Brother Dan joined 39 Marist Brothers for the Mass that concluded The Year of Consecrated Life.
Words of Pope Francis on February 2, 2016 to 5000 Religious
Dear consecrated brothers and sisters, thank you so very much! You have participated in the Eucharist out in the cool air! But the heart is on fire!
Thank you for having finished this Year of Consecrated Life in this way, all together. And go forth!
Each of us has a place, a work in the Church. Please, don’t forget your first vocation, your initial call. Remember! Today the Lord continues to call you with that love with which you were called. Do not forget, do not forget that beauty, that wonder of the first call.
And then continue to work. How beautiful it is to continue! There is always something to do. The most important thing is to pray. The marrow of the consecrated life is prayer: pray! And thus to grow old, but you will grow old like a good wine!
I have one thing to tell you. I like very much when I meet with elder Religious, old but with shining eyes, because they still have the fire of the spiritual life still burning within them. It hasn’t gone out, their fire is still very alive!
Go forward today, every day, and continue to work and to look to tomorrow with hope, always asking the Lord to send us new vocations, so that our work of consecration may go ahead. Memory: Don’t forget the initial call! The work of every day, and then the hope to go ahead and seed well, because those who come after us may receive the legacy we will leave for them.
Now let us pray to Mary. Hail Mary…
Have a good evening and pray for me!
