Apostolic Exhortation for the Year of Consecrated Life

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With the Apostolic Exhortation for the Year of Consecrated Life , Pope Francis proclaimed a year of consecrated life . The letter was published on November 21, 2014 and bears no usual title, the Pope addressed this appeal directly to the "Dear Women and Men of Consecrated Life" and expresses that he is their brother, God like them is consecrated, writes.

background

The guiding principle for the "Year of Orders" is:

“I wanted to give you a word and that word is joy. Wherever there are consecrated people, there is always joy! "

- Pope Francis

The fiftieth anniversary of the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium (21 November 1964) and the Decree Perfectae Caritatis (On the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life of 28 October 1965) many took religious orders and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life for Reason for the Pope to wish to proclaim a “Year of Consecrated Life”. Both of the aforementioned documents deal with the situation of religious and reflect on the modern renewal of religious life. The Congregation of the Order published the letter “Rejoice” on February 2, 2014, it summarizes the teachings of the Popes on the religious communities and would like to develop common thoughts for the upcoming invitation:

“This newsletter is justified in the above invitation and wants to initiate a common reflection, simply offering itself as a means to make an honest comparison between the gospel and life. On the way to 2015, the year of consecrated life, the Congregation hopes to start a common path of reflection - on a personal, fraternal and institutional level - with the aim of daring to make evangelical decisions ... "

- Rejoice, greeting formula (para. 7)

The Pope followed this wish with his Apostolic Letter and declared:

“… I have decided, in accordance with the wishes of many of you and of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, to proclaim a year of consecrated life. It will begin on November 30th, the first Sunday of Advent, and end with the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the temple on February 2nd, 2016. "

- Apostolic Letter November 21, 2014 (No. 1 (2))

Table of contents

In the first part of the letter with the objectives, Francis leans on the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrate of Pope John Paul II (1978-2005) and calls on the communities “to remember their beginnings and their historical development”. He calls for passion and asks for careful listening. He had already expressed his expectations of the religious communities, which he presented in the second part, in his apostolic letter Evangelii gaudium (November 24, 2013) and he repeated some of these expectations. In particular, he wants religious people not only to be required to be “radical in accordance with the gospel”, but also to be “prophets who give testimony to how Jesus lived on this earth.” In his exhortation he expressly emphasized, “ that addiction to criticism, gossip, envy, jealousy, antagonisms, attitudes (conflict) have no place in your homes ”. In the third part of his letter, he emphasizes the importance of lay and charismatic families and encourages them to continue working. In addition, he underlines the importance for the entire Church and refers in this context to Saint Benedict of Nursia (around 480 - 547), Basil the Great (around 330 - 379), Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430), Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556), Vinzenz von Paul (1581–1660) and Johannes Bosco (1815–1888) and Saints Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582), Angela Merici (1474–1540) and Teresa of Calcutta (1910–1997) who preached the gospel in a special way. At the end he writes:

“Finally, I address my confreres in the episcopate in a special way. May this year be an opportunity to receive the consecrated life with heart and joy as a spiritual capital that offers rich help for the good of the whole body of Christ and not just that of the religious families (cf. Lumen Gentium, 43). "Consecrated life is a gift to the Church, it arises in the Church, grows in the Church and is completely oriented towards the Church" ... As a gift to the Church, it is therefore not an isolated marginal phenomenon, but is deeply connected to it … In this context, I invite you Pastors of the particular Churches, with particular zeal, to promote the various charisms - historical as well as new - in your communities, supporting, stimulating and helping them to discern; by showing tender loving closeness in situations of suffering and weakness in which many consecrated persons can find themselves and, above all, by enlightening the people of God with your preaching about the value of consecrated life, so that you can appreciate its beauty and holiness let the church shine. "

- Apostolic Letter for the Year of Consecrated Life (5)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pope FRANCIS, authentic and consistent. Encounters with seminarians, novices. Rome, 6 July 2013, in: Osservatore Romano, Monday / Tuesday 8/9 July 2013, CLIII (155), p. 6.
  2. ↑ Newsletter "Rejoice" [1]