The vocation to religious life is still an important element in the life of the Church. Great things are happening in many parts of the world with a new flowering of religious life. Therefore, we continue our glance through some highlights of last week's World Youth Day in Madrid with some of the Pope's words to young religious women.
'In a world of relativism and mediocrity, we need that radicalism to which your consecration, as a way of belonging to the God who is loved above all things, bears witness.'
'Gospel radicalism finds expression in the mission God has chosen to entrust to us: from the contemplative life, which welcomes into its cloisters the word of God in eloquent silence and adores his beauty in the solitude which he alone fills, to the different paths of the apostolic life, in whose furrows the seed of the Gospel bears fruit in the education of children and young people, the care of the sick and elderly, the pastoral care of families, commitment to respect for life, witness to the truth and the proclamation of peace and charity, mission work and the new evangelization, and so many other sectors of the Church’s apostolate.'
- Pope Benedict XVI, Meeting with Young Women Religious for World Youth Day, Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain, 19th August 2011
