Vatican City, Mar 19, 2020 / 13:17 pm
The prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life on Wednesday encouraged religious to intensify their prayer during the coronavirus outbreak, and to obey requests of religious and civil authorities for health's sake.
"The most effective testimony we can provide is, in first place, the serene and convinced serenity to what we are requested from those who govern us, both at the state and church level, to everything that is requested to the protection of our health, as private citizens and as communities," read a March 18 letter to consecrated men and women signed by Joao Cardinal Braz de Aviz and Archbishop José Rodriguez Carballo, the prefect and secretary, respectively, of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
"It is a duty of both charity and gratitude that each one of us, individually and as a community, may intensify constant prayer for all those who are helping us overcome this difficult moment. Authorities, members of government, health professionals at all levels, volunteers, all those who offer their valuable work for this calamity may be object of our prayer and the offering of our sacrifices!"
Cardinal Braz de Aviz noted that we are living this Lent "in a very particular manner," that "no one could have thought of or imagined, and that really requires each day from each one of us a change in our style and way of living."