What is the World Day of Consecrated Life?

The World Day for Consecrated Life will be celebrated in the Church and in parishes over the weekend of February 1-2, 2025. Please pray for all those who have made commitments in the consecrated life and be sure to thank them on their special day. May they continue to be inspired by Jesus Christ and respond generously to God’s gift of their vocation.

The official opening of the Jubilee Year was on December 2024 when Pope Francis presided in the rite of Opening of the Holy Door of the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome. The Jubilee of Consecrated Life will be celebrated in Rome on October 8-12, 2025.

What is “Consecrated Life”

Consecrated life within the Church can take many different forms. While all are called to a life of prayer and penance for the glory of God and salvation of souls, some are called to a life of total seclusion from the world in solitude, such as hermits; others to a life of total seclusion in community, such a religious; and some to dedicate their lives to God while continuing to live in the world, such as consecrated virgins.
What they all have in common is the obligation of practicing the three virtues of poverty, obedience and chastity in celibacy for the sake of the kingdom of God. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 915

Why does the Church celebrate Consecrated Life as part of the Jubilee Year?

Celebrated annually on February 2, the World Day for Consecrated Life is intended to “help the entire Church to esteem ever more greatly the witness of those persons who have chosen to follow Christ by means of the practice of the evangelical counsels,” as Pope St. John Paul II explained when implementing the day.
In his 1996 post-synodal apostolic exhortation Vita Consecrata, Pope St. John Paul II affirmed that “the consecrated life is at the very heart of the Church as a decisive element for her mission.”
“Consecrated persons are here to show the world how to say ‘Yes’ to the unconditional love of God. Oblate Father Martin Wolf, official of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life

Who is celebrating?

The organizations of consecrated life in the United States (CMSM, CMSWR, LCWR, United States Conference of Secular Institutes, United States Association of Consecrated Virgins).
Arch/Dioceses and parishes throughout the world.
The universal Church
Individual religious congregations of women and men.

How will the Church celebrate Consecrated Life?

February 2, 2025 All Sisters are invited to join a virtual celebration.
Join Arch/diocesan celebrations in parishes the weekend of February 1- 2.
Pray the Jubilee Prayer and/or the Prayer for Consecrated Life. (see separate posting)
October 8-9, 2025, Jubilee Celebration of Consecrated Life in Rome.

Additional resources:

https://nrvc.net/publication/19455/article/28853-jubilee-year-of-consecrated-life-oct-8-9-2025

https://www.cmsm.org/world-day-for-consecrated-life-and-2025-jubilee-for-consecrated-life

https://www.vitaconsacrata.va/en/news/eventi/jubilee-2025/jubileo-update.html

https://nrvc.net/547/publication/19455/article/28830-pope-s-letter-announcing-the-jubilee-year-2025

https://www.worldwidemagazine.org/vol-34-no-2/jubilee-2025-of-consecrated-life/

https://www.uisg.org/en/news/Jubilee-preparatory-meeting-February-press-release

https://www.lcwr.org/resources/world-day-for-consecrated-life-2025

JUBILEE PRAYER
Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us in your Son, Jesus Christ, enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your Kingdom.

May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel. May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, when, with the powers of evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally.

May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven. May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth.

To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever. Amen. Jubilee 2025: Pilgrims of Hope, 12 December 2024

Prayer for Consecrated Life

“God our Father, we thank you for calling men and women to serve in your Son’s Kingdom as sisters, brothers, religious priests, consecrated virgins, and hermits, as well as members of Secular Institutes. Renew their knowledge and love of you and send your Holy Spirit to help them respond generously and courageously to your will. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

U.S. bishops’ Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life And Vocations.

FOR KANSAS CITY IN KANSAS ARCHDIOCESAN CELEBRATION

Mass for Consecrated Life in October. It will take place on Saturday, October 11, at 10:00am at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Kansas City, Kansas. October 11 coincides with the Feast of St. Maria Soledad, the foundress of the Servants of Mary, Minister to the Sick, whose shrine was dedicated at the Cathedral in December 2023. All members of religious congregations are invited to participate. An invitation will be sent to the individual congregation’s leadership for its members.

Information from: Sister Eva-Maria Ackerman, FSGM

Delegate for Religious and Consecrated Life Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas