The Cardinal Fernando Sebastián gave a course to the Legionaries of Christ living in Spain focused on the present and future of consecrated life, as well as the fundamental aspects that should characterize this type of life in the Church. The meeting took place on January 3 and 4, in Salamanca, and during those days, Cardinal Sebastián also delivered some lectures on the situation of the Church in Spain from the Transition to the present day.

Father Justo Gómez, LC, territorial prefect of studies of the Legion of Christ in Spain, considers this encounter with the Cardinal a “gift from God” because “it helped us to continue deepening our understanding of our consecrated life and, more importantly, of the primacy of the theandric life, the life of imitation and following of Christ, and the eschatological vision of life.”

Need for an Eschatological Vision

After a theological introduction to consecrated life, Don Fernando presented some lines about the future of consecrated life. Among other aspects, he pointed out that the decline in vocations is due, among other reasons, to the decline in birth rates, and therefore in family environments where “an attraction to ascetic, generous, and demanding life” is lost. Or, as also happens in other cases, there is no experience of “an intense and effective faith.” From such environments, vocations usually do not arise.

However, for Cardinal Sebastián, one of the major deficiencies is the lack of “eschatological vision of faith and Christian life: Christian hope is hope for eternal life.” Currently, there is a very secularized view of life, even of Christian life itself. The apparent healing that the Church seems to provide appears to lose its eschatological perspective. And this is where consecrated life has a special role, because if there is something that characterizes it, it is that consecrated life should be an “anticipation of eternal life.”

Following and Imitating Jesus Christ

Cardinal Sebastián’s proposal, as he explained to the legionaries, necessarily involves a family and youth ministry: vocational ministry begins with a “sincere and effective family ministry,” and also with a demanding youth ministry where the follow of Jesus is lived out. And this is because the essential element of consecrated life is the “following and imitation of Jesus Christ,” along with a “passionate and impatient faith” and “the urgency to attain and live the goods of the Kingdom of God.”

Don Fernando was very clear: “Our institutes do not have their roots in the founders and in the constitutions themselves, but in Jesus Christ, as well as in the lives of the apostles and in the counsels and models of Gospel life.” “May consecrated life – he continued – be a way of life in which the theandric life predominates. Not discipline or uniformity. A life in which faith, hope, and charity take precedence.”

Source: Lo+RC