World Day of Consecrated Life is celebrated in all the dioceses of the world, on 2 February, with a celebration, often in the cathedral: the anniversaries of consecration of men and women religious in the diocese are remembered with gratitude. During the Holy Mass of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, religious men and women renew their baptismal promises and evangelical vows.
At the mother of all churches, St Peter’s Basilica, the celebration presided over by Pope Francis will be at 5.30pm.
To emphasise the value of witnessing, to question the meaning of one’s calling, more simply to say ‘thank you’. Every year on 2 February, the Church celebrates consecrated men and women and that ‘yes’ to God’s call that has taken them to every corner of the planet, guided by docility to the Spirit’s imagination.
The date coincides with the feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, an icon, wrote John Paul II who decided it, “of the total donation of life” by those called to reproduce “through the evangelical counsels, the characteristic traits of the virgin, poor and obedient Jesus”.
