Pope Francis at Mass:
‘Consecrated life renewed in encounter with Jesus’
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| Pope Francis at Mass on World Day for Consecrated Life. (Vatican Media) |
On the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Pope Francis
in his homily at Mass for the World Day for Consecrated Life invites religious
men and women to be reborn in their daily encounter with Jesus Christ.
By Devin Watkins
Pope Francis told the men and women gathered in St. Peter’s
Basilica for Mass on Friday evening that consecrated life “is born and reborn
of an encounter with Jesus as he is: poor, chaste, and obedient.”
The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord also marked the 22nd World
Day for Consecrated Life.
Young and old
In his homily, Pope Francis reflected on Jesus’ presentation in the Temple and the Gospel encounter between two couples: the young Mary and Joseph, and the elderly Simeon and Anna.
“The old receive from the young, while the young draw upon
the old,” he said. “In the Temple, Mary and Joseph find the roots of their
people.” He said they also find the “roots of their faith”, which he said is
“the art of living with God, learned from the experience of those who have gone
before us.”
The Pope said this fruitful exchange between young and old
is possible because it is centered on Jesus.
Encounter with Jesus
He said this is true also of the lives of consecrated men and women. “Everything started in an encounter with the Lord,” he said. “Our journey of consecration was born of an encounter and a call.”
However, the Holy Father reminds us, “we can never renew our
encounter with the Lord without others.” He said Jesus must be at the center of
our lives and that the young must learn from the more experienced members of a
community.
“For if the young are called to open new doors, the
elderly hold the keys. An institute remains youthful by going back to its
roots, by listening to its older members. There is no future without this
encounter between the old and the young. There is no growth without roots and
no flowering without new buds. There is never prophecy without memory, or
memory without prophecy.”
Brothers and sisters over screens and projects
Pope Francis warned against looking “at the screen of a cellphone more than the eyes of our brothers and sisters”. He said that when projects, methods, and organization are given top priority “consecrated life stops being attractive”.
He said consecrated life “frees our affections of every
possession in order fully to love God and other people.” Like Simeon, the Pope
said, it helps us to hold the Lord in our arms and keep him in mind in all that
we do.
“Having the Lord “in our hands” is an antidote to insular
mysticism and frenetic activism, since a genuine encounter with Jesus corrects
both saccharine piety and frazzled hyperactivity.”
The secret to a vibrant spiritual life, said Pope Francis,
is “a willingness to allow ourselves to encounter Jesus and to be encounter by
him”.
“If we encounter Jesus and our brothers and sisters in the
everyday events of our life, our hearts will no longer be set on the past or
the future, but will experience the “today of God” in peace with everyone.”
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