St. Hermenegild, Martyr

The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of faith in Christ, fulfilling what God promised to the fathers and standing at the heart of the Paschal mystery with the cross. The New Testament bears witness that it is a real historical event. The empty tomb, while not proof by itself, was an essential sign that led the disciples toward recognizing the Resurrection. Mary Magdalene and the holy women were the first to encounter the Risen One and to bring this message to the apostles; Jesus then appeared to Peter, the Twelve, and many others. Though the disciples were at first saddened, frightened, and slow to believe, their faith in the Resurrection was born, through divine grace, from their direct experience of the risen Jesus. As we reflect together, may we receive this central truth of faith with the witnesses who handed it on.

The Catholic Church recognizes the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience as gifts Christ proposes to every disciple. Those freely called to consecrated life embrace these counsels within a permanent state of life recognized by the Church, seeking to follow Christ more closely and to give themselves totally to God. Consecrated life takes diverse forms, including religious life in community or solitude, the hidden prayer and penance of hermits, and the dedicated service of consecrated virgins. These varied callings enrich the Church’s life and holiness, serving the Kingdom and signifying the glory of the world to come. As we reflect together, we can give thanks for those who answer this call and for the many ways their lives point us toward Christ.

Religious life, born in the East during the first centuries of Christianity, remains a gift the Church has received from the Lord and offers as a stable way of life to those called by God to profess the evangelical counsels. Within canonically erected institutes, it is marked by liturgical life, public profession of the counsels, fraternal life in common, and witness to the union of Christ and the Church. Religious life serves the Church’s mission of evangelization and is called, in its many forms, to signify God’s charity in the language of our time. Secular institutes seek the perfection of charity and the sanctification of the world from within it, while societies of apostolic life pursue their particular apostolic purpose and strive for charity according to their constitutions. Through consecration, these members give themselves more intimately to God’s service and to the good of the Church, offering a witness that the world is transfigured and offered to God through the spirit of the beatitudes.