Ansa
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“We join you on the eve of a day dear to all of us, consecrated and consecrated, because it is dedicated to our wonderful vocation which in various ways makes God’s love shine for man, woman and the whole universe”.
Thus begins the letter written by Cardinal João Braz de Aviz and by Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo – prefect and secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life – for the 25th Day of Consecrated Life which is celebrated on Tuesday 2 February, the liturgical feast of the Presentation of the Lord. For the occasion in St. Peter’s Basilica, at 5.30 pm, the Pope will preside over a Eucharistic celebration “devoid of the signs and joyful faces that illuminated it in previous years, yet always an expression of that fruitful gratitude that characterizes our lives”, Braz always writes de Aviz and Rodríguez Carballo.
Which, in their message, underline the importance of the encyclical for the present moment All brothers: “Consecrated and consecrated in religious, monastic, contemplative institutes, secular institutes and new institutes, members of the Ordo virginum, hermits, members of societies of apostolic life, we ask all of you to put this encyclical at the center of your life, formation and mission. From now on we cannot ignore this truth: we are all brothers and sisters, as indeed we pray, perhaps not with much awareness, in the Our Father, because “without an openness to the Father of all, there can be no solid reasons and stable for the appeal to fraternity “(n. 272)».
The first day of consecrated life was celebrated on February 2, 1997 at the behest of St. John Paul II. The initiative was born after the Synod of Bishops on consecrated life in October 1994 and the subsequent apostolic exhortation of March 1996, entitled Consecrated life. In it the Polish Pontiff recalled that “as regards the significance of the holiness of the Church, an objective excellence is to be recognized in consecrated life, which reflects the very way of life of Christ. Precisely for this reason, in it there is a particularly rich manifestation of the evangelical goods and a more complete realization of the aim of the Church which is the sanctification of humanity.
Consecrated life announces and in a certain way anticipates the future time, when, having reached the fullness of that Kingdom of heaven which is already present in germ and mystery, the children of the resurrection will neither marry nor marry, but will be like angels of God (cf Mt 22:30). In fact, the excellence of perfect chastity for the Kingdom, rightly considered the “door” of all consecrated life, is the object of the constant teaching of the Church ».
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