Consecrated Life: A Life for God Alone
[Consecrated Life consists of ] a public manifestation … to live always in God, to act always for God, to think, to talk and to make use of the senses of the body, the powers of the soul and all created things for the glory of God. (OOCC, II, p. 290)
The consecrated life involves, besides withdrawal from the world, a life for God alone. As a matter of fact, a consecrated person withdraws from the things of the world by giving them the value they deserve and nothing more because he wants to live the totality of his life for God. The choice to live for God, for St. Vincent Pallotti, must be publicly manifested. This public manifestation can take many forms. It can be done by a person’s decision to live always in God. Living in God on a continuous basis implies that he gives himself to the cultivation of a genuine prayer life. A person can publicly manifest his choice to live for God by acting for God always. This means that a person does all his actions with the purest of intentions. Likewise, a person can publicly manifest his decision to live for God alone by thinking the thoughts of God, by saying what God wants him to communicate and by making use of the senses of his body, the powers of his soul and all created things for the glory of God. According to St. Vincent, living for God alone calls for a total self-surrender to God on the part of the consecrated person. Thus, when a person makes a decisive option for God by a total self-surrender of himself to God and publicly manifests it in diverse ways in his daily living, he lives for God alone.
Is my consecrated living a life for God alone? Do I, in my daily living, make a genuine option for God? Do I make a complete surrender of myself to God through my consecrated living? How do I publicly manifest my self-surrender in my daily life?
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Eph. 5: 1-2)