Last December 22, 2022, in the Parish “Santa Maria Causa Nostrae Laetitiae,” in Rome, I made my perpetual profession of vows in the Congregation of the Missionary Servants of the Poor. The vows of chastity, poverty and obedience are also called the evangelical counsels, precisely because they are conforming to Jesus Christ, who freely chose this way of life when he was among us. He became chaste, to turn his love exclusively to God in humanity; he became poor, to show the world the true wealth that comes only from God; he became obedient to the cross, to show that doing God’s will is the most important thing.
In the last days leading up to the time of publicly taking perpetual vows, many people have asked me: are you ready? Do you feel fully prepared? This is a very strong question, because it is not easy to feel conveniently prepared to take, in perpetuum, the evangelical counsels as a vow, that is, as a covenant made directly with God. Or rather: who is truly and totally prepared to live the evangelical counsels in imitation of Jesus? The most consistent answer is: no one!
However, living the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience is only possible in the Lord! In other words, God’s love, infused in each of us in creation, renewed by the Spirit in Baptism and strengthened in Eucharistic communion, makes possible the challenge of living in religious life a full consecration into the hands of the Lord. We are all called to this new life in Christ, each in our own vocation.
While there is always a doubt, an anxiety before professing perpetual vows, I have always had the confidence that this is truly my vocation and God’s desire in my life. God, who first loved us, is the inexhaustible source that allows us to say yes, every day, to choose to remain in love and faithful to the vows freely taken before God, the Church and the people of God.
In this life we do not walk alone, as much as the responsibility is always personal, we must remember that we depend on each other to reach Heaven. I have no shortage of examples to discern and understand the right path to follow. Father Giacomo Cusmano, my Founder, a saint who knew how to give a concrete response to the needs of his brothers; Father Francesco Spoto, who did not turn back in his willingness to do God’s will, even offering his own life. Mary Most Holy, who was poor and humble, knew how to have the trust and obedience necessary to do God’s will.
Consecrated to the Lord forever, for all my life, I ask for the grace to always be faithful to the One who called me, to respond with my humanity the boundless love that the Father constantly pours out to us, because God does not go back on his promises. So be it.
Brother Leandro dos Santos Pereira S.d.P.
