Starting Afresh in Hope

4. The Great Jubilee of 2000, which profoundly involved all forms of consecrated life throughout the world, has had a great impact on the life of the Church. On 2 February 2000, preceded by a prayerful preparation, the Jubilee of Consecrated life was celebrated in all the local Churches.

At the end of the Jubilee Year, in the hope that we might cross the threshold of the new millennium together, the Holy Father sought to summarize the heritage of the Jubilee Celebrations in the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte. This text presents, with extraordinary yet predictable continuity, some fundamental themes already mentioned in the Exhortation Vita Consecrata: Christ, the centre of life for every Christian,¹¹ the pastoral practice and teaching on holiness, its demanding character, its high standard of ordinary Christian living,¹² the widespread need for spirituality and prayer realized principally in contemplation and in listening to the Word of God,¹³ the irreplaceable effects of the sacramental life,¹⁴ the spirituality of communion,¹⁵ and the witness of Love which is expressed in a new creativity of charity towards those who suffer, towards a wounded world enslaved in hatred, in a spirit of ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue.¹⁶

The Members of the Plenary, taking as points of departure the elements received from the Apostolic Exhortation and presented by the experience of the Jubilee as well as the call for a new commitment to holiness, highlighted the questions and hopes pointed out by consecrated persons throughout the world, concentrating on the most important aspects. Their intention was not to produce another doctrinal document but rather to help consecrated life enter into the great pastoral guidelines of the Holy Father with the contribution of his authority and of charismatic service to unity and to the universal mission of the Church. A gift which is shared and put into practice with fidelity to the following of Christ through the evangelical counsels and with the strength of charity daily lived in fraternal communion and in a generous apostolic spirituality.

The special Continental Assemblies of the Synod of Bishops which served as preparations for the Jubilee Year have already addressed the hopes and challenges of consecrated life in the context of the local Churches and cultures. The members of the Plenary did not intend to offer another analysis of the situation. More simply, taking into account the present state of religious life and seeking to remain attentive to the guidelines of the Holy Father, they invite consecrated men and women in their particular situation and culture to focus primarily on spirituality. Their reflections contained in these pages are articulated in four parts. Having recognized the rich experiences which consecrated life is experiencing in the Church at the present time, they wished to express their gratitude and their wholehearted esteem for what consecrated life is and for what it does (Part 1). They did not close their eyes to the difficulties, trials and challenges which consecrated persons are experiencing today but looked upon them as a new opportunity to rediscover, more profoundly, the meaning and quality of consecrated life (Part II). The most important challenge is that of a renewed commitment to the spiritual life, starting afresh from Christ in adhering to the Gospel and living the spirituality of communionin a unique way (Part III). Finally, they wanted to accompany consecrated persons on the streets of the world where Christ walked and today is present, where the Church proclaims him as Savior of the world, where the Trinitarian life spreads communion in a renewed mission (Part IV).