VATICAN CITY, FEB 1, 2003 (VIS) - At 5:30 this evening, feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Pope John Paul presided at the Eucharistic celebration in St. Peter's Basilica for members of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life as they celebrate the Day of Consecrated Life.
The principal moments of tonight's celebration included the liturgy of light, with the lighting and blessing of candles, followed by a procession, the liturgy of the Word and the Eucharistic liturgy.
In his homily the Pope said that "the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple shows itself as being especially suitable to host the grateful praise of consecrated persons, and with good reason we have been celebrating for several years now the 'Day of Consecrated Life'. The image of Mary who, in the temple, offers her Son to God, speaks eloquently to the hearts of the men and women who have totally given themselves to the Lord through the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience for the Kingdom of Heaven."
The Holy Father remarked that consecrated people throughout the world today "renew their consecration, holding in their hands lighted candles, an expression of their ardent existence of faith and love. We too, here in St. Peter's Basilica, raise a solemn prayer of thanksgiving to God for the gift of consecrated life in the diocese of Rome and in the universal Church."
He pointed to the statues in St. Peter's that depict the founders of many religious orders, congregations and institutes, saying "they recall the mystery of the communion of saints, by force of which ... is renewed, from generation to generation, the choice to follow Christ with special consecration according to the multiple charisms stimulated by the Spirit."
Pope John Paul, in closing, affirmed that "poverty, chastity and obedience are distinctive characteristics of redeemed man, interiorly freed from the slavery of egoism. Free to love, free to serve: these are the many men and women who renounce themselves for the Kingdom of Heaven."
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