By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
"God our Father, we thank you for calling men and women to serve in your Son’s Kingdom as sisters, brothers, religious priests, consecrated virgins, and hermits, as well as members of Secular Institutes. Renew their knowledge and love of you and send your Holy Spirit to help them respond generously and courageously to your will. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."
Feb. 2, 2021
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Since 1997, on the initiative of Pope St. John Paul II, a day of prayer for men and women in consecrated life is observed on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, February 2nd. Also known as Candlemas Day, when traditionally candles used in the Church’s liturgy are blessed, this feast evokes the “light” that consecrated life brings into our world.
Archbishop Thomas Wenski
For the vowed life is a witness of the search for God. Religious life is not about the seeking of self but rather the seeking of God. The only reason for this choice in life is to seek to know his will, to build a community of brothers and sisters in which God is sought after and loved before all else.
In the Archdiocese of Miami, we have usually observed this World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life (on or near the Feast of the Presentation) with a Mass honoring our religious men and women serving in the archdiocese who are celebrating jubilees or other significant milestones followed by a simple, but elegant, dinner. However, this year because of the pandemic and considering the vulnerabilities of some of our jubilarians, prudence suggested that we defer a public celebration. (Read about this year's honorees here.)
However, by means of this letter, I wish to congratulate all our religious sisters, brothers and priests who celebrate jubilees this year; and I want to express my gratitude to and esteem for all members of consecrated life serving in the Archdiocese of Miami.
In the world, we see people who are concerned with their own autonomy, people jealous of their freedom, people fearful of losing their independence. In such a world, as vowed religious, you are necessarily signs of contradiction. Your existence — in the world but not of the world — points to the possibility of a different way of fulfillment of one’s life, “a way where God is the goal, his Word the light, and his will the guide, where consecrated persons move along peacefully in the certainty of being sustained by the hands of a Father who welcomes and provides, where they are accompanied by brothers and sisters, moved by the same Spirit, who wants to and knows how to satisfy the desires and longings sown by the Father in the heart of each one.”
Vatican II rightly emphasized all the baptized are called to holiness. Thus, all are equally called to follow Christ, to discover in him the ultimate meaning of our existence. But the “consecrated” are the Church “concentrated” — as it were. Your lives as consecrated religious are at the very heart of the Church. Your radical embrace of the Gospel makes manifest the inner nature of every Christian’s calling. As the Church “concentrated,” you give us a unique witness to the implication of our own baptismal call to holiness. Your consecrated life is a gift to the Church that makes manifest the striving of the whole Church as Bride towards union with her one Spouse, Jesus Christ.
Or, in the words of the Second Vatican Council, “the ultimate norm of religious life is the following of Christ” (vitae religiosae ultima norma sequela Christi).
You vow to live the evangelical counsels: poverty, chastity and obedience which the world — and too often the faithful — see as simply renunciations. However, they are more than that — for each counsel in its own unique way is a specific acceptance of the Mystery of Christ lived out within the Church. Again, in your resolve to give up everything to embrace Christ and his Gospel, you are the Church “concentrated.” And through you and your witness, the evangelical counsels — “characteristic features of Jesus, the chaste, poor, obedient one” — are made constantly visible in the world.
On behalf of the People of God, as the Archbishop of Miami, I thank you for your commitment lived out with such enthusiasm, generosity and joy.
Let us pray for one another. (Oremus pro invicem)
