By Sister
Therese Maria Touma
Pope Francis
declared that a Year of Consecrated Life be celebrated throughout the world which
began on Sunday November 30 and concludes on February 2, 2016. In his message, the Pope underlined the key goals to “look to
the past with gratitude, to live the present with passion and to embrace the
future with hope.” The Pope also expressed
his expectations for the yearlong observance: “that consecrated men and women would
be witnesses of communion, of joy and the Gospel, and go evermore to the
peripheries to proclaim the Good News.”
This Year
for Consecrated Life concerns not only consecrated persons, but also the entire
Church. Pope Francis asks that the whole Christian people “be
increasingly aware of the gift which is the presence of our many consecrated
men and women, heirs of the great saints who have written the history of
Christianity.”
The Pope
counting on religious “to wake up the world” by their radical witness of Gospel
living and Christ’s merciful compassion. In
answer to this call to wake up the world and raise awareness about the gift and
beauty of religious life, the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light will be
developing a Vocation Curriculum for parish religious education programs and
are available to give presentations and witness talks. Please invite us to your
parish to share on religious life. We also plan to have an Open House on March 8
and a Day of Prayer on September 13 (details to follow).
Join us in praying for vocations. Currently, we have a
few women discerning with the Maronite Servants and one who is ready to enter in
June. Be assured of our daily prayers for you and your loved ones.
Prayer for the Year of
Consecrated Life
O God,
throughout the ages you have called women and men to pursue lives of perfect
charity through the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
During this
Year of Consecrated Life, we give you thanks for these courageous witnesses of Faith
and models of inspiration. Their pursuit
of holy lives teaches us to make a more perfect offering of ourselves to
you. Continue to enrich your Church by calling forth sons and daughters
who, having found the pearl of great price, treasure the Kingdom of heaven
above all things. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns
with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.