By Father Ryan W. Connors
Last week the Church throughout the world observed the World Day for Consecrated Life. This annual celebration offers an occasion to thank God for the gift consecrated persons make to the Church and to the world.
The various forms of religious consecration benefit the Church in a variety of ways. In our own diocese one thinks of the many apostolates carried out by religious communities of men and women. Schools, hospitals, and charitable works of all kinds have been the purview of religious for centuries. The activities of other consecrated persons are more hidden from view. Cloistered religious women, hermits, and other consecrated individuals offer both a witness to the life of prayer and sacrifice and intercede efficaciously on behalf of the whole Church.
A certain mythology has taken hold in some corners of the Church. Some persons labor under the illusion that the Church can flourish without religious. She can’t. From the earliest days some Christians have dedicated their whole lives to prayer and to the works of charity. Those who embrace the evangelical counsels offer a witness to every Christian of the truth that God alone satisfies the human heart.
We do well to ask how we can make consecrated life appear as a more apparent possibility in the lives of the young. What can we do to ensure that the Church of Providence will have many and holy religious for the years to come?
First off, we need to dispel the notion that consecrated life is a kind of optional add-on to the life of the Church. Instead, the Church in her very essence includes some among the baptized who dedicate their lives more completely to the life of prayer and to the pursuit of the perfection of charity. We all rely upon the prayers of those whose lives are set apart for God’s service. As the Second Vatican Council makes plain: “The state of life which is constituted by the profession of the evangelical counsels, while not entering into the hierarchical structure of the Church, belongs undeniably to her life and holiness” (Lumen Gentium, no. 44).
Second, it bears a moment’s reflection how important consecrated life is precisely for the contemporary ecclesial moment. Those consecrated to poverty, chastity, and obedience help to undo the materialism, unchastity, and individualism of our culture. Only with examples of those dedicated to the evangelical counsels can we hope to offer an alternative to the sadness-inducing errors we find to be unfortunately common today.
Third, every believer should pray that more Christians respond generously to the divine initiative to follow Him. The image of Peter, James, and John on Mount Tabor contemplating the transfigured Christ offers a paradigm of religious consecration today. By means of the evangelical counsels, those who are impelled by grace to more deeply consecrate themselves to Christ in the Church offer a witness and salutary aid to every Christian. The World Day for Consecrated Life should remind every believer of the duty to beg God to send many and holy consecrated persons into our midst.
Reverend Ryan W. Connors is rector of the Seminary of Our Lady of Providence; Director of Pre-Ordination Formation for the Diocese of Providence, and director of St. John Vianney Residence, Providence.
