Zagreb, (IKA) – In preparation for the National Encounter of Croatian Religious in the Year of Consecrated Life, on Friday, March 13, a vigil with prayer for the canonization of the Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac was held in the Zagreb Cathedral.
Addressing the large number of male and female religious assembled in the cathedral, the President of the Croatian Conference of Religious Superiors (CCRS/HKVRPP), Friar Jure Šarčević, O.F.M.Cap., said: “I welcome you this evening to this special celebration of prayer, penitential service and grateful adoration of the Lord for the numerous graces he continues to bestow on us in this Year of Consecrated Life, which we truly want to be a year of the Lord’s grace for all of us. This evening, let us renew our personal encounter with Our Lord Jesus Christ, our dedication and consecration, just as He did himself when as a tiny baby he was brought to the temple by his parents to be presented to the Lord.”
He referred to the objectives established by Pope Francis when declaring 2015 as the Year of Consecrated Life. One of them is to rediscover and awaken our passion, “the gentle and refreshing joy of evangelization, even when it is necessary to sow in tears (…). And may the world of our time, which sometimes seeks in anguish and other times in hope, be able to receive the gospel, not from sad and dejected, impatient and anxious evangelizers but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervor, who have first received Christ’s joy themselves.” “We thank the Holy Father for this Year of Consecrated Life, which he has given us as a special time of grace, in which to live in joy and communion with the whole Church,” said Šarčević, and urged all “to raise our special ardent prayers to God the Father, the source of holiness and grace, that we may welcome the moment of the canonization of the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac as soon as possible, who for the whole Church and our nation, in the difficult moments he endured not so long ago, was a sign of confident hope and steadfastness, praying to him to be such a sign for us during this present convoluted time.”
The vigil, which had the motto “I chose you…!” began with the invocation of the Holy Spirit and the presentation of the male and female religious orders in the Republic of Croatia. Every religious order brought something specifically representative of itself, charism. Particularly impressive was the San Damiano Cross, which was brought by members of the First Franciscan Order and the Provinces of the Friars Minor, Conventual Franciscans and Capuchin Franciscans.
In the second part of the vigil, the Penitential Liturgy was led by the Bishop of Dubrovnik and President of the Council of the Croatian Conference of Bishops for Institutions of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Msgr. Mate Uzinić.
Greeting the assembled male and female religious with their superiors, as well as the recently appointed Bishop of Krk, Ivica Petanjak, Bishop Uzinić expressed his gratitude: “I say to you, thank you: thank you because you exist, thank you for responding to the Lord’s call, thank you for everything you do, thank you because this evening you have united all your charisms, all your inspiration and openness to the Holy Spirit with that of the namesake of this cathedral, the charism of the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac, who inspires us all together in the love of God and Church, especially in fidelity to the Chair of St. Peter. This unites us today with the Pope’s Day, the second anniversary of the pontificate of our Pope for whom this evening we also pray that the Lord grant him the strength to respond to the mission that God has for him at this time and in the Church of our time,” said the bishop.
He stressed the Blessed Alojzije’s love of the Homeland, “which also unites us together because you consecrated persons who serve in the territory of the Republic of Croatia, as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina, have gathered here. Before the second part of this evening’s vigil, the Penitential Celebration, I wish to note something that happened in the first part, which I consider very important in order for us to continue with our celebration in the correct manner. What happened was that we became acquainted with each other. All of you consecrated persons know your charisms and tonight we have had the opportunity to become acquainted with the charisms of others. However, we also had the opportunity for something else, which was to become aware of our own charisms anew. In the following moments, we should ask ourselves what has remained from our charisms, my charism, to what extent am I faithful,” said Bishop Uzinić.
He noted the Year of Consecrated Life has three parts. This recollection of charism is a grateful remembrance of the past. In it, we also see hope for the future. However, what is most important at this moment of the Penitential Celebration is the question about the present, whether I live my present with love. He then said that in addition to these objectives of the Year of Consecrated Life, we also have some expectations. First of all is the expectation that we shall be joyful, that we shall not experience the charism of our mission in this world and time as a burden but instead as a genuine opportunity to attest to the joy that has consumed us in following Jesus Christ. With this evening’s gathering, we are demonstrating fellowship. That is our second expectation but there is also the fellowship in which we must live on the level of our religious orders, our congregations. Prophecy is also needed here. We must not remain silent about Jesus Christ. First of all, we must speak with our lives and only then with words. Here are also the peripheries to which we have to go: the margins of the Church and the society, not only in the material sense but even more so in the spiritual sense. In the end, this is our time that we must understand, as your founders understood their times, to which they gave answers in the light of the gospel of Jesus. Our task is to understand our time and to offer answers in the light of the same gospel, explained Bishop Uzinić.
May the Lord who has called and chosen us, as we did not choose Him because He is the one who chooses, inspire us with his Spirit so that we can properly examine our present, grateful for the past, because only if we live our present with passion and love like that of your founders, shall we live our present, the beauty that we see here tonight, this wealth of charism, this wealth of people that will be the riches we shall have in the future,” he remarked, and concluded “with these wishes and prayers, united with all those who are praying for the Holy Father today and all those in Croatia who are praying for the canonization of the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac, in anticipation that this will happen soon, let us enter this celebration, let us enter this two-day encounter of consecrated persons who serve in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. May the Lord give us enough of his Holy Spirit so that we can respond to his call, starting from now and from ourselves.”
Following the Liturgy of the Word, the Rev. Damir Stojić, S.D.B., spoke about the examination of conscience according to the Gospel passage from the Beatitudes. In the concluding part of the vigil was the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, led by Fr. Ivan Mandurić, S.J., and others. During the vigil, there was also the opportunity for confession.