World Day for Consecrated Life is celebrated in the church on Feb. 2 and will be observed in parishes on Feb. 4-5. In 1997, Pope John Paul II addressed a formal letter to those he called "Dear Consecrated Persons." In this letter, he proclaimed the first World Day for Consecrated Life. Pope John Paul hoped to promote a greater appreciation for consecrated life in the church and wanted the day to be an opportunity for consecrated persons to celebrate the gift of their vocations with one another.

Over 50 years ago, I entered religious life as a Sister of Charity. "Religious" was the adjective the church used to identify a special way of life to which God calls some men and women to follow Christ. It is interesting to note that "religious," as defined by the American Heritage College Dictionary, means "having or showing belief in and reverence for God or a deity." Most members of the church are "religious" — including laypeople who love and reverence God — however, those who vow to live out the evangelical counsels by which Jesus himself lived make a special commitment of their lives for the church. Pope Benedict XVI describes this special commitment as "a thirst for love, which can be quenched by the Eternal One alone." For those called to a consecrated life, this "thirst" is quenched in the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

"Consecrated" means to set apart as sacred; dedicated to a sacred purpose" (American Heritage College Dictionary). This word has a distinctly different meaning from the word "religious." Many documents written since the inception of World Day for Consecrated Life use the term "consecrated life" in place of "religious life."

The new term intrigues me. As I reflect on over a half century of "religious life," I recognize that I reverence God in all of creation, but I rejoice in the sacredness of God’s call to quench my thirst for love by dedicating all my days to prayer, community and service to God’s people in a "consecrated" life.

It is interesting to note the timing of World Day for Consecrated Life as it was conceived by Pope John Paul II. He designed this celebration to occur in conjunction with the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus on Feb. 2, seeing Mary and Joseph’s consecration of the child Jesus to the Father as a powerful symbol of the total offering of one’s life. Living out all of his days as the chaste, the poor, the obedient Jesus, he taught us how to live consecrated lives as disciples to his Gospel.

I invite you to thank God for the gift of consecrated life in our diocese and throughout the world, and I ask you to celebrate consecrated life by dedicating one day of service to further the kingdom of God. Please pray for young women and men to hear the call of God and have the courage to dedicate their lives to God’s sacred purpose.