ZAMBIA: Bishops in Zambia Urge Consecrated Religious to be “Recommitted” to their Call
Following the annual celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life on February 2 by the Catholic Church, Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) has urged the Consecrated Men and Women to appreciate the occasion and use it for “self-introspection and recommitment” to their call.
“I invite you to take this annual celebration as the opportune occasion of self-introspection and re commitment to the values of your consecration,” reads an excerpt from a statement signed by the Director of ZCCB Commission for the Consecrated, Bishop Patrick Chilekwa Chisanga.
“I further urge you to carry out your everyday apostolates with love and joy of the Gospel, radiating the particular flavour of the charism and spirituality of your Congregation,” the prelate of Zambia’s Mansa Diocese emphasized.
Appreciating the existence of Consecrated religious in Zambia and the services they offer to the people of God the prelate said, “The Church in Zambia does recognize with deep gratitude, your presence and apostolic activities in all dioceses.”
“Through your presence and ministry in the health facilities, schools, nutrition centres as well as other integral human development programs, our Lord Jesus Christ guarantees his continued living presence among his people, especially those on the margins of society,” says Bishop Chisanga a member of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM) in the statement.
The celebration of Consecrated life was instituted by Pope St. John Paul II in 1997. It also “accords the whole Church the opportunity to contemplate with greater appreciation, the gift of Religious life and its unique contribution to the call to holiness and the mission of the Church in the world today,” the Bishop noted.
In his message to mark the 24th World Day for Consecrated life, Pope Francis defined a consecrated person as, “…one who every day looks at himself or herself and says, ‘Everything is gift, all is grace…’. We did not deserve Religious life; it is a gift of love that we have received.”
The annual celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life is normally on the Feast of the Presentation.
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
