We conclude the work of the ninth ordinary general assembly of the Synod of Bishops, dedicated to consecrated life and its mission in the church and in the world, with this celebration. The institution of the Synod of Bishops may surely be placed among these, which by now has its own history, developed during the post-conciliar period. There have been weeks of intense work during which consecrated life and its mission have been at the center of reflection and prayer by the church. The readings proclaimed now contain many lights able to make clear the singular state of ecclesial life which is consecrated life. The responsorial psalm remembers the liturgy of baptism with the blessing of the holy water during the great paschal vigil of Holy Saturday.
Baptism is the first and fundamental consecration of the human person.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Religious consecration, with its distinct eschatological dimension, is inserted on baptismal consecration. Consecrated persons have the duty of reminding everyone of this. Faith prepares us for this beatific vision, in which God gives himself to man with the measure of love with which this last one answered to the eternal love, revealed in the incarnation and in the cross of Christ. Thus, those who in following the poor, chaste and obedient Christ had abandoned the world, at the same time transformed it.