Vijayawada (AsiaNews) - A moment of reflection and activity with which the Church "calls on the religious to renew their consecrated life, bearing in mind the need for evangelization and vocations in the world". This is how Vincentian priest, Fr. Jose, the associate director of the Mangalagiri retreat centre, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, described the Year of Consecrated life, which will open on November 21, 2014.
In preparation of this period, along with 160 other priests, religious and nuns, Fr. Joji has participated in a rally organized on 12 October at the auditorium of Stella Maris College.
The meeting was opened with the celebration of the Eucharist presided over by Fr. Jose, in which he urged the congregation to "thank God constantly, pray fervently, to rejoice in the blessings of the universal Church and be faithful to Mary as it has been in his life of consecration."
At the end of the Mass, priests and nuns who participated in a seminar focusing on the study of "Rejoice," the letter released by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life ahead of the Year.
The local branch of the Conference of Religious India (CRI) has invited the various communities to participate in a kind of "competition" in which each order can give its interpretation of "Rejoice" through songs, mimes, dances and sketches.
* Missionary of the Immaculate Conception, a congregation of women associated with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME)
