40 days before Christmas we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. A festivity that gathers around itself a multitude of traditions. On the one hand, it is celebrated as a Marian feast: the Purification of Mary, Our Lady of Candelaria; on the other, as a Christological feast: Jesus is presented in the temple, God presents His Son to humanity, represented by the elders Simeon and Anna who recognize in Him the Messiah. This celebration of the consecration of the child God led John Paul II to establish on this day, in addition, the World Day for Consecrated Life, dedicated to deepen the knowledge and esteem of consecrated men and women by all the People of God and also, of course, to give thanks to God for this immense gift for the Church.
They say that consecrated life is at a low ebb, that the vocation crisis will wipe out hundreds of institutes in a few years... In this regard, I have to say that if consecrated life is dying of something, it is not of asphyxia, but of success, because the human need that many founders detected and that impelled them to fight with all their strength for this charism to remain alive, has been overcome to a great extent. How much consecrated life has done for education, health care, social services, culture and the struggle for the dignity of persons! After centuries of being a "light that enlightens the nations", institutes and congregations have ensured that today education and health care are a basic right, that societies are concerned about the most vulnerable, that men and women of the 21st century are involved in the struggle for a more just world through social movements....
Of course, in all these fields we must continue to bring the Gospel and its genuine practical application and the primitive charisms have continued to find ways to adapt to today, but congratulations for what you have done! Congratulations and thank you because this world is better because of you. Who more, who less owes you their education, their academic or professional career, the possibility of reconciling their family and work life, their physical or mental health, being free of addictions, or their peace of mind by having provided them with a dignified place for their parents' retirement.
And how much do we owe to contemplative communities? Apart from vertebrating entire towns and neighborhoods, their prayer sustains each and every one of the actions of the rest of the Christian community and remains as a lamp on the lampstand that shows us all year long that God alone is enough.
Today I would like to promote a great thanksgiving to God, but also to each of the men and women whose consecration God has used so that you and I can have a better life today. It is enough for us to make a phone call or upload a tweet or a photo on Social Networks saying thank you, thank you to that nun to whom we owe our life because she helped us to be born, to that religious who accompanied us in our adolescence, to that sister who takes care of our father. Today it's time to pick up the phone and say #ThankYouConsecrated
