The divine role of consecrated life and the economics of salvation

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

The Gospel reading for the Mass of Consecrated Life, celebrated by Bishop John Iffert at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, Feb. 7, explored the “economics of salvation,” said Bishop Iffert. And the ongoing tensions between the micro and macro ramifications of the presentation of the Christ child in the temple.

“On a macro level…we see Mary and Joseph continuing in the tradition of the people of Israel,” said Bishop Iffert. Where, in the tradition of Passover, where an “unblemished and spotless lamb” is sacrificed so that the angel of death would “passover” those in danger during the Biblical plagues. In the same way, Mary and Joseph present Jesus in the temple, “to consecrate him, redeeming him from this curse of death, redeeming the eldest child, and so redeeming all of Israel from the curse that our own sin had brought upon us,” said Bishop Iffert.

“They take the sacrifice, offered for the poor, and they offer it for Jesus … and so he enters into this great macro drama of the salvation and redemption of humankind,” he said, “joined to our struggle and able to be the one who offers, once and for all, the acceptable sacrifice on the cross and frees all of humanity.”

This, Bishop Iffert says, is the “cosmic drama,” on a macro level, that is seen in the Gospel reading. The micro drama is seen in the relationships of the Gospel passage.

“Here he was, being brought as a babe to the city of Jerusalem, and this great cosmic drama is coming to a head in his person and being, and almost nobody notices,” said Bishop Iffert. “He’s just another kid being brought to the temple.”

In the Gospel, it is only Simeon and Anna who are able to see the “cosmic” significance of the presentation of the Lord. Even Mary and Joseph, despite them having received angelic news of “the great salvific action of God in this Child … they can still be surprised,” said Bishop Iffert.

This micro and macro tension, “the drama of God’s salvific work for his people, and the micro side of the economy of salvation, the relational side, the quiet side, the often unseen side,” is seen in the lives of consecrated men and women, said Bishop Iffert.

“I think this is the tremendous gift that we see in the lives of those who are consecrated. To help us recollect that in every moment of ordinariness, even pain, every moment when we feel forgotten, every moment when we feel alone, every moment when we feel we’re struggling against all odds, that divine drama is being played out.”

“When our lives feel ordinary,” he said, “your vocation, brothers and sisters, your vocation gives the great witness to that truth.”