Pope Leo
Since Wednesday, October 8, religious men and women, monks and contemplatives, members of secular institutes, members of the Ordo virginum, hermits and members of the “new institutes” from different countries participated in this jubilee event, which will conclude on the afternoon of this October 9.
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“Abandon yourself like children in the arms of the Father”
After greeting all the participants of the jubilee, the Holy Father began his homily by reflecting on the phrase from the Gospel of Saint Luke: “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you” (Lk 11:9). With these words, he explained, “Jesus invites us to turn with confidence to the Father in all our needs.”
Addressing the consecrated people in particular, the Pontiff reminded them that “to live the vows is to abandon oneself like children in the arms of the Father.”
In this sense, he stressed that “to ask” is to recognize, in poverty, “that everything is a gift from the Lord and to give thanks for everything”; “to seek” is to open oneself, “in obedience, to discover every day the path we must follow to achieve holiness, according to God’s designs”; and “to call” is to ask for and offer the brothers “the gifts received with a pure heart, striving to love everyone with respect and gratuitousness.”
Pope Leo
“He has always loved and chosen us”
Thus, he reminded them that He “has always loved and chosen us” and that it is essential “to look back on one’s own existence, bringing to mind and heart everything that the Lord has done, over the years, to multiply talents, to increase and purify faith, to make charity more generous and free.”
He specified that although sometimes this has happened in joyful circumstances, other times through paths more difficult to understand “and even through the mysterious crucible of suffering,” it has always been “in the embrace of that paternal kindness that characterizes his action in us and through us, for the good of the Church.”
“The Lord is everything”
In this context, he affirmed that God is the fullness and meaning of our life: “The Lord is everything. He is in different ways, whether as Creator and source of existence, as love that calls and challenges, as a force that drives and encourages donation.”
“Without Him nothing exists, nothing has meaning, nothing is worth, and your ‘ask’, ‘seek’ and ‘call’, both in prayer and in life, refer to this truth,” he noted.
As is customary in his homilies, Pope Leo XIV evoked Saint Augustine to remind consecrated people “of the need for infinity that lives in the heart of every man or woman in this world.”
Precisely for this reason, he insisted that the Church entrusts them with the task of being, by stripping away everything, “living witnesses of the primacy of God in their existence, also helping as much as they can the other brothers and sisters they will meet to cultivate their friendship with Him.”
He also stated that “history teaches us that from an experience of God, generous impulses of charity always spring forth,” as has happened in the lives of its founders.
Given the current trend of those who affirm that it is “useless to serve God,” the Pope explained that it is “a way of thinking that leads to an authentic paralysis of the soul, by which one is content with a life made up of fleeting moments, of superficial and intermittent relationships, of passing fashions, all of them, things that leave the heart empty.”
“To be truly happy, man does not need that, but consistent, lasting, solid experiences of love,” he stated.
Finally, the Holy Father reflected on the eschatological dimension of Christian life, “which wants us to be committed to the world, but at the same time constantly oriented towards eternity.”
In this sense, he cited the Second Vatican Council, where it is stated that “the consecrated are called in a particular way to be witnesses of ‘future goods’.”
The Pontiff pointed out that the Lord, to whom they have given everything, “has reciprocated them with such beauty and richness,” and urged them to treasure and cultivate them, remembering the words of Paul VI: “Preserve the simplicity of the least of the Gospel.”
“Know how to find it in the intimate and most cordial relationship with Christ or in direct contact with your brothers. You will then know ‘the overflowing of joy due to the action of the Holy Spirit’ that belongs to those who are introduced into the secrets of the Kingdom,” he indicated.
Finally, he invited them to be “truly poor, meek, hungry for holiness, merciful, pure of heart; be among those, thanks to whom the world will know the peace of God.”
Almudena Martínez-Bordiú
Graduated in Journalism and Advertising from the CEU San Pablo University in Madrid. Specialized in religious information in Spain since 2015. She has been a senior correspondent for ACI Prensa and EWTN Noticias in the Vatican for two years and is currently a European correspondent based in Spain.