On February 2, the solemnity of the Day of Consecrated Life, Fr. Zdzisław François Stanula CSsR, Vicar General, presided over the Eucharist at the Redemptorist community of Sant’Alfonso in Rome. In his homily, he recalled that Saint Alphonsus did not found the Congregation to follow an ecclesial trend, but to respond to a cry: that of the most abandoned.
“Our charism is not a garment to be adapted to the fashions of the times,” he stated, “but a gift of the Holy Spirit to be faithfully embodied in every age.” The Redemptorists, while immersed in the world and open to the challenges of contemporary culture, are called to stand alongside people as authentic witnesses of the Gospel.
Father Stanula emphasized that evangelical fidelity is not rigidity, but rootedness: “We must remain firmly anchored in Christ, allowing Him—and not the world—to define us.” With powerful words, he invited his brothers to ask the Lord for the grace to “remain in the world without belonging to the world,” to serve without surrender, to proclaim the Gospel without compromise. Above all, he urged them to remain faithful not to an idealized past, but to the Spirit who continues to guide them today.
At the end of the homily, the brothers, holding lighted candles, solemnly renewed their religious vows to the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.
Scala News
