During the solemn celebration, which began at 10:35 a.m. (UTC+2), the Holy Father further developed his thoughts, starting from the Liturgy of the day and Jesus' invitation to ‘ask,’ ‘seek’ and ‘knock’ (Lk 11:9). He drew a parallel between the three verbs and the vows of consecrated persons:
‘to ask, in fact, is to recognise, in poverty, that everything is a gift from the Lord and to give thanks for everything’; ‘to seek is to open oneself, in obedience, to discovering each day the path to follow on the journey of holiness,’ according to God's plans; ‘to knock, finally, is to ask for and offer to our brothers and sisters the gifts received with a chaste heart, striving to love everyone with respect and generosity.’
Leo XIV then invited consecrated persons – religious men and women, monks and contemplatives, members of secular institutes, members of the Ordo Virginum, hermits, members belonging to the ‘New Forms’ of consecrated life – to remember how and in what ways God’s love has acted in their life stories and in their respective institutes and congregations, aware that even through the ‘most difficult paths to understand, perhaps through the mysterious crucible of suffering’, there has never been a lack of ‘the embrace of that paternal goodness that characterises his action in us and, through us, for the good of the Church.’
Drawing on his own spirituality, the Pontiff then quoted St Augustine in an attempt to express the indescribable beauty and centrality of God in the lives of consecrated persons. ‘For you, for us, the Lord is everything! (...) Without him, nothing exists, nothing makes sense, nothing is worth anything.’ A relationship with God that should not frighten consecrated persons, because it is never so all-encompassing as to annul the human, to neglect our brothers and sisters, or to leave no room for mission and apostolate. The Holy Father made this clear when he explained: ‘After all, history teaches us that an authentic experience of God always gives rise to generous outpourings of charity, as was the case in the lives of your founders and foundresses, men and women in love with the Lord and therefore ready to become “all things to all people” (1 Cor 9:22), without distinction, in the most diverse ways and areas.’
In today's world, sceptical of ideologies, bewildered by the speed of information and change, often attracted by passing and ephemeral fashions, religious people remind us that ‘to be truly happy, human beings need (...) experiences of love that are consistent, lasting and solid; and you, by the example of your consecrated life, like the lush trees we sang about in the responsorial psalm’ (‘which will bear fruit in its season and whose leaves will never fall,’ Ed. - Ps 1).
Finally, the Pope also emphasised the eschatological dimension of Consecrated Life, drawing everyone's attention to the fact that, as stated by the Second Vatican Council, religious men and women are ‘witnesses of ‘future goods’, capable of raising their gaze towards an eternal horizon that transcends the realities of this world.
Concluding his homily, the Pontiff echoed the words of his predecessor St Paul VI, exhorting consecrated persons to ‘preserve the simplicity of the “least” of the Gospel. Be truly poor, meek, hungry for holiness, merciful, pure of heart, those through whom the world will know the peace of God.’
Although the Mass with the Pontiff, the culminating moment of the Jubilee of Consecrated Life, has ended, the programme for this event still includes several other events throughout the city of Rome until Sunday, 12 October 2025.
