Conference of Religious India celebrates World Day for Consecrated Life

February 02 ,2013: The Catholic Church celebrates World Day of Consecrated Life on 2^nd February. In India major celebrations are planned by Religious Congregations and even Parishes.

On this Day the Holy Father celebrates a special Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and sends a message to the Catholics of the world. The Conference of Religious India (CRI) calls for celebrating the World Day of Consecrated Life with a spirit of Innovation which is the overall emphasis of the Leadership Conference 2012. The Madhya Pradesh Regional CRI has sent out a wall post across the country to remind everyone of the significance of the day. “The World Day for Consecrated Life will be celebrated on the feast which commemorates the presentation which Mary and Joseph made of Jesus in the temple to present him to the Lord” said Pope John Paul II who constituted this special day. The 160 Local CRI Units across India are celebrating it with a variety of programmes, including day long seminars and reach out activities.

Most Parishes keep it on the Sunday after 2^nd February to educate the laity about the significance of Consecrated Life and promote this form of life for the youth of today. Special gathering are held Diocese wise and Parish wise linking it up with the Year of Faith, as vocation to religious life is part of this faith becoming fruitful. Consecrated Life includes Religious Life of various types that has evolved in the history of the Church, Secular Institutes of various shades as well as new forms of life that are blossoming across the globe today. Some of the Major Superiors of the Congregations have instructed their communities to use the Day as an opportunity to reach out with the core message of their charism. The Leadership Conference 2012 had taken the Religious of India on an Innovation path and this year’s World Day of Consecrated Life is bound to have its impact to take on this prophetic action.