On 2 February, the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus in the Temple, the Church celebrated the day of Religious Life, the religious consecration. The following day, 3 February, Saturday, Cardinal Vincent Nichols concelebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving in the cathedral with several bishops and a number of priests. The mass was attended by a large number of religious men and women.
The Cardinal gave a homily based on today’s Gospel reading: “Simeon and Anna, recognising Jesus as he was presented to God in the Temple by Mary and Joseph”. “Today, in his homily, we are looking into the eyes of two important people: Simeon and Anna. We give thanks to our Saviour. Today we give thanks for your life, for your dedication as religious sisters and brothers“, Cardinal Nichols said.
“We thank God -he continued- for your witness of service to the Church. It is impossible to calculate the immense good you do for the men and women of our world: all the acts of kindness you perform every day, the teaching in the schools, the nursing in the hospitals, the residences, the good you do in general for so many people. And in all these tasks, you bring wisdom, enthusiasm, healing and so much more. Thank you for all that you do”.
“Simeon and Anna -said the Cardinal- were faithful in prayer. That is what you do today and we celebrate your faithfulness to God over the years. What did Simeon and Anna demonstrate? A clarity of vision and, in that clarity of vision, they recognised Jesus. They have eyes for Jesus. Simeon and Anna have a clear view in the midst of the difficulties of the moment and what was happening. We too need to see what is important and focus on praising God”.
They have words of wisdom that brought others to God. That is also our mission: to bring others to God through words of wisdom and through prayer. We thank God for the gift of Consecrated Life to the Church.
At the end of the Mass, the sisters of the congregation continued the celebration with a cup of tea and cake at Peter Johns with some of the young people from our centre group who were also in the Cathedral. They all shared their vocation bringing to mind their own call from God. May God be praised for all that he does for us.