On Sunday, May 18, the Fifth Sunday of Easter, we celebrated the Perpetual Profession of religious Emmanuel Stephano Nyanda, CP (Vice-Province Saint Gemma Galgani – Tanzania), and Cl. Thiago Cesar Lopes da Silva, CP (Gethsemani Province), at the Parish of Saint Paul of the Cross (Church of Calvary), in São Paulo. The Holy Mass was presided over by Father Leudes Aparecido de Paula, CP, Provincial Superior of Gethsemani Province, and concelebrated by Father Revocatus Kabuzika, CP, Delegate of the Vice-Province Saint Gemma Galgani, together with other religious priests (Passionists and Holy Ghost Fathers).
Present were the juniorists from the Andaraí Community (RJ), the Passionist Sisters and Franciscan Sisters of Stella Maris College, Passionist lay men and women from Osasco, as well as friends of the professed who came from São Paulo, Araraquara, Lorena and Porto das Caixas, and the people of God from Calvary Parish. In the homily, the celebrant, Father Leudes, emphasized that religious are called to form communities, like Paul and Barnabas in their apostolic journey, and to live in them the commandment of love, as the Lord Jesus taught us: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn 13:35). He also highlighted that perpetual religious consecration is a prophetic witness of paschal hope and that, through it, religious assume life according to the evangelical counsels, becoming a visible sign of the Passion of Jesus, lived and proclaimed with solidarity love, especially alongside the crucified of history.
At the end of the celebration, religious Thiago expressed his gratitude to all involved in the organization and manifested his joy for the perpetual vows: “United in faith and recognizing God’s action in our lives, we give thanks to the Lord on this day when, through perpetual vows, we publicly confirm our total consecration to God in the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ.
On Holy Saturday, the Easter Proclamation invited us to reflect on the essence of our existence: ‘What would it profit us to be born, if he had not redeemed us with his love?’ This question reminds us that our life, with all its weaknesses, limits and challenges, finds true meaning only in the redemptive love of Christ, who, through his death and resurrection, offers us full life. As the apostle Saint Paul affirms: ‘In him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28); in Christ crucified and risen we find our reason for being and our path of life. Therefore, we place ourselves humbly before God and this assembled community, aware that ‘from him and through him and for him are all things’ (Rom 11:36).
With hearts full of gratitude, we confirm that our Perpetual Profession is not an endpoint, but a starting point. It is the beginning of an even greater mission, which calls us to be faithful witnesses of Christ’s crucified and risen love. From this definitive ‘yes,’ we are sent as servants of hope, prophets of compassion and living signs of God’s mercy in a world often wounded and thirsting for meaning. May the Holy Spirit, who consecrates and strengthens us, guide us with fidelity and courage. And may we, sustained by the Church’s prayer, walk ever more deeply in the generous donation of our lives, ‘until Christ is all in all’ (cf. Col 3:11).”
We give thanks to God for the lives of these young men who have consecrated themselves forever to the service of the Kingdom in the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ.
