CV NEWS FEED // In a moving homily delivered during the Mass of the Eighth Day of the Novemdiales at the Vatican Basilica, His Eminence Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, S.D.B., underscored the indispensable role of consecrated men and women in bearing witness to the primacy of God and the hope of the Risen Christ.
The former Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Cardinal Fernández Artime is a Spanish Salesian. Pope Francis made him a cardinal in 2023 and allowed him to continue as superior general (rector) of the order founded by Saint John Bosco.
Cardinal Fernández Artime is the first cleric made a cardinal while heading a religious order.
Addressing a congregation of mostly religious gathered to honor the memory of the late pontiff, the Cardinal reflected on the transformative power of Christ’s resurrection and the enduring mission entrusted to all baptized Christians, with a particular emphasis on those in consecrated life.
“It is clear that only the presence, with them, of the Risen Lord and the action of the Holy Spirit can explain” the courage of the early disciples, the Cardinal said. “Their faith was based on such a strong and personal experience of Christ, dead and risen, that they were not afraid of anything or anyone.”
Drawing inspiration from Pope Saint John Paul II, Cardinal Fernández Artime reminded the faithful of the ongoing need for authentic encounters with Christ in the modern world. He cited the late pope’s words: “Today, as yesterday, the men and women of the present generation have a great need to encounter the Lord and his liberating message of salvation.”
The Cardinal also emphasized the “prophetic presence” of religious men and women who, often in challenging circumstances, serve “the poor, the marginalized and the least.”
“Brothers and sisters, it is true that all of us, this entire assembly as baptized, are called to be witnesses of the Lord Jesus, dead and risen,” he said. “But it is equally true that we, consecrated men and women, have received this vocation, this call to discipleship that asks us to bear witness to the primacy of God with our whole life.”
He stressed the urgency of this witness, especially “when – as today in many parts of the world – we experience the absence of God or forget His centrality too easily.” Invoking the wisdom of Saint Benedict, Cardinal Fernández Artime encouraged all to “put nothing before the love of Christ.”
Quoting Pope Benedict XVI, he described consecrated persons as “sentinels who perceive and announce the new life already present in our history,” and reaffirmed that “only God gives fullness to human existence and that, consequently, our life must be an eloquent sign of the presence of the Kingdom of God for today’s world.”
Cardinal Fernández Artime called on religious men and women to be “a credible and luminous sign of the Gospel and its paradoxes in the world,” urging them not to conform to worldly mentalities but to continually renew their commitment to Christ.
He reminded the assembly that “it is only the presence of the Risen Jesus that transforms everything: darkness is conquered by light; useless work becomes fruitful and promising again; the sense of tiredness and abandonment gives way to a new impetus and the certainty that He is with us.”
Concluding his homily, Cardinal Fernández Artime invoked the intercession of Mary, praying: “May Mary, Mother of the Church, grant us all the grace to be missionary disciples today, witnesses of Her Son in this Church of Hers that – under the guidance of the Holy Spirit – lives in hope, because the Risen Lord is with us until the end of time. Amen.”