(ANS – Madrid) – Speaking at the 44th National Week for Institutes of Consecrated Life, held in Madrid  9-12 April, the Salesian Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, gave an address on Consecrated Life in Servitium Caritatis. In it he emphasized the intrinsic relationship between consecrated life and the service of charity. Before his address, the Salesian cardinal thanked all present and especially the Claretian Missionaries, who with their Theological Institute of Religious Life, had organized the National Week.

The Cardinal began by trying to outline the elements of Consecrated Life - service, charity, peace, justice and humanity. The Cardinal defended the need to define these concepts to make them understandable to people today. He wanted to ensure that they are understood in their original sense, since today they have acquired some erroneous nuances that are far from their Christian meaning.

He went on to speak about Consecrated Life, insisting that the consecrated person must always be conformed to Christ and is called also to respond to the needs of humanity today. According to the Honduran cardinal, the consecrated person who is committed to the practice of charity towards humanity is thereby growing continuously in conformity to Christ.

Then he urged all the participants to ask themselves how they had grown in the charism they had received. He mentioned the need to remember the past in examining their lives and to live the present with passion. He then quoted Pope Francis to highlight that there is no need to lament the future of religious life. We should not focus on the number of religious. Consecrated life is based on joy, fraternity and hope. With these three aspects in mind, the Cardinal explained that the service of charity is one of the keys to living a future full of hope. He highlighted the need to go to the marginalized areas and to disadvantaged people, and he argued that Consecrated Life is credible on issues of peace and justice when it is lived in joy and with humanity.

Finally he said that charity is the only thing that can change a human being and that consecrated persons must be experts in charity. Then he gave his blessing to all for this year of Consecrated Life, and showed his musical skills with a song on the Joy of the Gospel.

It is also worth mentioning that in the Terra Giusta Congress held recently in Portugal, Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga spoke again and stated that "for the Church the option for the poor is a theological category." (See article from the ZENIT agency).

Published 14/04/2015