‘Being consecrated to God is desirable,’ says Vatican ...

Mass to mark the end of the 12 months for Consecrated life and Jubilee party for yr of Mercy in Westminster Cathedral. (Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk)

Mar. 25, 2021Catholic information company

VATICAN metropolis – Consecrated existence is captivating and contains a call to witness to what's appealing and proper, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz wrote Thursday in a letter marking the twenty fifth anniversary of St. John Paul II's apostolic exhortation on consecrated life.

"If God is beautiful and the Lord Jesus 'is the most captivating among the many sons of guys,' then being consecrated to Him is captivating. The consecrated grownup is called to be a witness of attractiveness," Braz de Aviz wrote March 25.

"How attractive is our being virgins to love together with his coronary heart, our being poor to say that he's the simplest treasure, our obedience to His will for salvation, and even among ourselves to are trying to find best him," he spoke of.

"it's fascinating to have a coronary heart it's free to welcome the ache of those that endure, to display them the compassion of the eternal One."

The prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated existence and Societies of Apostolic existence published the letter, searching returned at St. John Paul II's apostolic exhortation Vita consecrata.

St. John Paul II issued the exhortation in 1996 on the Solemnity of the Annunciation after the Synod on Consecrated lifestyles and its role within the Church and the world.

Braz de Aviz talked about that the Vatican did not need the 25th anniversary of the apostolic exhortation's ebook "to move not noted."

He said: "In that doc, the bishops commonly reaffirmed that 'consecrated existence is at the very heart of the Church as a decisive element for her mission ... a valuable and critical reward for the latest and way forward for the people of Go d.'"

Consecrated lifestyles inside the Catholic Church is a state of life "set apart" which comprises the profession of vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience in imitation of Christ.

In Vita consecrata, John Paul II described consecrated lifestyles as an "icon of the transfigured Christ."

"The consecrated lifestyles, deeply rooted within the illustration and teaching of Christ the Lord, is a present of God the daddy to his Church through the Holy Spirit. by way of the career of the evangelical counsels, the characteristic features of Jesus -- the chaste, negative and obedient one -- are made constantly 'visible' in the middle of the world and the eyes of the faithful are directed in opposition t the secret of the dominion of God already at work in heritage, even as it awaits its full attention in heaven," John Paul II wrote.

"In all ages there were guys and girls who, obedient to the father's call and to the prompting of the Spirit, have chosen this particular manner of following Christ, with the intention to commit themselves to him with an 'undivided' heart (cf. 1 Cor 7:34). just like the Apostles, they too have left everything in the back of with the intention to be with Christ and to put themselves, as he did, on the carrier of God and their brothers and sisters."

"during this method, through the many charisms of non secular and apostolic existence bestowed on them by means of the Holy Spirit, they have got helped to make the mystery and mission of the Church shine forth, and in doing so have contributed to the renewal of society."

The text of Vita consecrata should "continue to be some extent of reference within the coming years" and will nourish the "creative fidelity of consecrated individuals," Braz de Aviz said in his letter.

"In a global which risks sinking into traumatic brutality, the by the use of pulchritudinis [way of beauty] looks to be the most effective me ans to reach on the actuality or to make it credible and engaging," he spoke of.

"Consecrated guys and girls have to reawaken in themselves, but notably in the men and ladies of our time, an attraction for what is eye-catching and proper."