2 February: World Day of Consecrated Life
By Deacon Patrick Lynch
In the first chapter of The Story of a Soul, St. Thérèse of Lisieux (above) recounts that when she was first told to write about her life, she prayed to the Blessed Virgin and asked for the grace to speak about her vocation well. She found the answer to her prayer in Mark 3:13, which says: “And he [Jesus] went up into the hills, and called to him those whom he desired; and they came to him.” Commenting on these words, she wrote:
They threw a clear light upon the mystery of my vocation and of my entire life, and above all upon the favours which Our Lord has granted to my soul. He does not call those who are worthy, but those whom He will. As St. Paul says: “God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.”
Consecrated religious life
This, dear Friends of Mercy, is the reflection I would like to share with you on the forthcoming World Day of Consecrated Life (2 Feb., the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, or Candlemas).
The gift of a religious vocation is a mystery of mercy. I am deeply aware that the reason I am here today as a Marian of the Immaculate Conception is because the Lord has shown me great mercy, and I know that my brothers would say the same.
Being a religious is truly a joy and I would not trade it for anything. Today is a reminder to me and every religious of the need to always renew in our hearts a sense of gratitude for the mercy of God that has led us to offer our lives to the Lord in this beautiful vocation.
Mission from God
One of the wonderful things about being a Marian is that our lives are dedicated to proclaiming to the world the same mercy that we have received. We do this not only through proclaiming the message and devotion of Divine Mercy around the world, but also through going to those places where the need is truly the greatest, and which often seem overwhelmed by the tide of sin and secularism that has swept across so much of our culture today.
In my case, I have been assigned to a new mission that our Province is beginning here in London, and I ask your prayers for the fruitfulness of our mission in the UK. But this mission is one that we can’t fulfill alone, which is why it is such a blessing to have the support of the Friends of Mercy.
In fact, what St. Thérèse wrote can also apply to all of your lives as well in a way. You may not be living the vocation of the consecrated life, but I am sure that you all have experienced moments of conversion and grace in which you knew very deeply the truth of God’s mercy and love for you. It is the experience of these moments and fidelity to the graces received that makes us credible witnesses of the mercy of God before the world.
Go, you are sent
So go and do likewise. Proclaim Divine Mercy with words and deeds wherever you are in the world, according to the dictates of prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude, inspired by faith, hope, and love.
Serve God and neighbor out of love, and encourage young people to discern whether God is calling them to a vocation as a consecrated religious.
Visit Marian.org/vocations for more information for young men discerning a vocation with the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception.
Visit Marian.org/vocation-support for more information on supporting religious vocations in the Congregation.
