Pope Francis Dedicates the Year 2015 to Consecrated Life
* At a meeting remarkable by its informality, with the Union of Superiors General of religious men held in Rome in November, 2013 Pope Francis expressed his views on the nature and role of consecrated (religious) life today and for the future. The Holy Father entered into dialogue with the gathered participants. He responded to their questions relating to his expectations for contemporary consecrated life. The superiors asked the Pope, “”What do you ask of us? If you were in our place, what would you do to respond to your call to go to the frontiers, to live the Gospel? What should we hear you calling us to do? What should be emphasized today? What are the priorities?” The following are some of the key remarks made by Pope Francis.
While emphasizing the call to all Christians to radical discipleship, the Holy Father, himself a religious priest, went on to say that men and women members of religious communities are called to follow Jesus in a special way. “They are men and women who can awaken the world. Consecrated life is prophecy. God asks us to fly the nest and to be sent to the frontiers of the world, avoiding the temptation to ‘domesticate’ them. This is the most concrete way of imitating the Lord.”
Pope Francis said that the Church “grows through witness, not by proselytism” … attractive witness, “associated with attitudes which are uncommon: generosity, detachment, sacrifice, self-forgetfulness in order to care for others.” The Holy Father called this the “martyrdom” of religious life that “sounds an alarm” for people. With their life, religious say something significant to the world. He called on religious men and women to witness to a different way of doing things in action and in living. Religious men and women, he said, are to be on the periphery from which reality is best observed and engaged in order that they may be acquainted with the life-experiences of people. If this doesn’t happen then we “run the risk of being abstract ideologists or fundamentalists, which is not healthy.”
The priority of consecrated life, the Holy Father said, is “Prophecy of the Kingdom, which is non-negotiable…Religious are men and women who light the way to the future.” He continued, “Prophecy makes noise, uproar, some say ‘a mess’. But in reality, the charism (or gift of the Spirit to religious communities) of religious people is like yeast: prophecy announces the Spirit of the Gospel.” Charism, however, is not like “a bottle of distilled water. It needs to be lived energetically as well as reinterpreted culturally.”
What a lively and challenging call to all religious women and men and to those who may be discerning a vocation to consecrated life and what a wonderful foundation as we plan for the approaching year dedicated to consecrated life! Watch this site for ideas and resources as we begin those preparations for such a celebration of and re-commitment to the wonderful call to consecrated life in the Church and world.