On 2 February, feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, the universal Church celebrated the 16th day of consecrated life. As Blessed John Paul II’s post-synodal exhortation on the consecrated life and its mission in the Church and the world, Vita Consecrata rightly points out, “Consecrated life … is a gift of God the Father to his Church through the Holy Spirit. By the profession of the evangelical counsels the characteristic features of Jesus – the chaste, poor and obedient one – are made constantly ‘visible’ in the midst of the world and the eyes of the faithful are directed towards the mystery of the Kingdom of God already at work in history, even as it awaits its full realization in heaven” (§ 1).
Consecrated life is paradoxical. Although it is temporarily rooted in the here and now it essentially roots its foundations in the coming world. In other words, the new earth and the new heaven which the second letter of Saint Peter speaks so eloquently about: “According to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3: 13). Moreover the same letter details how the believer in Jesus Christ should wait for the eventual advent of his Master. Saint Peter observes: “Since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the forbearance of our Lord as salvation” (2 Pet 3: 14-15).
Consecrated life was intended to be a life of forbearance in order that the consecrated person would excel in the virtue of self-giving love. By faithfully observing the iter of its originator, Jesus Christ, consecrated life, in its multifarious expressions, powerfully promotes Jesus’ lived ideal: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). The fruit that Jesus refers to translates itself into the various modes through which the Holy Spirit sanctifies and consolidates the Church in her crucial yet indispensable mission of making Christ present and felt in today’s world.
Charisms are pivotal in the Church’s witness to Jesus Christ. Vita Consecrata says: “Through the many charisms of spiritual and apostolic life bestowed on them by the Holy Spirit, … [consecrated persons] have helped to make the mystery and mission of the Church shine forth, and in doing so have contributed to the renewal of society” (§ 1). Furthermore, the different charisms of consecrated life are a convincing evidence that communion in the Church is never tantamount to servile uniformity. On this point the post-synodal exhortation is clear when it states that charisms “will be all the more helpful to the Church and her mission the more their specific identity is respected [because] … every gift of the Spirit is granted in order to bear fruit for the Lord in the growth of fraternity and mission” (§ 4).
Ecclesial horizontal fraternity, which consecrated life is called to build, needs the vertical personal and communitarian fraternity with Jesus Christ. Borrowing Hans Urs von Balthasar’s phrase: “The [consecrated person] stands and falls with prayer.” Additionally it is a prayer that favours the poor and oppressed.
Pope Benedict XVI’s reflection on this important reality is significant. “By your prayer and intercession, you are the advocates of all who seek God, who are journeying towards God. You bear witness to a hope, which, against every form of hopelessness, silent or spoken, points to the fidelity and the loving concern of God. Hence you are on the side of those who are crushed by misfortune and cannot break free of their burdens. You bear witness to that love which gives itself for humanity and thus conquered death. You are on the side of all who have never known love, and who are no longer able to believe in life. And so you stand against all forms of injustice, hidden or apparent, and against a growing contempt for man”.
Have you ever thought of joining an institute of consecrated life?
Mario Attard OFM Cap
SAN GWANN