“Do whatever He tells you” (John 2:5)
This was the theme chosen by ten young novices, who professed the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience for the first time in the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. The celebration of Religious Profession was held last Saturday 13 January, at 6 pm, at the Church of Santa Teresinha, in Tietê (SP), Brazil.
They professed their vows as brothers: Ewerton Machado Dias, Kaio Henrique Oliveira da Costa and Valdir Carneiro da Silva, who completed their novitiate at the Seminary of Santa Teresinha, in Tietê, Breno de Carvalho Bandeira, Jean Gilson dos Santos, João Paulo de Oliveira Teobaldo and Rafael Lucas da Silva, who completed their novitiate in Colombia, and Arilson Dener da Silva, Lucas Oliveira da Silva and Natan Augusto Pimentel Santos, whose novitiate took place in Argentina.
The Mass was presided over by Father Marlos Aurélio da Silva, C.Ss.R, Provincial Superior of the Nossa Senhora Aparecida Province. During the celebration, the young people wore the Redemptorist habit for the first time, as a sign of their consecration and testimony through poverty. According to the Alphonsian tradition, the religious receive, in addition to the habit, the rosary and the medal, establishing themselves as missionaries of the Plentiful Redemption.
The vows of poverty, chastity and obedience express a path towards the radical experience of the religious’ surrender to God, that is, his whole life will be fully available for following Christ.
Father Marlos Aurélio underlined the motto chosen by the young novices to make their first vows:
“On this day, we Redemptorists are full of gratitude, joy and hope for you and with you dear brothers. Because today you will let yourselves be freely consecrated by the Most Holy Redeemer, our dear missionary family. The purpose of this is well expressed in the motto you have chosen: do whatever He tells you. It is an attitude of existential obedience, that is, of someone who has allowed himself to be activated by the love of God and wants to have a “yes” in response. as a horizon of life. This is giving priority to God and his love for him.”
The Provincial Superior also recalled the importance of the Novitiate period, which the new confreres experienced before their religious profession:
“The time of the novitiate is a very special time. Let’s say that it is a fruitful, intense time to immerse ourselves in Redemptorist life. That’s why there, both in Colombia, in Argentina, in Tietê, you had no other worries other than this: praying, living together, experimenting, savoring life and Redemptorist spirituality.”
(a12.com)
