With today’s post, we hope to share a secret joy that few people ever come to know. It is the joy of a life totally dedicated to Christ. While any faithful Christian can experience this, I believe that those who the Lord calls to consecrate their lives in a special way receive in turn a special joy. Let us always remember to pray for all those who are discerning their vocation to the consecrated and religious life!
“When I entered, I saw what I had written. I wanted to say a word to you and the word is ‘joy.’ Wherever there are consecrated people, seminarians, men and women religious, young people, there is joy, there is always joy! It is the joy of freshness, the joy of following Jesus; the joy that the Holy Spirit gives us, not the joy of the world. There is joy! but — where is joy born?
“Joy is born from the gratuitousness of an encounter! It is hearing someone say, but not necessarily with words: ‘You are important to me.’ This is beautiful…. And it is these very words that God makes us understand. In calling you, God says to you: ‘You are important to me, I love you, I am counting on you.’ Jesus says this to each one of us! Joy is born from that! The joy of the moment in which Jesus looked at me. Understanding and hearing this is the secret of our joy.”
– Pope Francis
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