On Tuesday, February 2nd, the Church celebrated the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. This feast is also called Candlemas Day, and is a day on which candles are blessed that symbolize Christ who is the light of our world.

Those in consecrated life are called to reflect the light of Christ to all nations. That’s why every February 2 since 1997 is also a worldwide day of prayer for men and women in consecrated life.

Focusing on Simeon and Anna, Pope Francis posed three questions during his homily on February 2, 2022, particularly to consecrated persons:

1. Who mostly moves us? “Is it the Holy Spirit, or the spirit of this world?” Like Simeon, the Holy Spirit “enables us to discern God’s presence and activity not in great things, in outward appearances or shows of force, but in littleness and vulnerability.”

2. What do our eyes see? God gives us new eyes to look not only inwardly at ourselves, but also outwardly at the whole world. This gaze can “enter into the very cracks of our weaknesses and failures, in order to discern God’s presence even there.”

3. What do we take into our own arms? “The heart of everything is Christ, embracing Him as the Lord of our lives,” says the Pope. “if consecrated men and women lack words that bless God and other people, if they lack joy, if their enthusiasm fails, if their fraternal life is only a chore, it is not the fault of someone or something else. It is because our arms no longer embrace Jesus.”

Please pray this week for all of our Oblate family, and all consecrated men and women across the world.

You can watch the Pope’s full homily here.