This year is dedicated to “Consecrated Life”. What do we mean when we say that we are consecrated? Evidently the dictionary definitions – to be declared sacred; set apart – are no longer meaningful within a worldview where everything is sacred and all creation is infused with the Divine. There is no separation between the sacred and profane; all is sacred; all is holy.
Taking vows therefore can no longer be interpreted in terms of making more sacred what already is sacred. Our vowed life is our particular way of living out our baptismal consecration and the different vocations within our Family are complementary calls to bear witness to God Alone who invites us to commit ourselves to the Divine mission. In our Family, there are no hierarchies; we are a Family of equals where members live out their baptismal consecration in fidelity to their particular vocation.
So, consecration by vows involves neither separation nor superiority. In our Founder’s words: “You have not separated yourselves from those who live under the common law.... you follow them... you share with them as far as you can all the fatigues, trials and dangers of the journey” (Preface 1851)
During this year the Pope urges us to “remember the past with gratitude, live the present with passion and look to the future with hope”.
Remembering our past helps us deepen our sense of belonging to our Family; to take courage from those who have gone before us and whose lives can inspire us and give us hope for the future.
Pope Francis challenges us to live the present with passion. Like our Founder and first members, are we close to people to the point of sharing their joys and sorrows? Living the present with passion means becoming “experts in communion”, architects of God’s Divine plan that all be one.
Third, we look to the future with hope – a hope that is not based on statistics or accomplishments, but on the One in whom we have put our trust and for whom “nothing is impossible” This is the hope which does not disappoint; it is the hope which enables consecrated life to keep writing its great history well into the future. It is to that future that we must always look, conscious that the Holy Spirit spurs us on so that God can still do great things with us.
Sr. Gemma Corbett, Unit Leader, Britain & Ireland