becomes "a sign of contradiction", because his/her way of thinking and living is often in opposition to the logic of the world, as it is almost always presented in the media.

Indeed, in choosing Christ we let ourselves be "conquered" by him without reserve. How many people thirsting for the truth are struck by this courage and attracted by those who do not hesitate to give their life, their own life, for their belief.

Is not this the radical evangelical fidelity to which every consecrated person is called in our time too? Let us give thanks to the Lord so that many Religious men and women in all the corners of the earth may continue to offer a supreme and faithful witness of love to God and to the brethren, a witness that is often marked by the blood of martyrdom. Let us also thank God so that these examples may continue to inspire in the souls of many young people the desire to follow Christ always in an intimate and total way.

Dear brothers and sisters, never forget that the consecrated life is a divine gift and that it is the Lord in the first place who ensures its success in accordance with his plans. This certainty that the Lord leads us to a successful conclusion despite our weakness; this certainty must be a comfort to you, protecting you from the temptation of discouragement in the face of the inevitable difficulties of life and the many challenges of the modern epoch. Indeed, in the difficult period in which we live many Institutes may feel a sense of dismay at the failings they discover within them and the many obstacles they encounter in carrying out their mission.

Today that Child Jesus who is presented at the Temple is alive among us and invisibly supports us so that we may cooperate faithfully with him in the work of salvation, and he does not abandon us.

Today's liturgy is particularly evocative because it is marked by the symbol of light. The solemn procession with candles which you made at the beginning of the celebration points to Christ, the true light of the world who shines in the night of history and illumines every seeker of the truth. Dear consecrated men and women, burn with this flame and make it radiant with your life so that a gleam of the brightness that shone from Jesus, the splendour of the truth, may shine everywhere.

By dedicating yourselves exclusively to him (cf. Vita Consecrata, n. 15), you witness to the fascination of the truth of Christ and the joy that derives from love for him. In contemplation and in activity, in solitude and in fraternity, in service to the poor and the lowly, in personal guidance and in the modern areopaghi, be ready to proclaim and to witness that God is Love and that to love him is sweet.

May Mary, the Tota Pulchra, teach you to transmit to men and women today this divine fascination that must transpire from your words and actions. As I express to you my grateful appreciation for the service you render to the Church, I assure you of my constant remembrance in prayer and I warmly bless you all.

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI FOR THE X WORLD DAY FOR CONSECRATED LIFE

Pope's Homily on 2006 World Day of Consecrated Life
"An Eloquent Sign of the Presence of the Kingdom"
February 17, 2006
Benedict XVI

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 17, 2006 (ZENIT.org).- Here is a translation of the homily Benedict XVI gave Feb. 2, World Day of Consecrated Life, in St. Peter's Basilica. The Pope spoke at an evening Mass for religious on the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today's Feast of Jesus' Presentation at the temple 40 days after his birth places before our eyes a special moment in the life of the Holy Family: Mary and Joseph, in accordance with Mosaic law, took the tiny Jesus to the temple of Jerusalem to offer him to the Lord (cf. Luke 2:22). Simeon and Anna, inspired by God, recognized that Child as the long-awaited Messiah and prophesied about him. We are in the presence of a mystery, both simple and solemn, in which Holy Church celebrates Christ, the Anointed One of the Father, the firstborn of the new humanity.

The evocative candlelight procession at the beginning of our celebration has made us relive the majestic entrance, as we sang in the Responsorial Psalm, of the One who is "the King of glory," "the Lord, mighty in battle" (Psalm 24[23]:7,8). But who is the powerful God who enters the temple? It is a Child; it is the Infant Jesus in the arms of his Mother, the Virgin Mary. The Holy Family was complying with what the Law prescribed: the purification of the mother, the offering of the firstborn child to God and his redemption through a sacrifice.

In the First Reading the Liturgy speaks of the oracle of the Prophet Malachi: "The Lord ... will suddenly come to his temple" (Malachi 3:1). These words communicated the full intensity of the desire that had given life to the expectation of the Jewish People down the centuries. "The angel of the Covenant" at last entered his house and submitted to the Law: He came to Jerusalem to enter God's house in an attitude of obedience.

The meaning of this act acquires a broader perspective in the passage from the Letter to the Hebrews, proclaimed as the Second Reading today. Christ, the mediator who unites God and man, abolishing distances, eliminating every division and tearing down every wall of separation, is presented to us here.

Christ comes as a new "merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people" (Hebrews 2:17). Thus, we note that mediation with God no longer takes place in the holiness-separation of the ancient priesthood, but in liberating solidarity with human beings.

While yet a Child, he sets out on the path of obedience that he was to follow to the very end.
The Letter to the Hebrews highlights this clearly when it says: "In the days of his earthly life Jesus offered up prayers and supplications ... to him who was able to save him from death .... Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him" (cf. Hebrews 5:7-9).

The first person to be associated with Christ on the path of obedience, proven faith and shared suffering was his Mother, Mary. The Gospel text portrays her in the act of offering her Son: an unconditional offering that involves her in the first person.

Mary is the Mother of the One who is "the glory of [his] people Israel" and a "light for revelation to the Gentiles," but also "a sign that is spoken against" (cf. Luke 2:32,34). And in her immaculate soul, she herself was to be pierced by the sword of sorrow, thus showing that her role in the history of salvation did not end in the mystery of the Incarnation but was completed in loving and sorrowful participation in the death and Resurrection of her Son.

Bringing her Son to Jerusalem, the Virgin Mother offered him to God as a true Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. She held him out to Simeon and Anna as the proclamation of redemption; she presented him to all as a light for a safe journey on the path of truth and love.

The words that came to the lips of the elderly Simeon: "My eyes have seen your salvation" (Luke 2:30), are echoed in the heart of the prophetess Anna. These good and devout people, enveloped in Christ's light, were able to see in the Child Jesus "the consolation of Israel" (Luke 2:25). So it was that their expectation was transformed into a light that illuminates history.
Simeon was the bearer of an ancient hope and the Spirit of the Lord spoke to his heart: for this reason he could contemplate the One whom numerous prophets and kings had desired to see: Christ, light of revelation for the Gentiles.

He recognized that Child as the Savior, but he foresaw in the Spirit that the destinies of humanity would be played out around him and that he would have to suffer deeply from those who rejected him; he proclaimed the identity and mission of the Messiah with words that form one of the hymns of the newborn Church, radiant with the full communitarian and eschatological exultation of the fulfillment of the expectation of salvation. The enthusiasm was so great that to live and to die were one and the same, and the "light" and "glory" became a universal revelation.

Anna is a "prophetess," a wise and pious woman who interpreted the deep meaning of historical events and of God's message concealed within them. Consequently, she could "give thanks to God" and "[speak of the Child] to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem" (Luke 2:38).

Her long widowhood devoted to worship in the temple, fidelity to weekly fasting and participation in the expectation of those who yearned for the redemption of Israel culminated in her meeting with the Child Jesus.

