Consecrated Life, a Pilgrimage towards Predestination!

Consecrated life is a sign of predestination, which is not given to everyone! After the grace of baptism, the greatest grace God gives a soul in his mercy is the call to religious life (RA, p. 30), St. Hannibal Mary Di Francia says. It is God who chooses and calls the person to follow him more intimately. This choice of God of a certain person involves predestination because that person is selected among the thousands to stay with him. It is, indeed, a priceless grace that God gives to anyone he wishes to (cf. Ex 4:13).

Therefore, the one who is called needs to receive and accept it wholeheartedly with pure intention in his mind and in his heart, wanting only Jesus and to belong to him only… because he is the hidden treasure of his faith (cf., RA, p.13). In the case of the Rogationists or of the Daughters of the Divine Zeal, they have to understand that to follow Jesus, the Rogate way, is to belong totally to God, to promote the greater consolation of the most holy Heart of Jesus and to devote themselves to the service of the poor (RA, p. 14). This is the call which, St. Hannibal Mary wrote, I felt in my heart to give myself more completely to the service of God, for my own greater sanctification and for the greater good of souls (Declarations and Promises [DP], 1).

Religious consecrated life then is a journey, a pilgrimage toward God, toward Jesus our hope (cf., 1Tim 1:1). This journey is not as smooth as one thinks or presumes because Satan fears nothing else as much as the foundation of a charitable or religious institution which aims at God’s glory and salvation of souls (RA, p. 47). Hence, it is understandable that he hates so much those who follow Jesus more closely in the religious life. One needs to become single-minded, focusing his attention only on God’s will in every step he makes and if by human weakness or by surprise, a person happens to sin or to be at fault, she must not become disheartened or lose confidence, following the devil’s suggestion; on the contrary, with quiet humility and pious confidence she must rise, beg pardon from the adorable Heart of Jesus, whose mercy is infinite (RA, p.40).

For this reason, religious life has become a very challenging life. Every now and then, one has to face mysterious fights with one’s own self, with others, with the infernal enemy, and even with God himself (cf., Teodoro Tusino, He Never Said No, p. 58) that ends up with the intimate embrace as the experience of Jacob tells us (cf. Gen 32:22-31). The transfer to other places or assignments, meeting and working with new people, adapting to new environment, climate, cultures etc., just to mention some of the adjustments a religious has to pass through. However, this is a necessary passage that one must go through if he wants to reach his goal, his sanctification. There is no other way or shortcut to reach this goal.

This is the proper time to endure the mysterious battle for self-annihilation, the time of wails, sobs, petitions, and any sacrifice so that these words of the Psalmist, ‘put your hope in Yahweh, be strong, let your heart be bold [Ps 27:14] (RA, p. 49). This is the hope that St. Hannibal Mary wants all his sons and daughters to embrace. Even in front of an immensely heavy load, one has to have faith in God, always believing that Christ is truly our hope. When everything in our enterprises seems to be upside down, the only comfort is submission to divine will, which guides everything to good results, even though we do not understand (RA, p. 50). That is why St. Hannibal Mary was attributed to be an Apostle of Hope (cf., TFS, p. 169).

Fr. Marcelino Diaz II, RCJ, is the responsible and Novice Master of the Rogamina Community. The community seeks to follow the command of unceasing prayer for vocations guarded and guided by a monastic-contemplative lifestyle.