Inter-Provincial Novitiate

REFLECTION PAPER ON VITA CONCECRATA.

JOBIN THAYYIL

  Consecrated life is a call to prophecy. In the history of the church along side other Christians there have been men and women consecrated to God who through a special grace of Holy Spirit have carried out a genuinely prophetic ministry speaking in the name of God to all even to the pastors of the church. True prophecy is born of God from friendship with Him, from attentive listening to his word in different circumstances. Prophets feel in their hearts a burning desire for the holiness of God  and having heard his  word in the dialogue of prayer , they proclaim that word with their lives , with their lips, and with their action becoming  people who speak for God against evil and sin. Prophetic witness requires the constant and passionate search for Gods will, for self giving for unfailing communion in the church for the practice of spiritual discernment and love of the truth.

It is necessary to show the witness of prophetic life in the modern world where the signs of God have been lost. For that firstly we have to entail the affirmation of the primacy of God and of eternal life. It should be through following of Jesus who consecrated His life for the glory of God and to the love of His brethren.  We can do this through fraternal life. A prophet should be ready to even sacrifice his life to bear witness. Secondlytheprophesy requires a consistency between proclamation and life.  Their life and teaching should go together. It is also needed that they should have the harmony with church’s magisterium and discipline.  A consecrated person should be faithful to his life even to the point of martyrdom. We have many examples of martyrs who kept their faith in the midst of persecution and sufferings in the history of the church. They enlighten us by their examples , they intercede that we may be faithful and they awaits us in glory. The church always inviting us to imitate them.

  The decree also explained about three major challenges of consecrated life.They are related directly to the evangelical councils of chastity, poverty and obedience. The consecratedlife really transforms the true human values.  The evangelical council should not be considered as a denial of the values inherent of sexuality, in the legitimate desire to poses material goods or to make decision for one self. But they are good in themselves. The profession of chastity, poverty, and obedience is a warning not to underestimate the wound of original sin and while affirming the value of created goods, it relativizes them by pointing to God as the absolute good.

  First challenge against chastity is the hedonistic culture which considers sexuality as a consumer good or treat it as a mere diversion. It justifies a kind of idolatry of sexual instinct and it causes psychic and moral problems in individuals and families.The reply of the consecrated life is above all in the joyful living of perfect chastity as a witness to the power of God’s love manifested in the weakness of human person.  They love God above all other things and love others with the same freedom of God with the grace of God. It is offered to every on – young people ,husband and wife, and Christen families -in order to show that the power of God’s love can accomplish great things precisely within the context of human love.it is also witness which also meet a growing need  for interior honesty in human relationship. The duty ofa religious is to present to today’s world an example of chastity showing balance, self maturity, an enterprising spirit and psychological maturity. Through this they offer a stablepoint of reference to human love that is the pure love which concerted person draw from contemplation of Trinitarian love. Because of this contemplation they feel that they are capable to have a radical and universal love which gives them the strength for the self master and discipline necessary in order not fall under the domination of the senses and instincts.

  The decree also explains about the challenges of poverty. The main challenge is materialism that is desire to poses things.it does not consider the people who are weak and it has no concern for the balance of natural resources. The reply of the consecrated life for this is the evangelical council of poverty. Evangelical poverty is a value in itself. Because it recalls the value of beatitudes in the imitation of the poor Christ.Its primary meaning is to testify that God is the true wealth of human heart. It is very necessary in this modern age where people are not concerning about the resources and its scarcity. So consecrated persons who understand the scarcity of recourses are leading a simple life and placing a break on desire so that they can respect and protect the creation.They are leading a life based on fraternity inspired by the principles of simplicity and hospitality. So they have to show concern and compassion to the poor. They are keeping a preferential love for the poor and they show it to those who live in a very poor condition. Many consecrated people areliving full their life hid with Christ in Lord (col 3.3) for the salvation of the world,freely giving themselves, and spending their life for causes which are little appreciated and even less extolled. Through this they are sharing the radical poverty embraced by the Lord.

 Bl. Pope John paul II  also explains very well about the challenges of obedience. The main challenge derived from the thought of freedom. Freedom means promotion of human value and it is connected with the respect of human person. But sometimes the freedom leads to injustice and even violence. The effective response to this problem is obedience. Consecrated person follow Christ through obedience who was very obedient to His father. So the obedience of consecrated life re-proposes the obedience of Christ to the father and taking this mystery as its point of departure testifies that there is no contradiction between obedience and freedom. Freedom is the path of obedience to the will of the father and mystery of obedience as the path to the gradual conquest of true freedom.  So the consecrated person proving that he is the son of the heavenly father through obeying of His will.