Dear brothers and sisters, on this feast of the Presentation of the Lord the Church is celebrating the Day of Consecrated Life. This is an appropriate occasion to praise the Lord and thank him for the precious gift represented by the consecrated life in its different forms; at the same time it is an incentive to encourage in all the People of God knowledge and esteem for those who are totally consecrated to God.

Indeed, just as Jesus' life in his obedience and dedication to the Father is a living parable of the "God-with-us," so the concrete dedication of consecrated persons to God and to their brethren becomes an eloquent sign for today's world of the presence of God's Kingdom.

Your way of living and working can vividly express full belonging to the one Lord; placing yourselves without reserve in the hands of Christ and of the Church is a strong and clear proclamation of God's presence in a language understandable to our contemporaries. This is the first service that the consecrated life offers to the Church and to the world.

Consecrated persons are like watchmen among the People of God who perceive and proclaim the new life already present in our history.

I now address you in a special way, dear brothers and sisters who have embraced the vocation of special consecration, to greet you with affection and thank you warmly for your presence.
I extend a special greeting to Archbishop Franc Rodé, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and to his collaborators who are concelebrating with me at this Holy Mass.

May the Lord renew in you and in all consecrated people each day the joyful response to his freely given and faithful love. Dear brothers and sisters, like lighted candles, always and everywhere shine with the love of Christ, Light of the world. May Mary Most Holy, the consecrated Woman, help you to live to the full your special vocation and mission in the Church for the world's salvation.

Amen!

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE IX WORLD DAY FOR CONSECRATED LIFE

SPECIAL MESSAGE OF POPE JOHN PAUL II
FOR WORLD DAY OF CONSECRATED LIFE



Archbishop Franc Rodé, C.M., Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, presided at the traditional Mass for consecrated persons in St Peter's Basilica. Here is a translation of Archbishop Rodé's brief introduction in Italian to the Holy Father's Message for the Day.

"On the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, the day on which the Son of God, conceived in eternity, is proclaimed by the Holy Spirit as "a light for revelation to the Gentiles' and the "glory for your people Israel', we are gathered here to renew our consecration to the Lord. Dear Brothers and Sisters, I convey to you all the personal greeting of the Holy Father, who thanks you for the affection you have shown him and for your fervent prayers. He joins us here at this moment with his prayers and he sends us his Blessing. Let us listen with grateful hearts to his Message to the consecrated men and women of the world".

Archbishop Rodé then read the Pope's Message:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. Today, we are celebrating the Day of Consecrated Life, a favourable occasion for thanking the Lord together with all who are called by him "to the practise of the evangelical counsels, and who make faithful profession of them, bind[ing] themselves to the Lord in a special way. They follow Christ who, virginal and poor (cf. Mt 8: 20; Lk 9: 58), redeemed and sanctified men by obedience unto death on the cross (cf. Phil 2: 8)" (Perfectae Caritatis, n. 1). This year the celebration acquires special importance because we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the promulgation of the Decree Perfectae Caritatis, through which the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council updated the guidelines for the renewal of the consecrated life.

During these 40 years, in obedience to the directives of the Church's Magisterium, Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic life have followed a fertile path of renewal, marked on the one hand by the desire to be faithful to the gift received from the Holy Spirit through their Founders and Foundresses and, on the other, by concern to adapt their way of living, praying and acting to "the present-day physical and psychological condition of the members. It should also be in harmony with the needs of the apostolate, in the measure that the nature of each Institute requires, with the requirements of culture and with social and economic circumstances" (ibid., n. 3).

How could we not thank the Lord for this timely "updating" of consecrated life? I am certain that it will also lead to the multiplication of the fruits of holiness and missionary activity, on condition that consecrated persons keep their ascetic zeal unaltered and instil it in their apostolic works.

2. The secret of this spiritual ardour is the Eucharist. In this year specially dedicated to the Eucharist, I would like to urge all men and women religious to establish an ever more profound communion with Christ by sharing daily in the sacrament which makes him present, in the sacrifice which actualizes the gift of his love on Golgotha, the banquet which nourishes and sustains God's pilgrim people. "By its very nature", as the Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata affirms, "the Eucharist is at the centre of the consecrated life, both for individuals and for communities" (n. 95).
Jesus gives himself as Bread "broken" and Blood "poured out" so that all may "have life, and have it abundantly" (cf. Jn 10: 10). He offers himself for the salvation of all humanity. Taking part in his sacrificial banquet does not only entail repeating his gestures but also means drinking the same cup and taking part in the same immolation. Just as Christ makes himself "bread broken" and "blood poured out", so each Christian, and especially every consecrated man and every consecrated woman, is called to give his or her life for the brethren, in union with the life of the Redeemer.

3. The Eucharist is the inexhaustible source of fidelity to the Gospel, for in this sacrament, the heart of ecclesial life, the deep identification and total conformation with Christ to which consecrated persons are called, is completely fulfilled. "In the Eucharist all forms of prayer come together, the Word of God is proclaimed and received, relationships with God, with brothers and sisters, with all men and women are challenged. It is the Sacrament of filiation, of communion and of mission. The Eucharist, the Sacrament of unity with Christ, is at the same time the Sacrament of Church unity and community unity for the consecrated person. Clearly it is "the source of spirituality both for individuals and for communities'" (Starting Afresh from Christ, n. 26). Consecrated people learn from the Eucharist "a greater freedom in the exercise of the apostolates, a flourishing with greater awareness, a solidarity expressed through knowing how to stand with the people, assuming their problems, in order to respond to them, paying close attention to the signs of the times and to their needs" (ibid., n. 36).

Dear Brothers and Sisters, let us penetrate the mystery of the Eucharist guided by the Blessed Virgin Mary and following her example! May Mary, Woman of the Eucharist, help all who are called to special intimacy with Christ to participate diligently in Holy Mass and obtain for them the gift of prompt obedience, faithful poverty and fruitful virginity; may she make them holy disciples of Christ in the Eucharist.

With these sentiments, as I assure you of my remembrance in prayer, I willingly bless all consecrated persons and the Christian communities in which they are called to carry out their mission.

From the Vatican, 2 February 2005

JOHN PAUL II

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE VIII WORLD DAY OF CONSECRATED LIFE

MASS FOR RELIGIOUS MEN AND WOMEN
ON THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE

EIGHTH WORLD DAY OF CONSECRATED LIFE

HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II

Monday, 2 February 2004



1. "He had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest" (Heb 2: 17).

These words from the Letter to the Hebrews express well the message of today's Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. They offer us the key to its interpretation, so to speak, putting it in the perspective of the Paschal Mystery.

The event we are celebrating today takes us back to what Mary and Joseph did when, 40 days after his birth, they presented Jesus to God as their firstborn son, complying with the law of Moses.

Their offering was later to find complete and perfect fulfilment in the mystery of the passion, death and Resurrection of the Lord. Only then would he fulfil his mission as the "merciful and faithful High Priest", sharing in our human destiny to the very end.

At the presentation in the Temple, Mary, the faithful Virgin who takes part with him in the eternal plan of salvation, was with him as she was on Calvary.

