Dear Friends,
In thinking back on the beautiful virtual prayer service that our five conferences of consecrated life held on February 2nd, I decided to go back and reread Pope Francis’ remarks for the World Day for Consecrated Life. He focused his reflection on the heart of consecrated life (after the Eucharist) the evangelical counsels. In speaking of evangelical poverty – which “frees from attachment to worldly things” – the Pope observes that it enables men and women to “manifest the goodness of those things in the order of love, rejecting everything that can obscure their beauty—selfishness, greed, dependence…and embracing instead all that can highlight that beauty: simplicity, generosity, sharing and solidarity.” We recognize that our natural propensity to possess never leaves us but challenges us daily to pray for the disposition to true poverty as Christ was-–forgiving, generous with time and tending to His neighbor. The vow of chastity, its origin founded in the Trinity and the love between the three divine Persons,” enables “consecrated persons to speak to the world about the primacy of God’s love…as well as overturning the drive for superficial relationships and selfish affectivity that seeks to use others for their own fleeting pleasure.” The Pope notes on a personal level “what a balm it is for the soul to encounter religious women and men capable of a mature and joyful relationality.” He then spoke about the vow of obedience which consecrated people embody in their “deep sense of responsibility animated by mutual trust” and that loneliness is set aside by this evangelical counsel of obedience acting as an antidote to isolated individualism, since it fosters active listening. Only in this way,” says Francis, “can a person fully experience the joy of gift, over-coming loneliness and discovering the meaning of his or her existence in God’s greater plan.” These evangelical counsels are the lights which, with the Eucharist, light our paths and nourish our affirmation: Here we are, Lord; we come to do your will!
Happy Easter to all.
Sue Larkin
