It is fitting to recall the Second Vatican Council when it determined that "the state of life which consists in the profession of the evangelical counsels, even if it does not belong to the hierarchical structure of the Church, nevertheless belongs, without discussion, to her life and holiness." (LG 44).
Jesus proclaimed the evangelical counsels addressed to all his disciples. Naturally, according to the state of each person. Moreover, and from its birth, the consecrated life is a state of life that one enters because one makes public "profession" of these same evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience. And "without discussion" this state belongs to the life and holiness of the Church. After so many centuries and with so many institutes, what life would the Church have without the Consecrated Life? And how would the holiness of the Church be without the holiness of those who have professed the evangelical counsels - and then - with a multitude of canonizations and beatifications - and now - trying to follow the Lord more closely with all fidelity?
It has been proven, therefore, and not only theoretically but also by experience, that the experience of consecrated persons, with an enormous proportion of women over men, shapes the Church in a vital and sanctifying way.
Consecrated life serves vital needs and, among them, the most primordial: the salvation of souls.
We see those who are close to us in education and health care, in caring for the poor of the old and new poverties, and in many other tasks and services. We know of those who have left their homeland to go to the missions "ad gentes" or to other missions. We sense - although socially difficult - those who live the cloistered life in monasteries, to grow in their contemplative life of prayer and work, for the benefit of the whole Church and for the salvation of the world. It is that all consecrated life, with its different statutes and in its different forms, attends to vital needs and, among them, the most primordial: the salvation of souls.
However, we must know that what they are is even more important than what they do. And they are, in the Church, consecrated to God the Father and therefore, in his Son, brothers and sisters to all of us. I was impressed by the exclamation of a little girl when, referring to a religious sister, she said: "This Sister is very sisterly!
Thus, by the vitality of the consecrated life we can diagnose the vigor of the whole Church. And vice versa. And, in this time of lack of vocations in the Consecrated Life, we should examine ourselves on what is happening in all of us regarding the living of faith in the following of the Lord.
We have to analyze our lives and provide the means so that new vocations to consecrated life may continue to spring up in the Church.
Because it is not the same for vocations of special consecration in all nations and continents, nor is it the same for all institutes, since in a few of them they flourish and grow. For this reason it also seems necessary to make a sincere analysis of how we live and, at the same time, to put in place the means so that new vocations to consecrated life continue to spring up in the Church.
St. John Paul II wrote in 1996: "In some regions of the world, social changes and the decline in the number of vocations are taking their toll on consecrated life. The apostolic works of many Institutes and their very presence in certain local Churches are in danger. As has already happened at other times in history, there are Institutes that are even in danger of disappearing." (Vita Consecrata, 63). It has been 25 years since he established the Day of Consecrated Life for every February 2 and since then, on Candlemas with St. Mary, consecrated men and women - in many dioceses - renew their profession of the evangelical counsels before their Bishop in his cathedral.
I will never be able to forget a phrase, as short as it is substantial, that Pope Francis was kind enough to say to me during a greeting in June 2014: "Consecrated persons need to be greatly encouraged". And it is easy to understand. Because in the current situation, when discouragement could spread the most, it is when encouragement is most necessary. Fraternal encouragement in the Spirit.
Priest of the Archdiocese of Madrid
