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We were blessed to kick off the Year for Consecrated Life with Mass celebrated by our beloved Bishop here at Our Lady of Solitude!  His homily highlighted how Advent is a time of HOPE!  The heart of each consecrated person is to be a dwelling place of hope as well.  It is not about ‘wishing’ – it’s about HOPING in the promises of our Father.

Pope Francis at the Vigil for the Year of Consecrated Life had this to say:

My first words, on this occasion, are of gratitude to the Lord for the precious gift of consecrated life to the Church and to the world. May this Year of Consecrated Life be an occasion for all members of the People of God to thank the Lord, from whom every good comes, for the gift of consecrated life, appreciating it appropriately. To you equally, dear brothers and sisters, goes my gratitude for what you are and what you do in the Church and in the world. May this be an “intense time” to celebrate with the whole Church the gift of your vocation and to revive your prophetic mission.

He then encouraged the Consecrated to WAKE UP THE WORLD…but how?

Put Christ at the center of your existence. The essential norm of your life being to “follow Christ as taught by the Gospel” (Perfectae Caritatis, 2), consecrated life consists essentially in personal adherence to Him. Seek Christ constantly, dear consecrated, seek his Face, may He occupy the center of your life in order to be transformed in “living memory of Jesus’ way of living and acting, as Incarnate Word before the Father and before brothers” (Vita Consecrata, 22). Like the Apostle Paul, let yourselves be conquered by Him, assume his sentiments and his way of life (cf. Ibid., 18); let yourselves be touched by his hand, led by his voice, sustained by his grace (cf. Ibid., 40).

It is not easy; let yourselves be touched by his hand, led by his voice, sustained by his grace.

I’d say that Our Holy Father is opening wide the doors to Christ for this Year, and kicking it off with what is most essential.  May Our Holy Father’s exhortation to put Christ at the center of our existence be realized in each soul.  May be be conquered by Him, touched by His hand, led by His voice and always sustained by His grace.

Happy Year of Consecrated Life!!!!