Vatican City, 3 February 2015 (VIS) –
The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, 2 February, is
the Day for Consecrated Life and yesterday afternoon, as is customary
on this occasion, the Holy Father presided at Holy Mass in the
Vatican Basilica with the members of the Institutes of Consecrated
Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life. The ceremony began with the
blessing of the veils and the procession, and continued with the
Eucharistic celebration, during which the Pope gave a homily
emphasising the characteristics of consecrated life.
“Before our eyes we can picture
Mother Mary as she walks, carrying the Baby Jesus in her arms”, he
began. “She brings him to the Temple; she presents him to the
people; she brings him to meet his people. The arms of Mother Mary
are like the 'ladder' on which the Son of God comes down to us, the
ladder of God’s condescension. This is what we heard in the first
reading, from the Letter to the Hebrews: Christ became 'like His
brothers and sisters in every respect, so that He might be a merciful
and faithful high priest'. This is the twofold path taken by Jesus:
He descended, He became like us, in order then to ascend with us to
the Father, making us like Himself. In our heart we can contemplate
this double movement by imagining the Gospel scene of Mary who enters
the Temple holding the Child in her arms. The Mother walks, yet it is
the Child who goes before her. She carries him, yet He is leading her
along the path of the God who comes to us so that we might go to Him.
Jesus walked the same path as we do, and shows us the new way, the
'new and living way' which is He Himself. For us, consecrated men and
women, this is the one way which, concretely and without
alternatives, we must continue to tread with joy and perseverance”.
Francis continued, “Fully five times
the Gospel speaks to us of Mary and Joseph’s obedience to the 'law
of the Lord'. Jesus came not to do His own will, but the will of the
Father. This way – He tells us – was His 'food'. In the same way,
all those who follow Jesus must set out on the path of obedience,
imitating as it were the Lord’s 'condescension' by humbling
themselves and making their own the will of the Father, even to
self-emptying and abasement. For a religious, to advance on the path
of obedience means to abase oneself in service, that is, to take the
same path as Jesus, who 'did not deem equality with God a thing to be
grasped'. By emptying himself he made himself a servant in order to
serve”.
For consecrated persons, this path
“takes the form of the rule, marked by the charism of the founder.
For all of us, the essential rule remains the Gospel, yet the Holy
Spirit, in His infinite creativity, also gives it expression in the
various rules of the consecrated life which are born of the sequela
Christi, and thus from this journey of abasing oneself by serving.
Through this 'law' which is the rule, consecrated persons are able to
attain wisdom, not something abstract, but a work and gift of the
Holy Spirit. An evident sign of such wisdom is joy. The evangelical
happiness of a religious is the fruit of self-abasement in union with
Christ”.
In the account of Jesus’ Presentation
in the Temple, wisdom is represented by two elderly persons, Simeon
and Anna: “persons docile to the Holy Spirit, led by Him, inspired
by Him”, emphasised the Holy Father. “The Lord granted them
wisdom as the fruit of a long journey along the path of obedience to
His law, an obedience which likewise humbles and abases, but which
also lifts up and protects hope, making them creative, for they are
filled with the Holy Spirit. … Mary, the young mother, and Simeon,
the kindly old man, hold the Child in their arms, yet it is the Child
himself who guides them both”.
The Pontiff noted that, on this
occasion, it is the elderly, rather than the young, who are creative:
“the young, like Mary and Joseph, follow the law of the Lord, the
path of obedience. The elderly, like Simeon and Anna, see in the
Child the fulfilment of the Law and the promises of God. And they are
able to celebrate: they are creative in joy and wisdom. And the Lord
turns obedience into wisdom by the working of His Holy Spirit”.
However, “at times God can grant the gift of wisdom to a young
person, but always as the fruit of obedience and docility to the
Spirit. This obedience and docility is not something theoretical; it
too is subject to the economy of the incarnation of the Word:
docility and obedience to a founder, docility and obedience to a
specific rule, docility and obedience to one’s superior, docility
and obedience to the Church. It is always docility and obedience in
the concrete”.
In persevering along along the path of
obedience, “personal and communal wisdom matures, and thus it also
becomes possible to adapt rules to the times; indeed, true
'renovation' is the fruit of wisdom forged in docility and obedience.
The strengthening and renewal of consecrated life are the result of
great love for the rule, and also the ability to look to and heed the
elders of one’s congregation. In this way, the 'deposit', the
charism of each religious family, is preserved by obedience and by
wisdom, working together. By means of this journey, we are preserved
from living our consecration “lightly”, in an disembodied manner,
as if it were some sort of gnosis which would ultimately reduce
religious life to caricature, a caricature in which there is
following without renunciation, prayer without encounter, fraternal
life without communion, obedience without trust, and charity without
transcendence.
“Today we too, like Mary and Simeon,
want to take Jesus into our arms, to bring Him to his people”, the
Pope concluded. “Surely we will be able to do so if we enter into
the mystery in which Jesus Himself is our guide. Let us bring others
to Jesus, but let us also allow ourselves to be led by Him. This is
what we should be: guides who themselves are guided”.
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