Cardinal Leo’s Message for World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life

Message for World Day for Consecrated Life
2 February 2025
His Eminence Frank Cardinal Leo
Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

May Jesus and Mary be in your souls.

I am writing to you on the occasion of the 29th World Day for Consecrated Life which we celebrate as a community of faith each year on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. The first World Day for Consecrated Life was instituted by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1997, emphasizing the vital role of consecrated men and women in the life of the Church. Today we continue to recognize their unique contribution and especially during this Jubilee holy year, as Pilgrims of Hope, we see in them a profound witness to Hope. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank all those consecrated men and women who have dedicated themselves in a life-long commitment to our Lord.

Many of us have either experienced or have knowledge of persons in the consecrated life through their good works. Healthcare, education, care for the poor and marginalized, along with a myriad of other spiritual and corporal works of mercy in the Archdiocese of Toronto find their roots in the charisms of these religious communities. Without the generous response of these men and women and their lived expressions of faith, many in our community would be neglected, forgotten and abandoned. Countless consecrated persons work tirelessly to offer “places of hope and the discovery of the Beatitudes, where love, drawing strength from prayer, the wellspring of communion, is called to become a pattern of life and source of joy” for all (Vita Consecrata, 51).

Communities of consecrated life are recognizable manifestations of the Holy Spirit at work in the world. They are signs of hope, charismatic eruptions that seek to bring light to places of darkness and despair. Pope Francis points to the many and varied ways in which, as Pilgrims of Hope, the Church is a sign of Hope in the here and now (Spes non Confundit, 7-15) most notably by allowing ourselves to be transformed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Without exception, the present-day signs of hope mentioned by our Holy Father are found in the life, witnessing and ministries of consecrated men and women. At the same time, they point to our future glory and challenge us to embrace the call of our Lord to his Wedding Feast. As Pope Saint John Paul II reminds us: “By their charisms, consecrated persons become signs of the Spirit pointing to a new future enlightened by faith and by Christian hope” (Vita Consecrata, 27).

On this World Day for Consecrated Life, I would like to reiterate my most sincere appreciation for all women and men in consecrated life, and to underscore their indispensable role in building up the Archdiocese of Toronto and indeed the Kingdom of God. Their profound witness, lives of selfless dedication and unwavering service to the Church and to the world testify to the reality of God’s love in this world and the promise of eternal life in the world to come.

Dear brothers and sisters in consecrated life, thank you for being palpable signs of hope in our midst; thank you for being the loving presence of Christ in our communities of faith; thank you for witnessing to us all the One Thing Necessary; and thank you for your prayers and ministry throughout our blessed archdiocese. May this Holy Year bring renewed hope, new vocations and great zeal for the Lord’s Kingdom.