Bishop Dennis Walsh visits with Catholics following a Mass for World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life at Holy Family Parish in Davenport earlier this month.
By Barb Arland-Fye
The Catholic Messenger
Father Nicholas Akindele gives credit to French Canadian priests he met as a youth growing up in Nigeria for inspiring his vocation to the priesthood. As he celebrates the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood this year, he hopes to inspire youths he serves as pastor of Holy Family Parish in Davenport and youths in other parishes to consider vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
His most recent effort included the celebration of the Saturday night Mass, Feb. 1, the eve of the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and of World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life. He asked Bishop Dennis Walsh to preside and personally invited women religious serving in the diocese to attend. Children in the parishes he serves and children from other parishes also created spiritual bouquets of greeting cards for the women religious.
St. John Paul II instituted the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life in 1997. He described the threefold purpose of the day: “… it answers the intimate need to praise the Lord more solemnly and to thank him for the great gift of consecrated life, which enriches and gladdens the Christian community by the multiplicity of its charisms and by the edifying fruits of so many lives totally given to the cause of the Kingdom” (https://tinyurl.com/2fz48tx3).
Pope Francis celebrated World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life on its eve this year during Vespers. “In his homily, he focused on how religious consecration aims to imitate Jesus and his complete devotion to doing God’s will, and ‘how, through the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience that you have professed, you can bring its light to the women and men of our time,’” Catholic News Service reported. The Catholic Church worldwide has nearly 600,000 professed women religious and about 128,500 religious-order priests and close to 50,000 religious brothers, CNS reported, citing Vatican statistics.
Bishop Walsh, in his homily, reflected on the hope that the Presentation of the Lord brought to Simeon and Anna, who had waited in the temple faithfully and patiently for years for the Messiah to come. The arrival of Joseph and Mary with the infant Jesus filled them with joy.
“In the midst of a time that seemed hopeless and filled with despair, both of them were privileged to have witnessed this family as they brought their newborn son to the temple to be consecrated to the Lord,” Bishop Walsh said. “Pope Francis encourages us to be like both of them who lived in expectation and prayer. Their entire lives were marked by a deep longing for the Messiah, and their encounter with Jesus fulfilled their hope.”
“What we celebrate today is not some distant event in salvation history. It is a call to action for each of us today. In a world often filled with uncertainty and despair, this feast of the Presentation of the Lord invites us to embody hope in our daily lives. The Church draws life from this event; it encourages us to live in expectation of God’s promises.”
“In practical terms, this means being a source of light and hope for others. Whether through acts of kindness, support for those in need, or simply sharing a word of encouragement, each individual can contribute to a culture of hope. The hope that Simeon and Anna exemplified can inspire communities to nourish an environment where faith thrives.”
“We need to maintain and support consecrated life,” Father Akindele said. “Pope Francis, in ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ (‘The Joy of the Gospel’) talked about going out to the peripheries … (women and men religious are doing that) and we need to support them.”
“We’re trying to do more, making a conscious effort to bring together consecrated life and young people,” Father Akindele said. “For our diocesan life, for the growth of vocations, we need these conversations.”
