

“Pope Francis had announced the Year of Consecrated life in November (2013) at a meeting with the Union of Superiors General.

Noting that the Year will take place in the context of the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, Cardinal Braz de Aviz said, “We believe that the Council has been a breath of the Spirit not only for the whole Church but, perhaps especially, for the consecrated life. We are also convinced that in these 50 years consecrated life has undertaken a fruitful journey of renewal — not free, certainly, of difficulties and hardships — in the commitment to follow what the Council asked of the consecrated: fidelity to the Lord, to the Church, to their own charism and to the people of today.

For this reason, he said, the first objective of the Year of Consecrated Life would be to “make a grateful remembrance of the recent past.”



With this positive outlook on the past, he continued, “we want to ‘embrace the future with hope’— the second objective. Although the crises that affect the world and the Church are also felt within consecrated life, Cardinal Braz de Aviz said women and men religious remain full of hope, based not on their own powers, but on trust in the Lord. “In Him,” he said, “no one can rob us of our hope.”

This hope, though, he said, cannot keep us from “living the present with passion” — and this is the third objective of the coming Year. This passion, the Cardinal said, speaks of “being in love, of true friendship, of profound communion.” This is “the true beauty of the life of so many women who profess the evangelical counsels and follow Christ ‘more closely’ in this state of life.” In this regard, he said, the Year of Consecrated Life will have an evangelical focus, helping people to realize “the beauty of following Christ” in the various types of religious vocations.”



For further information from the official Vatican site: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccscrlife/



“On January 31, 2014, Abp. José Rodriguez Carballo, Secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, announced that the Year of Consecrated Life would begin in October 2014, with the anniversary of the Conciliar Constitution “Lumen gentium”, “On the Church in the Modern World” (November 21, 1964). The Solemn Masses of the official opening and conclusion of the Year of Consecrated Life will be celebrated on November 21, 2014 (World Day “Pro Orantibus”) and November 21, 2015, for the anniversary of the promulgation of the Decree “Perfectae Caritatis” (October 28, 1965), which adapted religious life to the conciliar novelties, while citing “Lumen gentium”.”

http://www.dici.org/en/news/2014-2015-a-year-of-consecrated-life/

Share this: Twitter

Facebook

Like this: Like Loading... Related