As every year on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, on this Sunday, the Catholic Church celebrated the 29th World Day for Consecrated Life.
“This year’s event is held during the Jubilee of Hope and in preparation for the Jubilee of Consecrated Life, which will be celebrated worldwide on October 8-12, 2025,” the Pope said in his homily at Sunday Evening Prayer.
Pope Francis centered his reflections on the three evangelical counsels: poverty, chastity, and obedience.
He explained that evangelical poverty helps religious individuals detach from material possessions, allowing them to be a source of blessing for others.
The Pope commended consecrated religious for carrying the “light of your chastity,” a light that originates in the Trinity and the love shared among the three divine Persons.
He noted that by renouncing marital love, religious individuals testify to the world about the primacy of God’s love, which serves as both the source and the model for all human love.
Pope Francis then highlighted the example of obedience that consecrated individuals show through their “deep sense of responsibility, driven by mutual trust.”
He explained that when obedience is lived in the light of God’s word, it becomes a response to love and serves as a prophetic sign to society.