2. Today's liturgy opens with the blessing of the candles and the procession to the altar to meet Christ and to recognize him "in the breaking of the bread" until he comes again in glory.

The Church celebrates the Day of Consecrated Life in this setting of light, faith and hope. All those who have offered their life to Christ for ever for the coming of the Kingdom of God are invited to renew their "yes" to the special vocation they have received. The entire Ecclesial Community, however, also rediscovers the riches of the prophetic witness of consecrated life in the variety of its charisms and apostolic commitments.

3. With sentiments of praise and gratitude to the Lord for this great gift, I would like first of all to greet Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, who is presiding at today's Celebration. With him, I extend my cordial good wishes to all who are participating in this evocative liturgical assembly.

My affectionate greeting goes especially to you, dear Men and Women Religious and Members of Secular Institutes, as well as to all the witnesses faithful to the values of consecrated life in every region of the world.

Christ is calling you to conform ever more closely to him, who out of love made himself obedient, poor and chaste. Continue to dedicate yourselves passionately to proclaiming and promoting his Kingdom. This is your mission, as necessary today as it was in the past!

4. Dear Men and Women Religious, what a favourable opportunity you are afforded on this day dedicated to you, to reaffirm your fidelity to God with the enthusiasm and generosity of the moment when you first pronounced your vows! Repeat your "yes" to the God of Love every day with joy and conviction. In the recollection of the cloistered monastery or beside the poor and marginalized, among young people or within the structures of the Church, in the various apostolic activities or in mission lands, God wants you to be faithful to his love and dedicated without reserve to the good of your brothers and sisters.

This is the precious contribution which you can make to the Church, so that the Gospel of hope may reach the men and women of our time.

5. Let us contemplate the Virgin while she offers her Son in the Temple of Jerusalem. She who unconditionally accepted God's will at the moment of the Annunciation in a certain way is repeating her words: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1: 38). This attitude of docile adherence to the divine designs was to mark her entire existence.

Thus, Our Lady is the first and most exalted model for every consecrated person. Dear brothers and sisters, let yourselves be guided by her. Turn to her for help with humble trust, especially in moments of trial.

And you, Mary, watch over these children of yours, lead them to Christ, "the Glory of Israel, the Light of the peoples". Virgo Virginum, Mater Salvatoris, ora pro nobis!

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE VII WORLD DAY OF CONSECRATED LIFE

MASS FOR RELIGIOUS MEN AND WOMEN
ON THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE

SEVENTH WORLD DAY OF CONSECRATED LIFE

HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II

Saturday, 1 February 2003



1. "When the time came for their purification ... they brought the child up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord" (Lk 2,22). The Infant Jesus entered the temple of Jerusalem in the arms of his Virgin Mother.

"Born of woman, born under the law" (Gal 4,4), he submitted to the destiny of every first-born male child of his people: according to the Law of the Lord he had to be "ransomed" with a sacrifice, 40 days after his birth (cf. Ex 13,2.12; Lv 12,1-8).

The newborn Child, in every way like all others outwardly, does not pass unnoticed. The Holy Spirit opens the eyes of faith of the elderly Simeon who comes near, and, taking the Child in his arms, recognizes in him the Messiah and praises God (cf. Lk 2,25-32). This Child, he prophesies, will be "a light for the Gentiles, the glory of Israel" (cf. v. 32), but also a sign of contradiction (cf. v. 34) because according to the Scriptures he will realize the judgement of God. Moreover, the devout old man predicts to the astonished Mother that this will happen through a suffering in which she too will be a sharer (cf. v. 35).

2. Forty days after Christmas, the Church celebrates this stirring joyful mystery that, in a certain way, anticipates both the sorrow of Good Friday and the joy of Easter. In the Eastern Tradition this day is called the "Feast of the Meeting", because in the sacred space of the Temple of Jerusalem, the meeting takes place between God's graciousness and the expectation of the chosen people.

All this acquires in Christ an eschatological meaning and value: he is the Bridegroom who comes to accomplish the nuptial covenant with Israel. Many are called, but how many are effectively ready to receive him, with watchful minds and hearts (cf. Mt 22,14)? In today's liturgy we contemplate Mary, the model of those who wait and open their hearts in docility to the meeting with Lord.

3. In this light, the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the temple is a very suitable day for the the appreciative praise of consecrated persons, and for some years the Day of Consecrated Life has rightly been observed on this day. The picture of Mary who in the temple offers the Son to God, speaks eloquently to the hearts of the men and women who have made a total offering of themselves to the Lord through the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience for the Kingdom of Heaven.

The theme of spiritual sacrifice is fused with that of light, introduced by Simeon's words. The Virgin appears as a candlestick bearing Christ, the "Light of the world". With Mary, thousands of men and women religious and consecrated lay people throughout the world gather to renew their consecration, holding lighted candles, the expression of their life, burning with faith and love.

4. Here too, in St Peter's Basilica this evening, we offer a solemn thanksgiving to God for the gift of the consecrated life in the Diocese of Rome and in the universal Church. I warmly greet Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Prefect of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apsotolic Life, and his collaborators. I affectionately greet all of you, brothers and sisters, men and women religious and consecrated lay people! With your large, devout and joyful presence, you impress upon the liturgical assembly the face of the Church-Bride, like Mary, doing her utmost to be in total conformity with the Divine Word.

High up in their niches along the walls of this basilica, the founders and foundresses of many of your institutes watch over you. They recall the mystery of the Communion of Saints through which, in the pilgrim Church, from age to age, many renew the choice of following Christ with a special consecration in accord with the many charisms kindled by the Spirit. At the same time, those venerable figures are an invitation to turn our gaze to the heavenly homeland where, in the gathering of saints, so many consecrated souls praise with full beatitude the Triune God whom they loved and served on earth with a free and undivided heart.

5. Poverty, chastity and obedience are distintive features of the redeemed person, inwardly set free from the slavery of egotism. Free to love, free to serve: this is the way the men and women are who renounce themselves for the Kingdom of Heaven. Following in the footsteps of the crucified and risen Christ, they live this freedom as solidarity, taking on the spiritual and material burdens of their brothers and sisters.

This is the multiform "service of charity" that is exercised in the cloister, in hospitals, parishes and schools, among the poor and immigrants, in the new meeting places of the mission. In thousands of ways consecrated life is a manifestation of God's love in the world (cf. Apostolic Exhortation, Vita consecrata, chapter III).

With grateful hearts, let us praise God today for each of them. Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may the Lord increasingly enrich his Church with this great gift. To the praise and glory of his Name and for the spread of his Kingdom. Amen!

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE VI WORLD DAY FOR CONSECRATED LIFE

FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD

HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II

Saturday, 2 February 2002
VI Day of Consecrated Life



1. "They brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord...)" (Lk 2,22).

Today, forty days after Christmas, the Church relives the mystery of the Presentation of Jesus in the temple. She relives it with the astonishment of the Holy Family of Nazareth, enlightened by the full revelation of that "child", who - as the first and second readings have reminded us - is the eschatological judge promised by the prophets (Ml 3,1-3), the "merciful and faithful high priest" who came to "expiate the sins of the people" (Heb 2,17). The Child, whom Mary and Joseph lovingly brought to the Temple, is the Word Incarnate, the Redeemer of man and of history!

