World Day of Consecrated Life, Feb. 2

Pope Francis is scheduled to preside Mass on Sunday for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The Day is also celebrated as the Day of Consecrated Life. Blessed John Paul II, initiated the Day for the first time in 1997. According to a Vatican communique, the purpose of the day is: to respond to the need to praise the Lord for the gift of this state of life which belongs to the holiness of the Church; develop the testimony of those who have chosen to follow Christ through the practice of the evangelical counsels; to renew all consecrated their commitment to the Lord.

The Feast celebrates the Presentation of Our Lord as the first-born of the Father and the celebration of religious who proclaim in the Church and in the world, the beauty of their call to be offered to the Lord in a special way. Concelebrating with the Pontiff on the feast day include: Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz; Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo, OFM, Secretary of the Congregation; Assistant Secretary Sebastiano Paciolla; Adolfo Nicolas Pachón, Jesuit Superior General and President of the Union of Superiors; Fr Luigi Gaetani, of Discalced Carmelites, and President of the Italian Conference of Major Superiors; Pascual Chavez, Rector Major of the Salesians, and others.

The celebration will be begin with a procession of 50 consecrated persons - 25 men and 25 women. It is a sign of the variety of services, and the universality of the different expressions of consecrated life in the Church. What is new this year is the presence of young consecrated persons in the procession, who are juniors or in their period of temporary incorporation.

Each carries a lighted candle, a symbol of Christ, the light of the world, and the call of the consecrated life to be a light to the world.Source: VR Sedoc