I. IN PRAISE OF THE TRINITY "A PATRE AD PATREM": GOD’S INITIATIVE
17. Contemplation of the glory of the Lord Jesus in the icon of the Transfiguration reveals to consecrated persons first of all the Father, the creator and giver of every good thing, who draws his creatures to himself (cf. Jn. 6:44) with a special love and for a special mission.
"This is my beloved Son: listen to him!" (cf. Mt. 17:5). In response to this call and the interior attraction which accompanies it, those who are called entrust themselves to the love of God, who wishes them to be exclusively at his service, and they consecrate themselves totally to him and to his plan of salvation (cf. 1 Cor. 7:32-34).
This is the meaning of the call to the consecrated life: It is an initiative coming wholly from the Father (cf. Jn. 15: 16), who asks those whom he has chosen to respond with complete and exclusive devotion.
The experience of this gracious love of God is so deep and so powerful that the person called senses the need to respond by unconditionally dedicating his or her life to God, consecrating to him all things present and future, and placing them in his hands. This is why, with St. Thomas, we come to understand the identity of the consecrated person, beginning with his or her complete self-offering, as being comparable to a genuine holocaust.
"PER FILIUM": IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE SON
18. The Son, who is the way which leads to the Father (cf. Jn. 14:6), calls all those whom the Father has given to him (cf. Jn. 17:9) to make the following of himself the whole purpose of their lives. But of some, those called to the consecrated life, he asks a total commitment, one which involves leaving everything behind (cf. Mt. 19:27) in order to live at his side and to follow him wherever he goes (cf. Rv. 14:4). In the countenance of Jesus, the "image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15) and the reflection of the Father’s glory (cf. Heb. 1:3), we glimpse the depths of an eternal and infinite love which is at the very root of our being.
Those who let themselves be seized by this love cannot help abandoning everything to follow him (cf. Mk. 1:16-20; 2:14; 10:21, 28). Like St. Paul, they consider all else as loss "because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ, by comparison with which they do not hesitate to count all things as "refuse, in order that they "may gain Christ" (Phil. 3:8). They strive to become one with him, taking on his mind and his way of life. This leaving of everything and following the Lord (cf. Lk. 18:28) is a worthy program of life for all whom he calls in every age.
The evangelical counsels, by which Christ invites some people to share his experience as the chaste, poor and obedient one, call for and make manifest in those who accept them an explicit desire to be totally conformed to him. Living "in obedience, with nothing of one’s own and in chastity," consecrated persons profess that Jesus is the model in whom every virtue comes to perfection. His way of living in chastity, poverty and obedience appears as the most radical way of living the Gospel on this earth, a way which may be called divine, for it was embraced by him, God and man, as the expression of his relationship as the Only Begotten Son with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. This is why Christian tradition has always spoken of the objective superiority of the consecrated life.
Nor can it be denied that the practice of the evangelical counsels is also a particularly profound and fruitful way of sharing in Christ’s mission, in imitation of the example of Mary of Nazareth, the first disciple, who willingly put herself at the service of God’s plan by the total gift of self. Every mission begins with the attitude expressed by Mary at the Annunciation: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word" (Lk. 1:38).
"IN SPIRITU": CONSECRATED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
19. "A bright cloud overshadowed them" (Mt. 17:5). A significant spiritual interpretation of the Transfiguration sees this cloud as an image of the Holy Spirit.
Like the whole of Christian life, the call to the consecrated life is closely linked to the working of the Holy Spirit. In every age the Spirit enables new men and women to recognize the appeal of such a demanding choice. Through his power, they relive, in a way, the experience of the prophet Jeremiah: "You have seduced me, Lord, and I have let myself be seduced (Jer. 20:7). It is the Spirit who awakens the desire to respond fully; it is he who guides the growth of this desire, helping it to mature into a positive response and sustaining it as it is faithfully translated into action; it is he who shapes and molds the hearts of those who are called, configuring them to Christ, the chaste, poor and obedient one, and prompting them to make his mission their own. By allowing them selves to be guided by the Spirit on an endless journey of purification, they become, day after day, conformed to Christ, the prolongation in history of a special presence of the risen Lord.
With penetrating insight, the Fathers of the Church have called this spiritual path philokalia, or love of the divine beauty, which is the reflection of the divine goodness. Those who by the power of the Holy Spirit are led progressively into full configuration to Christ reflect in themselves a ray of the unapproachable light. During their earthly pilgrimage, they press on toward the inexhaustible source of light. The consecrated life thus becomes a particularly profound expression of the Church as the Bride who, prompted by the Spirit to imitate her Spouse, stands before him "in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:27).
The same Spirit, far from removing from the life of humanity those whom the Father has called, puts them at the service of their brothers and sisters in accordance with their particular state of life and inspires them to undertake special tasks in response to the needs of the Church and the world by means of the charisms proper to the various Institutes. Hence many different forms of the consecrated life have arisen whereby the Church is "adorned by the various gifts of her children ... like a bride made beautiful for her Spouse (cf. Rv. 21:2)" and is enriched by the means necessary for carrying out her mission in the world.
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