Today, commemorating what took place on that day in Jerusalem, we are invited to enter the Temple, to meditate on the mystery of Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of the Father who, by means of his Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery, became the Firstborn of redeemed humanity.
This feast prolongs the mystery of Christ the Light, who shines upon us in the Solemnities of Christmas and Epiphany.

2. "Light of revelation for the nations and glory of your people Israel" (Lk 2,32). The venerable old Simeon pronounced these prophetic words, inspired by God, as he takes the Child Jesus in his arms. At the same time, he foretells that "the Messiah of the Lord" will carry out his mission as a "sign of contradiction" (Lk 2,34). As for Mary his Mother, she will personally participate in the Passion of her divine Son (cf. Lk 2,35).

In today's feast, therefore, we celebrate the mystery of consecration: consecration of Christ, consecration of Mary, consecration of all who follow Jesus for love of the Kingdom.

3. As I greet Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo who is presiding at this celebration, I am pleased to be able to be with you, dear brothers and sisters who one day, recently or long ago, made the total gift of yourselves to the Lord in the vocation of the consecrated life. While I cordially greet each one of you, I am thinking of the great things that God has worked and is working in you, "drawing to himself" your entire life.

I praise the Lord with you, because he is so great and beautiful a Love as to deserve the priceless gift of the whole person in the unfathomable depths of the heart, and in the concrete unfolding of daily duty through the various stages of life.

Your "Here I am!", modelled on that of Christ and of the Blessed Virgin, is symbolized by the candles that this evening light up the Vatican Basilica. Today's feast is especially dedicated to you who among the People of God re- present in an outstanding way the eschatological newness of Christian life. You are called to be lights of truth and of justice, witnesses of solidarity and peace.

4. How can I can forget the Day of Prayer for Peace, celebrated ten days ago in Assisi. For this extraordinary mobilization for peace in the world, I knew and I know, that I could count particularly on you, dear consecrated persons. On this occasion too, I express deep gratitude to you.

Thank you, first of all, for your prayer. How many contemplative communities, entirely devoted to prayer, knocking night and day at the heart of the God of peace, cooperate in Christ's victory over hatred, revenge and the structures of sin!

Besides prayer, many of you, dear brothers and sisters, build peace with the witness of brotherhood and communion, spreading the Gospel spirit in the world like yeast that makes humanity grow towards the Kingdom of Heaven. Thank you for this!

On many frontiers men and women religious are offering their effective dedication to justice, working among those on the fringes of society, dealing with the root causes of conflicts to help build a substantial, lasting peace. Wherever the Church is at work in defending and promoting human persons and the common good, you are there, dear consecrated men and women, who to belong entirely to God belong entirely to your brothers and sisters. Every person of goodwill is grateful to you for this.

5. The icon of Mary that we contemplate as she offers Jesus in the temple prefigures that of the Crucifixion and also anticipates its true interpretation of Jesus, Son of God, sign of contradiction. Indeed, on Calvary, the sacrifice of the Son, and with it, that of his Mother, reach fulfillment. The same sword pierces both, the Mother and the Son (cf. Lk 2,35). The same sorrow, the same love.

On this road, the Mother of Jesus became the Mother of the Church. Her pilgrimage of faith and consecration is the archetype for that of every baptized person. This is particularly true for those who embrace the consecrated life.

How comforting it is to know that Mary is beside us, as Mother and Teacher, on our path of consecration! Not just on a simply emotional level, she is profoundly close to us at the level of supernatural efficacy, attested by the Scriptures, by Tradition and by the testimony of the saints, many of whom followed Christ on the demanding path of the evangelical counsels.

Mary, Mother of Christ and our Mother, we thank you for the tender care with which you guide us on the ways of life, and we ask you: present us today anew to God, our only Good, so that our lives, consumed by love, may be a sacrifice that is living, holy, and pleasing to him. Amen!

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE V WORLD DAY OF CONSECRATED LIFE

FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD

HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II

Friday, 2 February 2001
V Day of Consecrated Life



1. "Come, Lord, to your holy temple" (Response of the Responsorial Psalm, Italian Lectionary).

With this invocation, which we sang in the Responsorial Psalm, the Church, on the day when she recalls the Presentation of Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem, expresses the desire to be able to welcome him again at this present moment in her history. The Presentation is an evocative liturgical feast, fixed since ancient times on the 40th day after Christmas, following what Jewish law had prescribed for the birth of all first-born males (cf. Ex 13: 2). Mary and Joseph observed it faithfully, as the Gospel account tells us.

Christian traditions of the East and West have been interwoven, enriching the liturgy of this feast with a special procession in which the light of candles both large and small is a symbol of Christ, the true Light who came to illumine his people and all peoples. Today's feast is thus connected with the Nativity and Epiphany of the Lord. However, it also serves as a bridge to Easter by recalling the prophecy of the elderly Simeon, who on that occasion foretold the dramatic destiny of the Messiah and his Mother.

The Evangelist has even recorded the details of this event: Simeon and Anna, two elderly persons filled with faith and the Holy Spirit, received Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem. They personify the "remnant of Israel", watchful in expectation and ready to meet the Lord, as the shepherds did on the night of his birth in Bethlehem.

2. In the opening prayer of today's liturgy, we asked that we too might be presented to the Lord with our hearts free from sin, following the example of Jesus, the first-born of many brethren. You, men and women religious and consecrated lay people, are called in a particular way to share in this mystery of the Saviour. It is a mystery of sacrifice, in which glory and the cross are indissolubly joined according to the paschal character of Christian life. It is a mystery of light and suffering; a Marian mystery, in which the martyrdom of her soul is foretold to the Mother, blessed along with her Son.

We could say that today a special "offertory" is celebrated throughout the Church, one in which consecrated men and women spiritually renew the gift of themselves. By doing so, they help the Ecclesial Communities to grow in the sacrificial dimension that constitutes them inwardly, builds them up and spurs them along the world's highways.

I greet you with great affection, dear brothers and sisters who belong to many families of consecrated life and gladden St Peter's Basilica with your presence. In particular I greet Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, who is presiding at today's Eucharistic celebration.

3. We are celebrating this feast with hearts still filled with the emotions we felt during the Jubilee period just ended. We have continued on our way, guided by Christ's words to Simon: "Duc in altum - Put out into the deep" (Lk 5: 4). The Church expects your contribution, too, dear consecrated brothers and sisters, in order to travel on this new stage of our journey according to the guidelines I gave in my Apostolic Letter Novo millennio ineunte: to contemplate the face of Chist, to set out anew from him and to bear witness to his love. This is a contribution that you are called to make each day, above all through fidelity to your vocation as individuals who are totally consecrated to Christ.

Your first task, then, must be contemplation. Every reality of consecrated life is born and each day reborn in ceaseless contemplation of Christ's face. The Church herself draws her energy from daily beholding the immortal beauty of the face of Christ, her Bridegroom.

