VATICAN (CNS): Pope Leo XIV praised consecrated men and women for reaching the world’s peripheries and remaining with their people, even in the midst of conflict.
“They remain, often stripped of all security, as a living reminder—more eloquent than words—of the inviolable sacredness of life in its most vulnerable conditions,” he said on February 2 in his homily for the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, which also marks the Catholic Church’s celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life.
“Even where weapons roar and arrogance, self-interest and violence seem to prevail,” he said, the presence of these consecrated men and women “proclaims the words of Jesus” in his parable of the lost sheep: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for … their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”
The Mass began with the pope blessing the candles with holy water for the entrance procession. Dozens of consecrated men and women led the candlelit procession as the lights in St. Peter’s Basilica stayed dimmed, and thousands in attendance also held lit candles.
After the basilica was filled with light, Pope Leo, who joined the Order of St. Augustine and was a long-time missionary in Peru, reflected on the mission of religious men and women within the Church and the world.
Dear brothers and sisters, the Church asks you to be prophets—messengers who announce the presence of the Lord and prepare the way for him
Pope Leo XIV
“Dear brothers and sisters, the Church asks you to be prophets—messengers who announce the presence of the Lord and prepare the way for him,” he said in his homily. “You are called to this mission above all through the sacrificial offering of your lives, rooted in prayer and in a readiness to be consumed by charity,” he said.
Obedient to the Holy Spirit, the founders of religious orders and communities provide “wonderful models of how to fulfill this mandate faithfully and effectively,” he said.
He described them as “living in constant tension between earth and heaven,” allowing themselves to be guided by faith and courage. While some were “led to the silence of the cloister, others to the demands of the apostolate,” all returned “humbly and wisely, to the foot of the cross and to the tabernacle, where they offered everything and discovered in God both the source and the goal of all their actions.”
Pope Leo also highlighted founders who “embarked on perilous undertakings.”
He noted, “They became a prayerful presence in hostile or indifferent environments, a generous hand and friendly shoulder amid degradation and abandonment, and witnesses of peace and reconciliation in situations marked by violence and hatred. They were ready to bear the consequences of going against the current, becoming, in Christ, a ‘sign of contradiction,’ sometimes even to the point of martyrdom.”
You are called to bear witness to God’s saving presence in history for all peoples, even within a society in which false and reductive understandings of the human person increasingly widen the gap between faith and life
Pope Leo
One way to honour these brothers and sisters, he said, is “by carrying forward their legacy.”
The pope said, “You are called to bear witness to God’s saving presence in history for all peoples, even within a society in which false and reductive understandings of the human person increasingly widen the gap between faith and life.”
He said, “You are called to testify that the young, the elderly, the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned hold a sacred place above all else on God’s altar and in his heart,” and to show that each person is “an inviolable sanctuary of God’s presence, before whom we must bend our knee, in order to encounter him, adore him and give him glory.”
Many religious communities, he said, have established “outposts of the gospel … in a wide variety of challenging contexts, even in the midst of conflict.” These communities remain with their people as they seek to uphold the sacredness of human life in its most vulnerable conditions.
“Consecrated life, in its serene detachment from all that is passing, reveals the inseparable bond between authentic care for earthly realities and hope filled with love for what is eternal,” he said. This, he added, gives meaning to everything else.
By professing the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, consecrated men and women “empty” themselves so that Christ, “the one eternal messenger of the covenant who remains present among humanity today, can melt and purify hearts with his love, grace and mercy,” Pope Leo said.
Through this self-emptying and life in the Spirit, he said, consecrated men and women “can show the world the way to overcome conflict, sowing fraternity through the freedom of those who love and forgive without measure.”
Pope Leo said, “Dear consecrated men and women, today the Church gives thanks to the Lord and to you for your presence,” encouraging them “to be leaven of peace and signs of hope wherever Providence may lead you.”
