The Catholic Church will celebrate the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life on Tuesday, February 2, with commemorations also encouraged for the weekend of February 6-7. This event is a special time for individual parishes and the greater Church to celebrate the gift of consecrated life and pray for men and women discerning a consecrated vocation. 

Instituted by St. Pope John Paul II in 1997, the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life is celebrated in conjunction with the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas Day, which commemorates through the blessing and lighting of candles that Christ is the light of the world. Those in consecrated life are called to reflect the light of Jesus Christ to all peoples.

“Our Church in Maine has been touched by the many women and men in consecrated life who have offered prayers for the people of the diocese in monastic chapels and ministered to all in education, healthcare, social services, pastoral ministry, and religious education within parishes, healthcare facilities, schools, and social service agencies,” said Bishop Robert Deeley. “In the commitment of those in consecrated life to follow Christ more closely, we all learn. Consecrated life, in whatever form it takes, is the living of the Gospel. All consecrated life is devoted to the perfection of charity which, by its very nature, engages the community. It reminds us that we are called to serve one another.”

A recent survey of last year’s religious profession class conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) revealed that nine in ten were encouraged by someone to consider a vocation to religious life.
“The importance of personal guidance cannot be overstated,” said Bishop Deeley. “When I was a young man, Monsignor Keilty, out of his own experience of Jesus and his love for the Church, invited me and other young men in our parish to consider the possibility that we might be called to be priests. Several of us entered the seminary. Who knows what would have happened if no one had invited us? We need the same to be happening today.”

For more information about discerning a vocation, visit the Diocese of Portland’s Office of Vocations website at www.portlanddiocese.org/vocations.