If every Christian is a believer who contemplates the face of God in Jesus Christ, you are so in a special way. You must never tire, then, of pausing to meditate on Sacred Scripture and on the holy Gospels in particular, so that the features of the Incarnate Word are impressed upon you.

4. Setting out anew from Christ, the centre of every personal and community project: this is your task! Meet him, dear friends, and contemplate him in a most special way in the Eucharist, celebrated and adored each day as the source and summit of life and apostolic action.

And walk with Christ: this is the way of Gospel perfection, the holiness to which every baptized person is called. Holiness is precisely one of the essential points - indeed, the first - in the programme I outlined for the beginning of the new millennium (cf. Novo millennio ineunte, nn. 30-31).

We have just heard the elderly Simeon's words: Christ "is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against ... that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed" (Lk 2: 34). Like him, and to the extent that they are conformed to him, consecrated persons also become a "sign of contradiction"; that is, they become for others a salutary encouragement to take a position regarding Jesus, who - thanks to the engaging mediation of the "witness" - does not remain just a historical figure or abstract ideal, but presents himself as a living person to follow without compromise. Does this not seem to you an indispensabe service that the Church expects of you in this era, marked by profound social and cultural changes? Only if you persevere in faithfully following Christ will you be credible witnesses to his love.

5. "A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel" (Lk 2: 32). The consecrated life is called to reflect Christ's light in an exceptional way. As I look at you, dear brothers and sisters, I think of the hosts of men and women of every nation, language and culture who are consecrated to Christ by vows of poverty, virginity and obedience. This thought fills me with consolation, for you are like a "leaven" of hope for humanity. You are "salt" and "light" for the men and women of today, who through your witness can glimpse the kingdom of God and the way of the Gospel "Beatitudes".

Like Simeon and Anna, take Jesus from the arms of his most holy Mother and, filled with joy for the gift of your vocation, bring him to everyone. Christ is salvation and hope for every person! Proclaim him by your life dedicated entirely to the kingdom of God and the world's salvation. Proclaim him with that uncompromising fidelity which, even recently, has led some of your brothers and sisters in various parts of the world to martyrdom.

Be light and comfort to everyone you meet. Like lighted candles, burn with the love of Christ. Spend yourselves for him, spreading the Gospel of his love everywhere. Through your witness the eyes of many men and women of our time will also be able to see the salvation prepared by God "in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel".

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE IV WORLD DAY OF CONSECRATED LIFE

HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER


JUBILEE OF CONSECRATED LIFE
Wednesday, 2 February 2000


Dear Brothers and Sisters!

1. "There was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.... And there was a prophetess Anna" (Lk 2: 25-26, 36).

These two figures, Simeon and Anna, witnessed the presentation of Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem. The Evangelist stresses that each of them, in his or her way, is a precursor of the event. Both express the longing for the Messiah's coming. Both in some way bear within them the mystery of the temple in Jerusalem. Thus they are both present there - in a way that can be called providential - when Jesus' parents take him to the temple, 40 days after his birth, to offer him to the Lord.

Simeon and Anna represent the expectation of all Israel. It is granted to them to meet the One whom the prophets had foretold for centuries. Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, the two elderly people see the long-awaited Messiah in the Child that Mary and Joseph have brought to the temple as prescribed by the law of the Lord.

Simeon's words have a prophetic tone: the old man looks at the past and foretells the future.

He says: "Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for mine eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel" (Lk 2: 29-32). Simeon expresses the fulfilment of the expectation that was his reason for living. The same thing occurs with the prophetess Anna, who rejoices at the sight of the Child and speaks of him "to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem" (Lk 2: 38).

2. Every year a vast throng of consecrated persons assembles at the Tomb of Peter for today's liturgical feast. Today, this throng has become a multitude, because consecrated persons have come here from every part of the world. Dear brothers and sisters, today you are celebrating your Jubilee, the Jubilee of Consecrated Life. I welcome you with the Gospel embrace of peace!

I greet the men and women Superiors of the various congregations and institutes, and I greet all of you, dear brothers and sisters, who have wished to experience the Jubilee by crossing the threshold of the Holy Door in the Patriarchal Vatican Basilica. In you I see all your brothers and sisters throughout the world: my affectionate greeting also goes to them.

Assembled at the Tomb of the Prince of the Apostles in this Jubilee Year, you wish to express with special emphasis the deep bond that links consecrated life to the Successor of Peter. You are here to place upon the altar of the Lord the hopes and problems of your respective institutes. In the spirit of the Jubilee, you give thanks to God for the good he has wrought and, at the same time, you ask his forgiveness for the failings that may have marked the life of your religious families. You are asking yourselves at the beginning of a new millennium about the most effective ways to contribute, while respecting your foundational charism, to the new evangelization by reaching out to the many people who still do not know Christ. With this in mind, your fervent prayer rises to the Lord of the harvest that he will awaken in the hearts of many young men and women the desire to give themselves totally to the cause of Christ and the Gospel.

I gladly join in your prayer. Having been a pilgrim in so many parts of the world, I have been able to appreciate the prophetic value of your presence for all Christian people. Men and women of this generation have a great need to meet the Lord and his liberating message of salvation. On this occasion I am also pleased to note the example of generous Gospel dedication offered by your countless brothers and sisters, who often work in difficult situations. In Christ's name they devote themselves unreservedly to serving the poor, the outcast and the lowly.

Many of them, even in recent years, have paid with the supreme witness of blood for their choice of fidelity to Christ and to man, without surrender or compromise. They deserve the tribute of our admiration and gratitude!

3. Jesus' presentation in the temple sheds particular light on the choice you have made, dear brothers and sisters. Do you too not live the mystery of the expectation of Christ's coming, expressed and as it were personified by Simeon and Anna? Do not your vows express with particular intensity that expectation of meeting the Messiah which these elderly Israelites cherished in their hearts? Old Testament figures standing on the threshold of the New, they reveal an inner attitude that is never out-of-date. You have made it your own, as you look with expectation for the second coming of the Bridegroom.

Eschatological witness is part of your vocation. The vows of poverty, obedience and chastity for the kingdom of God are a message that you proclaim to the world about man's ultimate destiny. It is a valuable message: "Those who vigilantly await the fulfilment of Christ's promises are able to bring hope to their brothers and sisters who are often discouraged and pessimistic about the future" (Vita consecrata, n. 27).

4. "It had been revealed to him by the Spirit" (Lk 2: 26). What the Evangelist said of Simeon can easily be applied to you whom the Spirit leads towards a special experience of Christ. By the renewing power of his love, he wants to make you effective witnesses to conversion, penance and new life.

To have your heart, affections, interests and feelings centred on Jesus is the most important aspect of the gift that the Spirit works within you. He conforms you to the chaste, poor and obedient Jesus. And the evangelical counsels, far from being an impoverishing renunciation, are a choice that frees a person for a fuller realization of his potential.

