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)