Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - In a Message issued for the 11th annual Day for the Consecrated Life the Italian Bishops write: “February 2nd Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the Church celebrates the Day for Consecrated Life, thanking God for the men and women who follow the Lord with joy and dedication in this form of life. We will have an opportunity to reflect on the Gospel of the Day (Lk 2,22-40)”.
The message highlights three aspects referring to the Gospel passage. Firstly Jesus is offered to God: “Mary and Joseph take him to Jerusalem to offer him to God’ and they accompany this gesture with an offering for the Temple … Consecration - the evangelist tells us - has its origin in the family, in the parents daily offering of themselves for their children in their task of handing on the faith… Consecrated life, Luke seems to tell us , is a path of events and stages which express the development of a vocation”. The Bishops encourage all consecrated persons, women religious in particular who, “offer tireless service to families” in various ways.
The two devout Jews Simeon and Anna are described by Luke in their act of offering to God. Anna never stops “fasting and prayer”, offering herself for the Temple and Simeon “the upright man awaiting salvation for himself and for his people”. “Consecrated persons are called to remain in the ‘Temple’ to arrange their day around the prayer of the Church so they perceive the presence of God in daily life. Sharing the expectations and needs of society today they are able to announce to this frenetically changing world which often loses its points of reference, that salvation is still present and it comes from God through his Son”.
The Gospel for the Feast of the Presentation concludes with the Holy Family which returns to Nazareth where Jesus lives many years of hidden life, obedient to his parents. This “domestic” dimension of the Gospel is an opportunity to remind men and women religious who live their consecration in a secular order, as members of the order of virgins, or widows that through the vow of chastity they consecrate themselves to prayer and service of the Church. “They offer a precious but often invisible service to society. This characteristic of their consecration does not lesson the importance of what they do, because for those who offer their life to God and neighbour, there is no difference between Temple and home”. The Message concludes with a wish that all consecrated persons may be “certain that the offering of their life is a precious and pleasing gift which God accepts as he accepted the life of Christ”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 16/1/2007; righe 32, parole 477)