The Evangelist notes that the prophetess Anna "did not depart from the temple" (Lk 2: 37). The first vocation of those who endeavour to follow Jesus with an undivided heart is "to be with him" (Mk 3: 14), to be in communion with him, listening to his words in constant praise of God (cf. Lk 2: 38). I am thinking at this moment of prayer, particularly liturgical prayer, which rises from so many monasteries and communities of consecrated life in every corner of the earth.

Dear brothers and sisters, make your praise resound in the Church with humility and constancy, and the hymn of your life will echo deeply in the heart of the world.

5. The joyful experience of meeting Jesus, the exultation and praise which flow from the heart, cannot remain hidden. The service given to the Gospel by institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life, in the variety of forms which the Holy Spirit has stirred up in the Church, is always born of an experience of love and a living encounter with Christ. It arises from sharing his efforts and his ceaseless offering to the Father.

Invited to leave everything to follow Christ, you, consecrated men and women, no longer define your life by family, by profession or by earthly interests, and you choose the Lord as your only identifying mark. Thus you acquire a new family identity. The divine Teacher's words apply particularly to you: "Here are my mother and my brethren" (cf. Mk 3: 35). The invitation to renunciation, as you know well, is not meant to leave you "without a family" but to make you the first and distinctive members of the "new family", a witness and prophetic example for all whom God wishes to call and bring into his house.

6. Dear friends, at every moment of your life may the Virgin Mary be close to you as an example and support. Simeon disclosed to her the mystery of the Son and the sword that would "pierce through your own soul also" (Lk 2: 35). Today I entrust to her those of you here and all consecrated persons who are celebrating their Jubilee.

Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ
and of the Church,
look upon the men and women
whom your Son has called to follow
him in total consecration to his love:
may they always let the Spirit
guide them;
may they be tireless in giving of
themselves and in serving the Lord,
so as to be faithful witnesses to
the joy that flows from the Gospel,
and preachers of the Truth
that leads human beings
to the springs of immortal life.
Amen!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Holy Father's greetings at end of Mass

I greet the consecrated persons present on this Jubilee day. I also extend my cordial greetings to the French-speaking pilgrims. May everyone give thanks for the grace of consecrated life! I bless you all.

I warmly welcome the consecrated men and women, and the pilgrims and visitors from the English-speaking countries. I invoke almighty God's blessings and grace upon you so that you may grow in friendship with God, who alone can fulfil the deepest aspirations of the human heart.

I very cordially greet the consecrated men and women who have come to Rome from German-speaking countries to celebrate the Great Jubilee and to renew their vows. May this gathering become a source of inner joy and enthusiasm for their life according to the evangelical counsels.

I extend a heartfelt greeting to the consecrated persons as well as to the Spanish-speaking pilgrims who have taken part in this celebration. With the grace of the Jubilee may you proclaim Christ by your witness of life and your apostolic zeal.

I cordially greet all the orders, congregations, societies of apostolic life and institutes present for the Jubilee of Consecrated Life in Rome. I thank God with you for the gift of your vocation to the consecrated life, which is bearing abundant fruits of holiness and apostolic zeal in our homeland and beyond its borders.

I also greet all the pilgrims who have come to the Eternal City.

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE III WORLD DAY FOR CONSECRATED LIFE

HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II
READ BY CARDINAL EDUARDO MARTÍNEZ SOMALO

Tuesday, 2 February 1999



1. "A light for revelation to the Gentiles" (Lk 2:32).

The Gospel passage we have just heard, taken from St Luke's account, recalls the event that took place in Jerusalem on the 40th day after the birth of Jesus: his presentation in the temple. This is one of the occasions when the liturgical season reflects historical time: today, in fact, 40 days have passed since 25 December, the Solemnity of the Lord's Birth.

This fact is not without significance. It means that the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple creates a sort of "hinge" which separates and joins the initial phase of his life on earth, his birth, and its fulfilment, which is his death and resurrection. Today we leave the Christmas season behind and move towards the season of Lent, which begins in 15 days with Ash Wednesday.

The prophetic words spoken by the aged Simeon shed light on the mission of the Child brought to the temple by his parents: "Behold this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against ... that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed" (Lk 2:34-35). To Mary Simeon said: "And a sword will pierce through your own soul also" (Lk 2:35). The hymns of Bethlehem have now faded and the cross of Golgotha can already be glimpsed; this happens in the temple, the place where sacrifices are offered. The event we are commemorating today is thus a bridge as it were, linking the two most important seasons of the Church's year.

2. The second reading, from the Letter to the Hebrews, offers an interesting commentary on this event. The author makes an observation which leads us to reflect: commenting on Christ's priesthood, he points out how the Son of God "is concerned ... with the descendants of Abraham" (2:16). Abraham is the father of believers, so all believers are in someway included in this phrase "descendants of Abraham" for whom the Child, in Mary's arms, is presented in the temple. The event that occurs before the eyes of those few privileged witnesses is an early prediction of the sacrifice of the Cross.

The biblical text states that the Son of God, in solidarity with mankind, shares their condition of weakness and frailty to the end, that is, until his death, in order to bring about a radical liberation of humanity by once and for all defeating the adversary, the devil, whose power over human beings and every creature lies in death itself (cf. Heb 2:14-15).

With this wonderful synthesis, the inspired author expresses the whole truth about the world's redemption. He highlights the importance of the priestly sacrifice of Christ, who "had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people" (Heb 2:17).

Precisely because it shows the profound link uniting the mystery of the Incarnation with that of the Redemption, the Letter to the Hebrews is an appropriate commentary on the liturgical event we are celebrating today. It highlights Christ's redemptive mission, in which the whole People of the New Covenant take part.

Dear consecrated persons who fill the Vatican Basilica and whom I greet with great affection, you share in this mission in a particular way. This Feast of the Presentation is in a special way your feast: in fact, we are celebrating the Third Day for Consecrated Life.

3. I am grateful to Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, who is presiding at this Eucharist. Through him, I greet and thank those who in Rome and throughout the world are working at the service of consecrated life.

At this time my thoughts turn with special affection to all consecrated persons in every part of the world: they are the men and women who have chosen to follow Christ in a radical way, in poverty, chastity and obedience. I am thinking of the hospitals, the schools, the recreation centres where they work with total dedication to the service of their brethren for the sake of God's kingdom. I am thinking of the thousands of monasteries in which communion with God is lived in an intense rhythm of prayer and work. I am thinking of the consecrated lay persons, discreet witnesses in the world, and of so many who are in the front lines among the poor and the marginalized.

How can we not remember here the men and women religious who, even recently, have shed their blood while performing an apostolic service that was often difficult and uncomfortable? Faithful to their spiritual and charitable mission, they offered their lives in union with Christ's sacrifice for the salvation of humanity. Today, the Church's prayer is dedicated to every consecrated person, but especially to them. She gives thanks for the gift of this vocation and ardently invokes it: indeed, consecrated persons make a crucial contribution to the work of evangelization, bringing to it the prophetic power which comes from the radicalness of their evangelical choice.

