Presentation of the Lord – Day of Consecrated Life

Presentation of the Lord – Day of Consecrated Life
February 2
For Truth, and For Love

What is the connection between Mary and Joseph presenting Jesus at the Temple (Luke 2:22-40), and men and woman who have consecrated themselves to God? February 2nd unifies the Biblical event of Jesus being offered to God, and the religious expression of offering oneself to God in response to God’s call.

In the liturgical celebration of the Presentation men and women Religious carry candles in procession signifying the light they bring to the world: their vocation to radically follow Christ -- a sign of love. This is the light of Christ and the light of the Religious consecrated to God through their Vows/Promises of Obedience, Poverty, and Chastity. None of these three Vows has ever been “popular,” but all three Vows/Promises, and this is precisely why they are Vows/Promises: it means to choose and live a supernatural state which is not possible without God’s grace. Following Christ engages the very core of our being, and fundamentally, these three Vows/Promises penetrate our very being – the being which God Himself sustains.

Before entering Religious life, I often wondered why Religious Vows/Promises are not a Sacrament like the Ordination to the Priesthood -- one of the Seven Sacraments. I then understood during my religious formation, that the Sacraments prepare us for eternal salvation -- the eschatological life meaning the life with the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with Mary, the Angels and Saints. This is the eternity for which we are being prepared through the Sacraments of the Church. Jesus’ offering of Himself to the Father as Sacrifice on the Cross makes these Sacraments possible.
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So, while the Consecrated live by the Sacraments as all people needs God’s grace to be preserved and grow in sanctity, Religious Vows/Promises themselves are not a Sacrament. The Religious Brothers and Sisters, by their very Vows/Promises are living the Evangelical Counsels – Obedience, Poverty, Chastity – and therefore, already living the life for which we are preparing ourselves – the “beatific vision,” as St. Thomas Aquinas calls it -- the life of beatitude. And so, the profession of Vows/Promises are not celebrated as a Sacrament but as a Profession.

The Feast of the Presentation, as with Profession of Vows/Promises, is fundamentally about placing God at the centre of our lives. A total love for God becomes an act of “religious obedience,” as Mary and Joseph had done in adherence to the Mosaic Law.

The Catholicity of a culture is reflected in its Religious vocations. Catholic cultures have religious houses, convents, monasteries, of different Orders and Congregations. Where Catholicism lacks the presence of these Religious communities, there is equally a lack of Catholic culture. The visibility of the lighted candle which serves as a sign, means just as much the presence and visibility of men and women Religious in their diverse ministries. But Religious culture is more than a visible sign; Catholic culture is reflected in the Truth, Love and Beauty of God at work in the communities through individuals consecrated to God and given entirely to the service of the Church.
 
Roman Catholicism has always had a high regard for the celibate life since it was modeled after the life of Jesus. Monasteries and Convents that were shut down during the Reformation in northern Europe, just as monasteries and convents close down today, reflect societies that have lost the value of Religious life. Above all, what has been lost is the value of celibacy and along with this the most radical form of love which is chastity.

When Queen Cristina of Sweden abdicated from the Swedish throne (1654) and converted to Catholicism the same year, in one of her letters, she acknowledges the value the Roman Catholic Church had attached to the celibate life. Cristina, this extraordinary woman, writes in her memoirs,

When one is Catholic, one has the consolation to believe what has been believed by so many great thinkers who lived for sixteen centuries; one is happy to belong to a religion authorized by millions of miracles and by millions of martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the catholic truths; it’s this religion that populates the deserts with people who by a secret martyrdom sacrificed themselves to God, renouncing the world and all its charms; it’s this religion that is so fertile with admirable virgins who triumphed the weakness of their sex and their age to make themselves glorious victims of a religion so unknown to men, that it could not be taught except by a God. One must complain about all those who do not grasp these great truths.1

Cristina never formally consecrated herself to God, but she courageously gave up her Swedish kingdom for Truth and for Love: to be a Roman Catholic, and to live a life of celibacy.

Consecrated men and women teach us the value of the celibate life, the light of Christ that shines in the world, that makes sacrifice and self-denial possible. The presence of Christ’s light serves to inform, strengthen, and edify. We need signs. We need direction. There is only one way to God: He sent us the Light of His Son to show us the Way. Radical holiness is made possible by our response to Grace. Let us take the example of Mary and Joseph who present Jesus at the Temple; let us follow Jesus Christ who offers Himself, Truth and Love.

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