Cardinal João Bráz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of of Apostolic Living (CICLSAL) issued a letter today, March 25th, 2021, commemorating the 25th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation Vita Consecrata. Recalling the vitality and originality of the document (something Card. Michael Czerny, SJ also commented on during a January 2021 talk on Fratelli Tutti), Cardinal De Aviz writes that consecrated life offers a way of
integrating the human and the divine, realizing that mysterious and luminous connection between ascent and descent, between the transcendent height and the kenotic immersion on the borders of all that is human, between the sublime beauty to be contemplated and the distressing poverty to be served.
Cardinal De Aviz went on to reflect on several other themes of importance in Vita Consecrata, including the centrality of Jesus’ obedience and the importance of beauty as a way to make truths attractive or credible. The Cardinal concludes by encouraging consecrated men and women to continue to make Vita Consecrata a point of reference in their lives.
Vatican news covered the letter here.
Download a copy: CICLSAL Letter on 25th Anniversary of Vita Consecrata