4. The Church lives on event and mystery. Today she draws life from the event of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, seeking to understand the mystery it holds. In a way, though, the Church draws each day from this event in Christ's life, meditating on its spiritual meaning. In fact, every evening the elderly Simeon's words which have just been proclaimed echo in churches and monasteries, chapels and homes throughout the world:

"Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel" (Lk 2:29-32).

So prayed Simeon, who in his old age had been granted to see the promises of the Old Covenant fulfilled. So prays the Church, which, sparing no effort, does all she can to bring the gift of the New Covenant to all peoples.

In the mysterious encounter between Simeon and Mary, the Old and New Testaments are joined. Together the ageing prophet and the young mother give thanks for this Light which has kept the darkness from prevailing. It is the Light which shines in the heart of human life: Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of the world, "a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of his people Israel".

Amen!

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE II WORLD DAY FOR CONSECRATED LIFE

FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE

HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II

Monday, 2 February 1998



1. Lumen ad revelationem gentium! “Light for revelation to the Gentiles” (Lk 2:32).

These words resound in the temple of Jerusalem, as 40 days after the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph prepare to “present him to the Lord” (Lk 2:22). By emphasizing the contrast between the modest, humble action of the two parents and the glory of the event as perceived by Simeon and Anna, the Evangelist Luke apparently wants to suggest that the temple itself is waiting for the Child’s coming. In fact, in the prophetic attitude of the two elderly people, the entire Old Covenant expresses the joy of the meeting with the Redeemer.

Simeon and Anna go to the temple both longing for the Messiah, both inspired by the Holy Spirit, as Mary and Joseph take Jesus there in obedience to the precepts of the law. At the sight of the Child, they sense that it is truly he, the Awaited One, and Simeon, as if in ecstasy, proclaims: “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which your have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (Lk 2:29-32).

2. Lumen ad revelationem gentium!

With his inspired words, Simeon, a man of the Old Covenant, a man of the temple of Jerusalem, expresses his conviction that this Light is meant not only for Israel, but also for pagans and all the peoples of the earth. With him, the “aged” world receives in its arms the splendour of God’s eternal “youth”. However, the shadow of the Cross already looms in the background, because the darkness will reject that Light. Indeed, turning to Mary, Simeon prophesies: “This child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed” (Lk 2:34-35).

3. Lumen ad revelationem gentium!

The words of Simeon’s canticle ring out in many temples of the New Covenant, where every evening Christ’s disciples finish the Liturgy of the Hours by praying Compline. In this way the Church, the people of the New Covenant, takes as it were the last word of the Old Covenant and proclaims the fulfilment of the divine promise, announcing that the “light for revelation to the Gentiles” has spread over all the earth and is present everywhere in Christ’s redemptive work.

Together with the Canticle of Simeon, the Liturgy of the Hours has us repeat Christ’s last words on the Cross: In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum — “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (cf. Lk 23:46). It also invites us to contemplate with wonder and gratitude the saving action of Christ, “light for revelation to the Gentiles”, for the sake of mankind: Redemisti nos, Domine, Deus veritatis — “You have redeemed us, Lord, God of truth”.

In this way the Church proclaims the fulfilment of the world’s Redemption, awaited by the prophets and announced by Simeon in the temple of Jerusalem.

4. Lumen ad revelationem gentium!

Today, with our lighted candles, we too go to meet him who is “the Light of the world” and we welcome him in his Church with the full enthusiasm of our baptismal faith. Everyone who sincerely professes this faith is promised the final, definitive “meeting” with the Lord in his kingdom. In Polish tradition, as well in that of other nations, these blessed candles have a special meaning because, after they have been brought home, they are lit in times of danger, during storms and disasters, as a sign of entrusting oneself, one’s family and all one possesses to God’s protection. This is the reason why these candles are called gromnice in Polish, that is, candles which avert lightning and protect against evil, and why this feast is called Candlemas (literally: St Mary of the Candles [“gromnice”]).

Even more eloquent is the custom of putting the candle blessed on this day in the hands of a Christian on his deathbed, that it may illumine his last steps on the way to eternity. This practice is meant to show that, by following the light of faith, the dying person is waiting to enter the eternal dwelling place, where there is no longer “need of light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light” (cf. Rv 22:5).

Today’s responsorial psalm also refers to this entry into the kingdom of light: “Lift up, O gates, your lintels; reach up, you ancient portals, that the Lord of glory may come in” (Ps 23 [24]:7).

These words refer directly to Jesus Christ, who enters the temple of the Old Covenant in his parents’ arms, but we can also apply them to every believer who crosses the threshold of eternity, carried in the arms of the Church. Believers accompany his last journey by praying: “Let perpetual light shine on him!”, so that the angels and saints may welcome him, and Christ, Redeemer of man, may surround him with his eternal light.

5. Dear brothers and sisters, today we celebrate the Second Day of Consecrated Life, which is meant to arouse renewed concern in the Church for the gift of vocations to the consecrated life. Dear men and women religious, dear members of secular institutes and societies of apostolic life, the Lord has called you to follow him in a closer and more exceptional way! In our times, dominated by secularism and materialism, by your total and definitive gift of self to Christ you are a sign of an alternative life to the logic of the world, because it is radically inspired by the Gospel and oriented to future eschatological realities. Always remain faithful to this special vocation!

Today I would like once again to express my esteem and affection to you. I first greet Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, who is presiding over this Eucharistic celebration. Together with him I greet the members of that dicastery and everyone who actively serves consecrated life. I am thinking especially of you, young aspirants to the consecrated life, of you, men and women already professed in various religious congregations and secular institutes, of you who because of advanced age or illness are called to offer the valuable contribution of your sufferings to the cause of evangelization. To you all, I repeat in the words of the Apostolic Exhortation Vita consecrata: “You know the one in whom you have put your trust (cf. 2 Tm 1:12): give him everything! ... Live faithfully your commitment to God, in mutual edification and mutual support.... Do not forget that you, in a very special way, can and must say that you not only belong to Christ but that ‘you have become Christ’” (n. 109).

The lighted candles carried by each person in the first part of this solemn liturgy show the watchful expectation of the Lord which should mark every believer’s life, and particularly the life of those whom the Lord calls to a special mission in the Church. They are a strong reminder to bear witness in the world to Christ, the light that never fades: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:16).

Dear brothers and sisters, may your total fidelity to the poor, chaste and obedient Christ be a source of light and hope for everyone you meet.

6. Lumen ad revelationem gentium!

May Mary, who was prompt in obedience, courageous in poverty and receptive in fruitful virginity as she fulfilled the Father’s will, obtain from Jesus that “all who have received the gift of following him in the consecrated life may be enabled to bear witness to that gift by their transfigured lives, as they joyfully make their way with all their brothers and sisters towards our heavenly homeland and the light that will never grow dim” (Vita consecrata, n. 112).

Praised be Jesus Christ!

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE I WORLD DAY FOR CONSECRATED LIFE

MESSAGE
OF THE HOLY FATHER
JOHN PAUL II
FOR THE I WORLD DAY FOR CONSECRATED LIFE

Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
Dear consecrated persons!

