Celebrating Consecrated Life

"Wake up the world" icon by Vivian Imbruglia

The Catholic Church holds its annual celebration of the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life on February 2nd and in parishes over this weekend of February 6-7. This event is a special time for individual parishes and the greater Church to celebrate the gift of consecrated life and pray for men and women discerning a consecrated vocation.

Instituted by St. Pope John Paul II in 1997, World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life is celebrated in conjunction with the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas Day, which commemorates through the blessing and lighting of candles that Christ is the light of the world. So too, those in consecrated life are called to reflect the light of Jesus Christ to all peoples.

Credible Witnesses, Rejoice In The Lord

The first witness we give of God’s kingdom is living authentically

our consecrated life and the call to be credible witnesses of the Gospel

and a joyful presence in our world today.

By our vowed and communal life we reveal

a prophetic and counter-cultural way of acting and living

that shows respect for all peoples and our common home.

The richness of our unity and diversity makes us signs of a universal solidarity

in a society marked by brokenness, violence and divisions.

Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny

Missionary Priorities

In the Encyclical Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis invites all Consecrated Persons to act together, to bring about a rebirth in everyone “a universal aspiration to fraternity” (n. 8), to dream together (n. 9) so that “in the face of present-day attempts to eliminate or ignore others, we may prove capable of responding with a new vision of fraternity and social friendship…” (n. 6).

Consecrated men and women in religious, monastic and contemplative institutes, in secular institutes and new institutes, members of the ordo virginum, hermits, members of societies of apostolic life, we ask all of you to place this Encyclical at the center of your life, formation and mission.

We cannot disregard this truth any more: we are all brothers and sisters, as, in fact, we pray, not necessarily consciously of it, in the Our Father. This Encyclical, written in a historical moment that Pope Francis himself has called “the hour of truth,” is a precious gift for every form of consecrated life that, without denying the many wounds to fraternity, can find in it the roots of prophecy.

We are faced with a new call from the Holy Spirit. In light of the doctrine on the Church-communion, just as St. John Paul II urged consecrated persons to “be true experts of communion and to practice the spirituality of communion” (Vita consecrata, n. 46), Pope Francis, drawing inspiration from St. Francis, founder and inspirer of so many institutes of consecrated life, broadens the perspective and invites us to be architects of universal brotherhood, custodians of the common home: of the earth and of every creature (cf. Encyclical Laudato si’). Brothers and sisters towards all, regardless of faith, culture and traditions, because the future is not “monochrome” (n. 100) and the world is like a polyhedron that lets its beauty shine through its different facets.

“Let us dream, then, as a single human family, as fellow travelers sharing the same flesh, as children of the same earth which is our common home, each of us bringing the richness of his or her beliefs and convictions, each of us with his or her own voice, brothers and sisters all” (FT n. 8). Therefore, in light of this dream that is entrusted to our hands, to our passion, and to our perseverance, this celebrating of Consecrated Life and the Presentation of the Lord, will once again be a beautiful feast to praise and thank the Lord for the gift of our vocation and mission!