COME SALE E LIEVITO Appunti per una teologia della Vita Consacrata della Chiesa

The text first of all takes stock of the teaching of the Church, that is, of the Popes and the Congregation for Consecrated Life, on one of the three forms of life or states that make up the Church, making the distinction between the state of life in the Church and the state of life of the Church. The aim is to highlight the fact that the three states of life, that of the lay faithful, that of ordained ministers and that of the consecrated life, are all essential and inevitable in the Church, just as the Lord Jesus wanted her to be.
Consequently, the fundamental characteristics of the state of consecrated life are expounded through themes such as consecration, prophecy, mission, liturgy, eschatology, spirituality, holiness and suggestive references to the Trinity, to the life of Jesus, to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to St. Joseph. It is an invitation to give thanks to the One who gives every good to the Church and in the Church and to appreciate the great teaching and contribution of the ecclesial magisterium for an integral and inclusive ecclesiology, without giving in to triumphalism or victimhood.