“It was really a beautiful and enriching process organised by the Vatican Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (DIVCSVA)” – commented Fr Francesco Marcoccio, Rector of the Salesian community at Sacred Heart in Rome.
Fr Marcoccio himself, sharing what he experienced in his Salesian Goodnight, summarised some of the fundamental aspects of this process: “We applied the Synod’s method of spiritual discernment to the dimension of dialogue to benefit everyone. We were able to appreciate the feminine dimension of religious life both in the meeting with the Pope on 2 February, and also at the Sunday Angelus. We listened to the words of the Holy Father and we also saw the role of the elderly that was appreciated. Particularly in Europe, the consecrated life is often lived by mostly elderly people. We really tasted the ‘catholicity’ of the Church, with hundreds of religious from 62 different countries, from five continents.”
But Fr Marcoccio was not the only enthusiast to share this experience. On the sidelines of the pilgrimage on Saturday, 3 February, ANS gathered several significant testimonies:
“For us it is a great joy to be able to participate in this ‘preview’ of the Jubilee of Consecrated Life, which refers us to a new style, which is that of the Church today. It moves us to live Consecrated Life in synodality, in a process that must involve everything: ourselves, our communities, ecclesial life, our mission...” commented Sr Natália Miguel, the Provincial of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in Angola.
Sr Lula, an Albanian Franciscan Missionary Sister of the Child Jesus, said she was “very surprised and very happy” about this experience of lived internationality. “Sharing together the joys, struggles, and hopes of our entire Church gives us great comfort. And the example offered by the Holy Father when he spoke to us about Simeon and Anna, two elderly people who were waiting to see the Lord, has greatly encouraged us to know how to live the time of waiting, in the European context that sometimes discourages us because it seems not to understand our life.”
For his part, Fr Sobi, a Hungarian, of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians), greatly appreciated the communion of intent (“to be witnesses of the Lord in this world”), in the great variety of presences (“it was an opportunity to see the whole world in one room”). And he adds: “I was also struck by the testimony of a sister who told us today that the number of consecrated persons is also decreasing in Italy. Because, we often think that here in Italy, the population are all fervent Catholics. But then the thought arises that we as consecrated persons remain a sign to this world: like a candle, which is something small, but in a dark room it can give so much light.”
For Costa Rican Lassallean Lesberth Dimas, it was “a very interesting meeting for Religious Life, where we were able to express our desire to forge a future full of hope and reconciliation in God, and among ourselves. A reconciliation that then leads to a life of fraternity and acceptance of our neighbour, because it makes us feel like brothers and sisters to everyone. This is something that can make Religious Life rise up above other forms of life to be a witness for humanity.”
Sr Lety Pérez, of the Handmaids of Christ the King, who came to Rome from Venezuela, says it was “a wonderful experience of fraternity, of synodality, where hope and reconciliation marked all of the reflections and our experience. The pilgrimage also confirmed us in the faith and desire of the Church to share salvation and peace with the world. This fraternity that we shared among ourselves was truly a Pentecost among us, and the celebration of the joy of being called by God to be pilgrims of hope and reconciliation for the world,” she concluded.
Br José Dick Ramírez, OFM Cap., of Ecuador also spoke of reconciliation and hope. “I am happy to have participated and to have been able to share with religious men and women from all over the world this jubilee experience, in which we reflected on what we desire for the future. I believe we were able to see the great richness of Religious Life to be a prophet in the world, observing what is negative and highlighting what is positive”.
And if Br Jean Joseph Marie Hounsa, Franciscan of the Immaculate Conception from Benin underlined “the richness and joy of Consecrated Life” that emerged in the four days’ discussion and the beauty of being pilgrims in Rome, Alice Joseph, from the Institute of the Handmaids of the Poor, who came from India, underlined “the freedom and depth of the sharing” and the perception of having truly received a mandate to be handed over in her service once she returned home.
Again, for Indian Anand Talluri, of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, a missionary in Tunisia, the meeting served as a reminder of the importance of “building bridges between people” and rekindled the desire to build “a Church close to the people, which dialogues and speaks the language of the people”. An Augustinian, Eddy Omar Polo, at the end of the experience, invoked “that the Lord may help us to be better and be better consecrated, to give ourselves generously to our brothers and sisters, who expect more charity and mercy from us”.
“How can we shine with hope for the world?” was the question that arose in Indian Lasallian Sunil Brito after this event. And his answer was, quoting a poem by Charles Péguy, that hope must travel together with faith and charity, leading them to believe and love what is not yet seen.
Finally, Sr Sarita Nazareth, also from India, of the Ordo Virginum (United States Association of Consecrated Virgins), concluded by talking about how the pilgrimage to some of Rome’s holy places had been an inspiration for her to understand how “we religious can be concrete agents of reconciliation in our concrete realities”.
