Speaking on World Day for Consecrated Life, Benedict XVI speaks about the Presentation of Jesus. He describes the evangelical event as “an eloquent icon of total giving of one’s life by those, men and women, called to reproduce in the Church and the world, through evangelical counsels, the typical traits of Jesus, namely chastity, poverty and obedience”.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – In an age like ours in which, especially in the most developed societies, there is a “radical plurality” that comes with “a progressive marginalisation of religion from the public sphere” and “a relativism that touches fundamental values”, those who choose the religious life “must be bright and coherent Christian witnesses” and engage in an “ever attentive and generous effort at educating”, said Benedict XVI. He spoke today, feast day of the Presentation of Jesus, and 15th World Day for Consecrated Life.

During the celebration of Vespers in a basilica crowded with men religious and nuns, he described the evangelical story about the Presentation of Jesus to the temple as “an eloquent icon of total giving of one’s life by those, men and women, called to reproduce in the Church and the world, through evangelical counsels, the typical traits of Jesus, namely chastity, poverty and obedience.”

This led Benedict XVI to formulate “three short ideas about the reflection for this feast day. “Firstly, the evangelical icon of the Presentation of Jesus to the temple contains the fundamental symbol of light. This light, starting with Christ, spreads out to Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, and through them, to everyone else. The Fathers of the Church compared it to a spiritual journey. The consecrated life is an expression of that journey, especially as ‘philokalia’, that is the love for divine beauty, reflecting God’s goodness. The light of such beauty shines on Christ’s face. [. . .] However, those who are called to the consecrated life have a singular experience of life that emanates from the Word incarnate. The profession of the evangelical counsels makes them in fact a sign and prophecy for the community of brothers and the world.”

“Secondly, the evangelical icon becomes a manifestation of the prophecy, a gift of the Holy Spirit. As they looked upon the child Jesus, Simeon and Anna saw his destiny of death as well as his resurrection for the salvation of all nations. They proclaimed such mystery as universal salvation. The consecrated life is a call to bear such prophetic witness, linked to both a contemplative and an active attitude. The consecrated can manifest the primacy of God, the passion of the Gospel practiced as a form of life, proclaimed to the poor and the last of the earth. In view of such primacy, nothing can come before a personal love for Christ and the poor for whom He lives. The actual prophecy is born from God, from the friendship with him, from carefully listening to his Word in the various circumstances of history. This way, the consecrated life, in its daily occurrences on the roads of humanity, is a manifestation of the Gospel and the Kingdom, which is already present and functioning.”

“Thirdly, the evangelical icon of the Presentation of Jesus to the temple is a manifestation of the wisdom of Simeon and Anna, a wisdom of life totally devoted to the search of God’s face, his signs, and will, a life dedicated to listening and proclaiming his Word. ‘Faciem tuam, Domine, requiram’: Seek God's face – your face, LORD, do I seek! (Sal, 27:8) . . . The consecrated life is a visible sign in the world and the Church of the search of the Lord’s face and the ways that lead to Him (John, 14:8) . . .  The consecrated person, therefore, gives witness to the task, at once joyful and laborious, of the diligent search for the divine will’ (cf Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, The Service of Authority and Obedience, Faciem tuam, Domine, requiram, 2008, 1).

Finally, Benedict XVI urged men and women religious to “listen unremittingly to the Word, because each wisdom of life is born of the Word of the Lord!  Carefully read the Word, through the lectio divina, because consecrated life ‘is born from hearing the word of God and embracing the Gospel as its rule of life. A life devoted to following Christ in his chastity, poverty and obedience thus becomes ‘a living exegesis’ of God’s word’. The Holy Spirit, in whom the Bible was written, is the same Spirit who illumines ‘the word of God with new light for the founders and foundresses. Every charism and every rule springs from it and seeks to be an expression of it”, thus opening up new pathways of Christian living marked by the radicalism of the Gospel’ (Post-synodal Ap. Exhort, Verbum Domini, 83)”.

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