Cardinal Tobin reflects on the role of consecrated women, men

My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

Yesterday, February 2, the Church celebrated the annual World Day for Consecrated Life. Instituted by St. John Paul II in 1997, this celebration is meant to be a day of special gratitude to God for those consecrated to God by the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. I thank God for the many ways consecrated women and men enrich the Archdiocese of Newark.

All baptized Christians are called to observe the virtues of chastity, poverty and obedience, the three evangelical (or Gospel) counsels. Purity of heart, poverty of spirit, and openness to God’s will are fundamental to Christian life. They enable us to live unselfishly and, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, to follow Jesus as missionary disciples committed to carrying out the mission He has entrusted to us.

Throughout  Christian history, some women and men have experienced a particular call to consecrate their lives to an intense, focused pursuit of these virtues. As noted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#916):

The state of consecrated life is thus one way of experiencing a “more intimate” consecration, rooted in Baptism and dedicated totally to God. In the consecrated life, Christ’s faithful, moved by the Holy Spirit, propose to follow Christ more nearly, to give themselves to God who is loved above all and, pursuing the perfection of charity in the service of the Kingdom, to signify and proclaim in the Church the glory of the world to come.

All are called to holiness, and in this respect no state of life in the Church is better than any other. And yet, our Church is enriched by a wonderful diversity of ways to live the Gospel and give witness to the Light of Christ, which Scripture calls “A light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel” (cf. Lk 2:29–32). The Catechism (#917) describes the Consecrated Life as “one great tree with many branches,” and it speaks of this tree as “branching out into various forms of the religious life lived in solitude or in community…. in which spiritual resources are multiplied for the progress in holiness of their members and for the good of the entire Body of Christ.”

Click here to continue reading Cardinal Tobin’s column Rejoice in the Lord.