I am writing this post on the eve of the 2017 World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life (February 2nd). In 1997 Pope St. John Paul 11 instituted a day of prayer for women and men in consecrated life. The celebration is attached to the Feast of the Presentation or Candlemas Day, a day when traditionally candles are blessed in churches symbolizing Christ, Light of the World. So too members of communities of consecrated life are called to be light in the world as they live out their particular vocation together with all others who are called through their special vocations to be light for our times.
For many who have experienced what appears to be a demise in consecrated life there seems to be little light around religious vocation! Yet, in his new book, “Religious Life in the Twenty First Century: The Prospect of Refounding”, Diarmuid O’Murchu, presents a picture of future promise. He notes the need for a commitment of members of religious communities to “evolutionary becoming” – involving openness to change, attentiveness to emerging patterns of consciousness, lives responding generously to an unfolding future already present in process today. That future, according to O’Murchu is a future of hope.
O’ Murchu says: “In time - in God’s own time new seedlings will sprout. For me, at least, history leaves us in no doubt about that fact. Sometime in the latter half of the twenty first century, probably towards its end, we can expect a new breakthrough for the vowed life. We can do nothing to bring it about at an earlier date; it is a divine initiative and not of our making. However we can anticipate it with eager faith and by cultivating that discerning predisposition so characteristic of the great foundresses – and of the great founders too – prepare ourselves for the new horizons our God has waiting for us. Central to this discerning anticipation is the wisdom to read the signs of the times and identify urgent needs requiring a radical new Gospel response.”
In light of such hope we do well to be open to the Spirit still calling women and men to consecrated life, encouraging them in their becoming and praying for that new life in God’s own time.
At a practical level, the National Association of Vocation and Formation Directors (NAVFD) whose President, Mary Rowell, and Executive Director, Nancy Sullivan are members of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada, report the faith in and support of that hope from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation in the form of a substantial grant to Canada. The grant will enable NAVFD to conduct, across the country, much needed research relating to vocations to consecrated life and to prepare and initiate a vibrant and open action plan in profound hope and promise.
Mary Rowell, CSJ: Vocation Director
Photography: Christine Carbotte, CSJ