5. What do you say about yourself? (Jn. 1,22)
One of the most significant factors in the visibility of a group is its ability to answer questions about its own identity, to be able and to know how to reply to the question "who are you?"

Can the consecrated life answer that question today in simple words that can be understood? Is there one single answer?

It is well known that during the post-conciliar years the subject of the identity of the consecrated life has suffered a grave crisis from which we have perhaps not yet finally emerged. Before the Council an ordinary Christian knew and understood what was meant by the consecrated life; experience shows that today this is not the case and that within the Christian community there is a kind of effective and theoretical lack of understanding of what the consecrated life means in the Church; so the Christian community does not have a clear picture of our identity.

That does not mean that there is not an abundance of post-conciliar theological reflection on the identity of the consecrated life; the problem is to what extent this reflection has penetrated and become embedded in the people of God, in particular amongst the young.

Although not absolutely clear either, the identity of the diocesan clergy seems more widely received and more comprehensible; no doubt the work they do and the proximity of the faithful usually present in the parish have influenced this understanding.

This vagueness affects us, especially those of us in the consecrated life, as well as all who find it difficult to give an effectively formed and easily comprehensible reply about our identity.

The post-synodal Exhortation echoes the situation in explaining the reasons for the themes chosen by the most recent synods: "in recent years there has been felt the need to clarify the specific identity of the various states of life, their vocation and their particular mission in the Church" (VC 4). This clarification of the identity of the various charisms is not intended only to explain theological concepts but to make them more helpful to the mission of the Church, by emphasizing their specific identity as gifts of the Spirit (cf. VC 4).

This is neither the place nor the time to present, even in basic outline, the current theological concepts that explain the identity of the consecrated life.

My aim is far more modest: what I think meets the expectations of this Assembly of Superiors General is to highlight the various aspects of that identity (independently of the theological concept in which they are constructed) which affect the visibility of both vocational promotion and the renewal of the consecrated life.

Young people do not feel attracted by a divided group, which does not know what it is and in explaining its identity allows them to see something vague or ambiguous about its place and function in the Church. It is difficult to provoke contagion or inspire desire and attraction for a religious vocation if it is not socially perceived in features that motivate a person to give her/himself up totally to following Jesus.

The first feature, which covers so many others, is the unity between the members of a religious Congregation, in lifestyle, apostolic programs and the way they carry them out; in other words, the impression of being united and committed to the same apostolic work. Diversity enriches the mission when it has no roots in individualism and when, after judgment reached in common, the mission and the steps it demands are undertaken in a responsible way.

There is a common belief that vocations arise only in environments where there is a strong experience of God and which are a source of generous and devoted love towards the poorest among us; that is how one can easily see that there is a radicality in following Jesus, and God calls some people to this path.

This experience of God as a mystical dimension of our existence and of our mission no doubt constitutes an aspect of the identity of the consecrated life. It must be visible and transparent, not hidden in the depths of our hearts; it must exist not just in the individual but in the community, because this identity has strong corporate connotations.

Sociologically speaking, outsiders expect a religious to be and to be openly perceived as a "man of God", someone who has been seduced by the Lord, who has discovered Him as a "hidden treasure" to the extent of "selling all in his joy" (Matt. 13, 44-46) to follow Him and take Him as the path of life.

The experiences of the youth pastoral seem to show that a few years ago what the religious "did" was what first attracted young people, and the "doing" formed an integral part of what they wanted to become. Today, the initial interest centers more on "being", i.e. knowing what in particular, qualitatively speaking, distinguishes our lives: the testimony of life that we give, how we do what we have to do, in what spirit, what our attitudes are, what motivates us, how we live, how we pray, what our relationships in the community are like, what kind of fraternal links we have...

Furthermore, most of the serious sociological studies that have been done on vocational promotion and the future of the consecrated life show a notable degree of agreement. Young people today are attracted by groups that have a clearly religious aim, a strong communal life, community solidarity and a passion for explicit evangelization. They are inspired by justice and show a desire to work with and for the poor; they want to be sure that their future mission will have a clear and meaningful religious dimension.

Does the consecrated life meet these expectations, not only individually but also as a community? Do we realize that either we are men and women with a clear identity, witnesses to the transcendent, and that that is how people see us, or else we serve no purpose? If we are regarded as competent professionals, who nonetheless lack the radical features of the consecrated life - some of which I have described - we will be able to reach only a few young people. Every day we become more replaceable - and are actually replaced - in many apostolic fields, simply because of our reduced numbers. However, no one can replace us in that particular aspect of our identity which colors our mission.