World Day for Consecrated Life, February 2

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World Day for Consecrated Life, February 2

Celebrated in parishes Feb. 1-2, 2025

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About World Day for Consecrated Life

In 1997, Pope Saint John Paul II instituted a day for women and men in consecrated life. This global celebration is attached to the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on February 2nd. This Feast is also known as Candlemas Day; the day on which candles are blessed symbolizing Christ who is the light of the world. So too, those in consecrated life are called to reflect the light of Jesus Christ to all peoples.

There are several ways to celebrate World Day for Consecrated Life. Invite sisters, brothers, and priests to publicly renew their vows at Mass, send cards of support to newer entrants, ask to visit a mother house to meet and pray with sisters, brothers, and priests, invite a vocation director to visit your classroom, Board meeting, or faith group to learn more about consecrated life. Send flowers, make a donation to a religious community, or invite someone to discern their vocation to consecrated life!

Integrate the Jubilee Year 2025 into World Day for Consecrated Life

Reignite the flame of faith: Intentionally choose to visit religious education classes and ask to speak with families, not just the students. Provide fun faith facts with stories of call from scripture and members of your community. Talk about the ways you have overcome adversity, the challenges you have faced, and the people who reignited your flame of faith over the years.
Share the light of service: Purposely highlight members of your community to draw attention to those who have dedicated countless years to vowed communal life in specific ministries and prayer focused on the people Pope Francis mentions in the Papal Bull: the poor, the young, the migrants, and the elderly,
Restore relationships: Deliberately choose words and actions that reconcile, heal, and create safe spaces for young adults who feel isolated from the Church. Religious have a long history of being listeners and bridge builders, using non-violent ways to engage in tough conversations. Publicize ways your congregation continues to care for all of creation.
Be renewed in hope: Vocation directors are tangible signs of hope, and collaboration is one of the best ways to be encouraged. Call the dioceses in which your members serve, ask what is already planned for the Jubilee Year, and get involved. Many dioceses are planning pilgrimages to local shrines, churches, and sacred spaces, so call the Diocesan Office of Liturgy to place your community on the list of pilgrimage sites to visit. Open the doors of your motherhouses, missions, and ministries once again to invite families to learn more about consecrated life!

Resources to celebrate World Day for Consecrated Life

Celebrate with Abundant Hope!

Spark a conversation about religious life using the Abundant Hope prayer cards, and Abundant Hope video series of newer entrants and senior professed members talking about their lived experiences of intergenerational and intercultural vowed communal life. There are 76 videos of sisters, brothers, and priests sharing abundant hope on the NRVC YouTube Channel. On World Day for Consecrated Life, gather together to talk about unwavering hope, invite others to celebrate, and record your own short videos to post on your social media sites to join this global celebration!

VISION Vocation Network articles on Religious Life

VISION Vocation Digital Guides

Dare to Love video

Consecrated Life through the lens of Fratelli Tutti video

Ideas for families and parishes to celebrate WDCL video

Fundamentals from call to charism to community living video

What you might not know about religious life three minute video

Finding joy in religious life three minute video

Religious Life is...three minute video

Takeaways from Christus Vivit through the lens of vocation ministry video

Selected vocation quotes from Christus Vivit!

USCCB Resources

Sample renewal of vows for cross-congregational events

Sample renewal formula from the Diocese of Brooklyn:

Eternal and Loving God, trusting in your faithful love,
I, _____________, renew my vows to live my life
following Jesus Christ in chastity, poverty, and obedience.
I commit myself anew to serve the Church
in the ministries entrusted to my Religious Congregation.
Grant me the grace, Lord Jesus,
through the intercession of Our Lady
and the prayers and support of my sisters and brothers in Christ
to live these vows faithfully. Amen.

Sample renewal formula from the Diocese of Ogdensburg:

O my God, I ____________, renew my vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, hoping with your Divine Grace to observe them faithfully.” Amen.

Sample renewal formula from the Archdiocese of Chicago:

Trusting in God’s love and fidelity,
I ____________, renew my dedication to God
Through the vows of Chastity, Poverty, and Obedience.
I renew the gift of my life in community
and in mission to extend God’s reign of justice, love, and peace in the world.
With total dependence upon God,
I promise fidelity to this commitment
made in accordance with the Constitutions
of my Religious Congregation.
I ask you to pray
that I will be faithful to this commitment. Amen

Quotes from the NRVC Focus groups of newer entrants
who entered religious life from 2003-2018

"This community really, for me, gave me a place and a voice to say, it's okay that you sing in Spanish. It's okay that you're abuelito did this. You had a little altarcito. It's okay. That cultural experience is valid, is valued. That's what attracted me to my community, where I could explore that and celebrate that."

"I was attracted to living in community with other people with the same charism, with the same spirit, with the same hopes for the world with our differences. I wanted to be in community. That was really important to me."

"I think the greatest joy and the greatest challenge is community life, always."

Homily links from Pope Francis

2024 Papal Message for the 28th World Day for Consecrated Life

It is good for us to look at these two elders who were waiting patiently, vigilant in spirit and persevering in prayer. Their hearts have stayed awake, like an eternal flame. They are advanced in age, but young at heart. They do not let the days wear them down, for their eyes remain fixed on God in expectation (cf. Ps 145:15). Fixed on God in expectation, always in expectation. Along life’s journey, they have experienced hardships and disappointments, but they have not given in to defeat: they have not “retired” hope.

2023 Papal Message for the 27th World Day for Consecrated Life

Your mission is enriched by the charisms of your institutes and societies, the charisms of your founders. In their remarkable variety, they all gave themselves for the edification of the Church and for her mission. All charisms are for the mission, and they are precisely so with the incalculable richness of their variety; so that the Church may bear witness to and proclaim the Gospel to everyone and in every situation.

2022 Papal Homily for the 26th World Day for Consecrated Life

What is our vision of consecrated life? The world often sees it as “a waste”, a relic of the past, something useless. But we, the Christian community, men and women religious, what do we see? Are our eyes turned only inward, yearning for something that no longer exists, or are we capable of a farsighted gaze of faith, one that looks both within and beyond? I am greatly edified when I see older consecrated men and women whose eyes are bright, who continue to smile and in this way give hope to the young. Let us think of all those times when we encountered such persons, and bless God for this. For their eyes are full of hope and openness to the future.

2021 Papal Homily for the 25th World Day for Consecrated Life

2020 Papal Homily for the 24th World Day for Consecrated Life

2019 Papal Homily for the 23rd World Day for Consecrated Life

2018 Papal Homily for the 22nd World Day of Consecrated Life

2017 Papal Homily for the 21st World Day of Consecrated Life

2016 Papal Homily for 20th World Day of Consecrated Life

2015 Papal Homily for 19th World Day of Consecrated Life

2014 Papal Homily for 18th World Day of Consecrated Life