Madrid, Spain. The 10th of April marked the beginning of the XLI Week of Religious Life with the theme: Centrality of the Evangelizing Mission.
As with every year, the week is organized by the Theological Institute of Religious Life of Madrid (connected to the Theological Faculty of the Pontifical University of Salamanca). Some 500 people are participating at the meetings are which are scheduled to end on the 14th of April.
The sessions were inaugurated by the Nuncio of the Holy See, Mons. Renzo Fratini, who urged them to rethink an evangelization, principally in the field of spirituality and education, to discover a new transmission of Christian life.
Don Ángel Galindo, Rector of the Pontifical University of Salamanca, greeted the participants with the chosen theme. He pointed-out that the annual celebration of the Week of Religious Life nourish the spiritual life and foster union with other charisms, while at the same time contributing to intellectual sustenance.
The President of CONFER (Conference of the Religious of Spain), Fr. Elías Royón, emphasized that evangelization is at the center of all the charisms. The mission is not an addition to the vocation but that which constitutes it; and he added that this encounter is one of the most significant that is organized in Spain.
Fr. Manuel Tamargo, Provincial Superior of the Claretian Missionaries (Province of Santiago), welcomed the presenters thanking them for making the week possible. He recalled the presence of the Risen Lord who gives us the opportunity to live an evangelizing and evangelical life.
The Director of the Theological Institute of Religious Life, Prof. Bonifacio Fernández, gave a presentation on the week, listing the papers and the intentionality of their sequence. To organize this meeting is an act of responsibility as men and women committed to the evangelical life. He stated that to transmit the authenticity of the charisms, which every congregation has received, is an essential dimension of the consecrated, and that the mission is the motivation and raison d ‘ être of this form of apostolic life.
