Within the framework of the Jubilee Year 2025, under the theme “Pilgrims of Hope, on the Way of Peace”, the Jubilee of Consecrated Life will be celebrated in Rome from October 8 to 12, a meeting that brings together religious men and women from all continents, belonging to the diversity of forms of consecrated life: religious institutes, societies of apostolic life, secular institutes, consecrated virgins, contemplatives, hermits and new forms that enrich the face of the Church.
The General Government and the community of the Daughters of Jesus of the Curia participate in these jubilee days, joyfully joining the great mosaic of languages, cultures and charisms that witness the action of the Spirit in the Church.
Pilgrims of hope in a synodal spirit
The Jubilee – the fruit of collaboration between the Dicastery for Evangelization and the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life –has brought together thousands of consecrated men and women who, on pilgrimage in a synodal spirit, celebrate the gift of their vocation and renew their commitment to be a sign of hope for the world.
Among the central moments, the Daughters of Jesus participated in the Prayer Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica, presided over by Cardinal Angel Fernandez Artime, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and in the Holy Mass presided over by Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square.
Words of Pope Leo XIV to pilgrims
Pope Leo XIV, in his homily, deepened the meaning of Consecrated Life in the light of today’s Gospel:
“Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.”(Lk 11:9).
With these words, Jesus invites us to turn with confidence to the Father in all our needs.
“Ask,” “seek,” “call” – the verbs of prayer used by the evangelist Luke – are attitudes familiar to you, accustomed by the practice of the evangelical counsels to ask without demanding, docile to God’s action. It is not by chance that the Second Vatican Council speaks of the vows as a useful means “to bring forth copious fruit from baptismal grace” (Dogmatic Const. Lumen Gentium 44). “Order”is, in fact, to recognize, in the povertythat all is the Lord’s gift and to give thanks for everything; “search” is to open up, in the obedience, to discover each day the path we must follow to attain holiness, according to God’s designs; “call” is to ask for and offer to the brothers the gifts received with pure heartstriving to love everyone with respect and gratuitousness.
He concluded his homily by encouraging the consecrated to live their consecration with simplicity and authenticity, with these beautiful words taken from St. Paul VI:
Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord, to whom you have given everything, has reciprocated with so much beauty and richness, and I would like to exhort you to treasure and cultivate them, recalling in conclusion some expressions of St. Paul VI: “preserve,” he wrote to the religious, “the simplicity of the ‘least’ of the Gospel. Know how to find it in the most intimate and cordial contact with Christ or in direct contact with your brothers and sisters. You will then know “the overflowing of joy through the action of the Holy Spirit” which is of those who are introduced into the secrets of the Kingdom. Do not seek to become one of those “wise and prudent”, […] to whom such secrets are hidden. Be truly poor, meek, hungry for holiness, merciful, pure of heart; be of those, thanks to whom the world will know the peace of God” (St. Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelica testificatio, 54).
Celebrating Consecrated Life in Communion
These are days of profound ecclesial communion, where every moment is marked by the joy of encounter and the joy of knowing that they are pilgrims of hope. Together with so many consecrated vocations from all continents. We are all invited to join in this time of grace from wherever we are.
We will continue to accompany these pilgrims on the journey that will continue in these days with a full agenda of meetings and celebrations. This Jubilee reminds us that vocation is a shared journey, which grows and is renewed in closeness, prayer and solidarity with all consecrated persons.
