XXVI World Day of Consecrated Life

February 2, the Fest of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, the Church celebrates the XXVI World Day of Consecrated Life. This year’s theme is “Journeying Together,” an invitation to participate in the Church’s “journey” of synodality. Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and the Secretary of that dicastery, Monsignor José Rodríguez Carballo, with a Letter address all consecrated men and women, inviting them to actively participate in the ecclesial journey that opened on October 10, 2021, entitled “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission”.

In his Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata, Pope St John Paul II stated that “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” ”.

Regarding religious brothers and consecrated life, the Vatican document, “Identity and Mission of the Religious Brother in the Church” underlines that “The Religious Brother and Sister, by participating in the saving mystery of Christ and the Church, are permanent reminders for all Christian people of the importance of the total gift of self to God and a reminder that the mission of the Church, respecting the various vocations and ministries within it, is one and is shared by all”.

Concerning the mission of the Marist Brothers, the XXII General Chapter highlighted that “our vocation implies an availability to go anywhere in our worldwide family, working alongside the poor, especially children and young people, to transform the world. o being brothers is a call to be signs of humanity in all its fulness, which implies healing the wounds of our own lives, promoting the dignity of each person, and caring for our common home.”

United with Pope Francis, who will celebrate a televised Mass in the Vatican at 17.30 Italian time, we ask the Lord to inspire religious to be a prophetic voice and beacon of hope in this troubled world.