Religious hold candles as Pope Francis celebrates a Mass marking the World Day for Consecrated Life in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Feb. 1, 2020. The Mass was celebrated on the vigil of the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. (CNS photo/Stefano Dal Pozzolo, pool)

For religious, God’s love is worth more than any earthly good, pope says

369 0

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When one is totally in love with the Lord, then poverty, chastity and obedience are not sacrifices, but vehicles of freedom, Pope Francis told consecrated men and women.

Celebrating the World Day for Consecrated Life, Pope Francis urged women and men religious to be people of hope, and he asked all Catholics to pray for the hundreds of thousands of women and men who continue to consecrate their lives totally to serving God and their brothers and sisters.

Led by candle-bearing men and women from a variety of religious orders, Pope Francis processed into a darkened St. Peter’s Basilica Feb. 1 for a vigil celebration of Candlemas — the feast of the Presentation of the Lord — and the Vatican celebration of the World Day for Consecrated Life.

And, on the feast day itself, Feb. 2, he spoke about how every member of the church has a role to play in sharing the good news of salvation in Christ.

After reciting the Angelus prayer on the feast day, he asked people in St. Peter’s Square to join him in praying a Hail Mary for “the consecrated men and women who do so much work, so often hidden.”

In his homily at the Mass with religious the evening before, Pope Francis focused on the figures of Simeon and Anna, who were present in the Temple when Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus. Simeon and Anna, who dedicated their lives to prayer, recognized Jesus as the Messiah.

Simeon says that he can die in peace because he had seen “the grace that was worth more than life,” the pope said.

Religious men and women and consecrated virgins also “caught sight of the treasure worth more than any worldly good,” Pope Francis said. “And so, you left behind precious things such as possessions, such as making a family for yourselves.”

“You fell in love with Jesus, you saw everything in him, and enraptured by his gaze, you left the rest behind. Religious life is this vision,” he said.

A key to perseverance and joy in religious life is to be always aware of the presence of God’s grace, the pope told the religious. “The tempter, the devil, focuses on our ‘poverty,’ our empty hands,” the things one did not achieve, the lack of recognition and the struggles one has had.

A temptation that every Christian, including religious, experiences is that of seeing life in a “worldly way” rather than focusing on God’s grace at work. When that happens, the pope said, people go off “in search of something to substitute for it: a bit of fame, a consoling affection, finally getting to do what I want.”

Focus on God’s enduring love is the only antidote, the pope said. “If consecrated life remains steadfast in love for the Lord, it perceives beauty. It sees that poverty is not some colossal effort, but rather a higher freedom that God gives to us and others as real wealth. It sees that chastity is not austere sterility, but the way to love without possessing. It sees that obedience is not a discipline, but is victory over our own chaos, in the way of Jesus.”

Simeon was able to recognize the Messiah because he had been looking for him, the pope said. He never lost hope.

“Looking around, it is easy to lose hope: things that don’t work, the decline in vocations,” the pope said, but a life devoid of hope is a worldly one, not one focused on Jesus and trust in God’s love and fidelity.

“We become blind if we do not look to the Lord every day, if we do not adore him,” the pope told the religious. “Adore the Lord.”

Related Post

Blessed Stanley Rother's sister, Sister Marita Rother, gives the first reading during the beatification Mass for her brother Sept. 23 at Oklahoma City's Cox Convention Center. Blessed Rother, a priest of the Oklahoma City Archdiocese, was murdered in 1981 in the Guatemalan village where he ministered. (CNS photo/Dave Crenshaw, Eastern Oklahoma Catholic)

Blessed Rother ‘an authentic light’ for church and world, says cardinal

Posted by - September 30, 2017 0
OKLAHOMA CITY (CNS) — If the martyrdom of Blessed Stanley Francis Rother “fills us with sadness,” it also “gives us…
Fr. Maurizio Gronchi, professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical Urbanian University in Rome, speaks at the presentation of a book by Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, on Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation, "Amoris Laetitia," at the Vatican Feb. 14. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Vatican canon law official explains provisions of ‘Amoris Laetitia’

Posted by - February 19, 2017 0
By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The provisions of “Amoris Laetitia” allow people in irregular marriage…
Pope Francis poses in the Sistine Chapel with members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See at the end of an audience for the traditional exchange of new year's greetings at the Vatican Jan. 9. The pope said that religions are "called to promote peace" and appealed to "all religious authorities to join in reaffirming unequivocally that one can never kill in God's name." (CNS photo/Alberto Pizzoli, pool)

Pope to diplomats: Break bad habits of war, injustice

Posted by - January 12, 2017 0
 By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — At the start of a new year, Pope Francis laid…
Dawn Teresa Parkot and her father, Sean, discuss why they are opposed to the Aid in Dying bill at the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton March 25, 2019. Parkot, a quadriplegic motivational speaker with athetoid cerebral palsy, was among dozens of advocates making their voices heard as the bill went to a vote in both chambers of the state Legislature. The bill passed the Assembly 41-33 and the Senate 21-16. (Hal Brown, The Monitor)

Pro-lifer says allowing assisted suicide like ‘state-sanctioned execution’

Posted by - April 6, 2019 0
TRENTON, N.J. (CNS) — Dawn Teresa Parkot does not mince words when she speaks about the Aid in Dying bill.…