1. The celebration of the World Day for Consecrated Life, which will be observed for the first time on 2 February, is intended to help the entire Church to esteem ever more greatly the witness of those persons who have chosen to follow Christ by means of the practice of the evangelical counsels and, at the same time, is intended to be a suitable occasion for consecrated persons to renew their commitment and rekindle the fervor which should inspire their offering of themselves to the Lord.

The mission of the consecrated life in the present and in the future of the Church, now at the threshold of the third millenium, concerns not merely those who have received this special charism, but the entire Christian community. In the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata issued last year, I wrote: "In effect, the consecrated life is at the very heart of the Church as a decisive element for her mission, since it 'manifests the inner nature of the Christian calling' and the striving of the whole Church as Bride towards union with her one Spouse" (VC 3). Thus, I would like to renew the invitation to consecrated persons to look to the future with confidence, relying on the fidelity of God and the power of his grace, who is always able to accomplish new wonders: "You have not only a glorious history to remember and to recount, but also a great history still to be accomplished! Look to the future, where the Spirit is sending you in order to do even greater things" (VC 110).

The reasons for the World Day for Consecrated Life

2. The purpose of such a day is threefold: in the first place, it answers the intimate need to praise the Lord more solemnly and to thank him for the great gift of consecrated life, which enriches and gladdens the Christian community by the multiplicity of its charisms and by the edifying fruits of so many lives totally given to the cause of the Kingdom. We should never forget that consecrated life, before being a commitment of men and women, is a gift which comes from on high, an initiative of the Father "who draws his creatures to himself with a special love and for a special mission" (VC 17). This look of special love profoundly touches the heart of the one called, who is urged by the Holy Spirit to place himself or herself in the footsteps of Christ, in a particular way of following him, by means of assuming the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience. A stupendous gift!

"What would become of the world if there were no religious?" St. Teresa rightly asked herself (Autobiography, ch. 32, n. 11). This is a question which brings us to give unceasing thanks to the Lord, who by this singular gift of the Spirit continues to enliven and sustain the Church in its demanding journey through this world.

3. In the second place, this day is intended to promote a knowledge of and esteem for the consecrated life by the entire People of God.

As the Council underlined (LG 44) and as I have had occasion to emphasize in the above-mentioned Apostolic Exhortation, consecrated life "'constitutes a closer imitation and an abiding re-enactment in the Church' of the way of life which Jesus, the supreme Consecrated One and missionary of the Father for the sake of his Kingdom, embraced and proposed to his disciples" (VC 22). It is thus a special and living memory of his being Son, who makes of his Father his only love -- his virginity; who finds in him his exclusive richness -- his poverty; and who has, in the will of his Father, the "food" by which he is nourished (cf. Jn 4:34) -- his obedience.

This form of life, embraced by Christ and made present particularly by consecrated persons, is of great importance for the Church, called in every member to live the same upward striving toward God who is All, following Christ in the light and power of the Holy Spirit.

The life of special consecration, in its many forms, is thus at the service of the baptismal consecration of all the faithful. In contemplating the gift of consecrated life, the Church contemplates her own intimate vocation of belonging only to her Lord, desirous of being in his eyes "without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish" (Eph 5:27).

The fittingness of dedicating a special World Day is evident, then, for it assures that the doctrine about consecrated life will be more widely and deeply meditated and assimilated by all members of the People of God.

4. The third reason regards consecrated persons directly. They are invited to celebrate together solemnly the marvels which the Lord has accomplished in them, to discover by a more illumined faith the rays of divine beauty spread by the Spirit in their way of life, and to acquire a more vivid consciousness of their irreplaceable mission in the Church and in the world.

Immersed in a world which is often agitated and distracted, taken up sometimes by the press of responsibilities, consecrated persons also will be helped by the celebration of this annual World Day to return to the sources of their vocation, to take stock of their own lives, to confirm the commitment of their own consecration. In this way, they will be able to give witness with joy to the men and women of our time, in diverse situations, that the Lord is the Love who is able to fill the heart of the human person.

Truly there is great urgency that the consecrated life show itself ever more "full of joy and of the Holy Spirit," that it forge ahead dynamically in the paths of mission, that it be backed up by the strength of lived witness, because "modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses" (Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Nuntiandi 41).

On the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple

5. The World Day for Consecrated Life will be celebrated on the feast which commemorates the presentation which Mary and Joseph made of Jesus in the temple "to present him to the Lord" (Lk 2:22).

This Gospel scene reveals the mystery of Jesus, the One consecrated by the Father, come into the world to carry out his will faithfully (cf. Heb 10:5-7). Simeon points to Jesus as "a light for revelation to the Gentiles" (Lk 2:32) and by a prophetic word foretells the supreme offering of Jesus to the Father and his final victory (Lk 2:32-35).

In this way the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple is an eloquent icon of the total offering of one's life for all those who are called to show forth in the Church and in the world, by means of the evangelical counsels "the characteristic features of Jesus -- the chaste, poor and obedient one" (VC 1).

Mary is associated with the presentation of Christ.

The Virgin Mother who carries Jesus to the temple so that he can be offered to the Father expresses very well the figure of the Church who continues to offer her sons and daughters to the heavenly Father, associating them with the one oblation of Christ, cause and model of all consecration in the Church.

For some years now, in the Church of Rome and in other dioceses, the feast of 2 February has almost spontaneously brought numerous members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life around the Pope and diocesan pastors in order to demonstrate together, in communion with the entire People of God, the gift and commitment of their call, the variety of charisms of consecrated life, and their special place within the community of believers.

It is my wish that this experience be extended to the whole Church, so that the celebration of the World Day for Consecrated Life may gather consecrated persons together with other faithful in order to sing with the Virgin Mary the marvels which the Lord accomplishes in so many of his sons and daughters, and to manifest to all that being a "people consecrated to himself" (cf. Deut 28:9) is the condition of all those who are redeemed by Christ.

Fruits hoped for the mission of the whole Church

6. Dear brothers and sisters, as I entrust to the maternal protection of Mary the institution of this World Day, I deeply hope that it bear abundant fruits for the holiness and the mission of the Church. May it help, in a special way, to heighten in the Christian community an esteem for vocations of special consecration, to stimulate ever more intense prayer for obtaining them from the Lord, in this way helping to mature in young people and families a generous willingness to receive them as gift. The life of the Church as a whole will draw benefit from this and so will the new evangelization.

I trust that this World Day of prayer and reflection will help the particular Churches to treasure ever more the gift of consecrated life and to be measured by its message, to find the proper and fruitful balance between action and contemplation, between prayer and charity, and between commitment in the present time and eschatological hope.

May the Virgin Mary, who had the sublime privilege of presenting to the Father his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as a pure and holy oblation, obtain for us that we may constantly be open and welcoming in face of the great works which He does not cease to accomplish for the good of the Church and of all of humanity.

With these sentiments, and with the prayer that consecrated persons may persevere with joy in their vocation, I impart to all the Apostolic Blessing.

Vatican City, 6 January 1997.