On Thursday, 2 February, Benedict XVI  celebrated Vespers in St Peter’s
Basilica on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also the World Day for
Consecrated Life. The following is a translation of the Pope’s Homily, which was
given in Italian.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, 40 days after the birth of Jesus,
shows us Mary and Joseph who, in obedience to the Law of Moses, go to the Temple
in Jerusalem to offer the child, their first born son, to the Lord and redeem
him through a sacrifice (cf. Lk 2:22-24). It is one of the  situations in which
the liturgical time reflects historical time, because today actually marks 40
days after the Solemnity of Birth of the Lord at Christmas.
The
theme of Christ as Light, that characterizes the cycle of the Christmas
festivities and culminates in the Solemnity of the Epiphany, is taken up again
and extended in today’s feast.
The ritual act of  Jesus’ parents, which takes place in the humble, hidden
manner that characterizes the Incarnation of the Son of God, finds a unique
welcome from the  elderly Simeone and the prophetess Anna. By divine inspiration
they recognize in that baby  the Messiah foretold by the prophets. In the
meeting of the elderly Simeone and Mary, a young mother, the Old and New
Testaments come together in a wonderful way through the thanksgiving for the
gift of Light which shone in the darkness and prevented it  from prevailing:
Christ the Lord, the light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory to your
people of Israel (cf. Lk 2:32).
The day on which the Church commemorates the Presentation of Jesus in the
Temple, we celebrate the Day of Consecrated Life. In fact this Gospel episode to
which we refer is a significant icon of the giving of one’s life by those who
are called to present again in the Church and in the world, through the
evangelical counsels, the characteristics of Jesus, virgin, poor and obedient,
the Consecrated of the  Father. In today’s feast we therefore celebrate the
mystery of consecration: the consecration of Christ, the consecration of Mary,
the consecration of those who place themselves in the sequela of Jesus
for love of the Kingdom of God.
According to the insight of Bl. John Paul II, who celebrated  it for the
first time in 1997, the Day dedicated to consecrated life, presupposes certain
goals. First, it seeks to respond to the need to give praise and thanks to the
Lord for the gift of this state of life which belongs to the sanctity of the
Church. Today, the prayer of the entire Community is dedicated to every
consecrated person, giving thanks to God the Father, giver of every good, for
the gift of this vocation, and with new faith invoke him. Moreover,  this
occasion offers the opportunity to appreciate increasingly the testimony of
those who have chosen to follow Christ through the practice of the evangelical
counsels  by promoting the understanding of and appreciation for the consecrated
life within the People of God. Finally,  the World Day for Consecrated Life is
meant to be,  above all for you, dear brothers and sisters who have embraced
this state in the Church, a precious occasion to renew your commitment and
rekindle the feelings that inspired and continue to inspire the gift of
yourselves to the Lord. This what we wish to do today, this is the commitment
you are called to realize every day of your life.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Ecumenical
Council Vatican II, I announced — as you know — the Year of Faith, which will
begin this October. All the faithful, but in a special way members of Institutes
of consecrated life, have welcomed this initiative as a gift, and I hope that
they will live the Year of Faith as an opportune time for interior renewal, of
which there is always need, with a deepening of the essential values  and needs
of their own consecration.  In the Year of Faith you, who have welcomed the call
to follow Christ more closely through the profession of the evangelical
counsels, are invited  to increasingly deepen your relationship with God. The
evangelical counsels, accepted as an authentic rule of life, strengthen   faith,
hope and charity, which unite one to God. This profound closeness to the Lord,
which must be the priority and characteristic point of your existence, will lead
you toward a renewed adherence to Him and will have a positive influence on your
particular presence and form of apostolate  among the People of God, through the
contribution of your charisms, in fidelity to the Magisterium, to be witnesses
of faith and grace, credible witnesses for the Church  and the world today.
      The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of
Apostolic Life, by whatever means it deems appropriate, will suggest guidelines
and will do its best to encourage that this Year of Faith  be for all of you a
year of renewal and of fidelity, so that all consecrated men and women may
personally and enthusiastically engage  in the New Evangelization. While I
extend my cordial greetings to the Prefect of the Dicastery, Archbishop João
Braz de Aviz — whom I wish to include among those  I will create Cardinals in
the next Concistory — I gladly take this joyful occasion to thank him and his
co-workers for the precious service that they render to the Holy See and to the
entire Church.
 Dear brothers and sisters, I also thank each one of you, for having wished
to participate  in this Liturgy, which, also thanks to your presence, is
distinguished by a special atmosphere  of devotion and of recollection. I wish
you every good on the journey of your religious Families, as well as for your
formation and your  apostolate. May the Virgin Mary, disciple, servant and
Mother of the Lord, obtain from the Lord Jesus that  “all who have received the
gift of following him in the consecrated life may be enabled to bear witness to
that gift by their transfigured lives, as they joyfully make their way with all
their brothers and sisters towards our heavenly homeland and the light which
will never grow dim” (John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita
Consecrata , n. 112). Amen.
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