Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

85 The Apostolic Exhortation of St. John Paul II, “Redemptionis donum” The Exhortation, Redemptionis donum appeared in the year of the Jubi- lee of the Redemption or 17 years after the release of the Vatican II docu- ments. These were not years in which the Magisterium of the Church lost interest in the religious life. A year before the release of this exhortation, the Code of Canon Law saw the light of day, which regulates the legal order of the institutes of consecrated life, along with the Instruction, Essential Elements , which assembled the Council’s teaching and the regulations of the Code concerning the institutes devoted to apostolic work. Earlier, St. Paul VI in his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelica Testificatio , St. John Paul II in his speeches, and the Congregation of Religious and Secular Institutes in its documents, among which we should mention Mutuae relationes , Optiones evangelicae and Dimensio contemplative, addressed issues of the consecrated life. A detailed analysis of these documents would great- ly inflate the scope of this study, without adding any content relevant to its topic. However, we cannot omit a passage from Evangelica Testificatio , related directly to the issue under examination. Saint Paul VI sums up the paragraphs concerning the various evangelical counsels by presenting the Cross as the sign of greater love. His beautiful words deserve to be quoted; they do not require any additional comment: What has been said indicates what degree of renunciation is deman- ded by the practice of the religious life. You must feel something of the force with which Christ was drawn to His Cross – that baptism He had still to receive, by which that fire would be lighted which sets you too ablaze – (cf. Lk 12:49-59) something of that ‘foolishness’ which St. Paul wishes we all had, because it alone makes us wise (cf. 1 Cor 3:18-19). Let the Cross be for you, as it was for Christ, proof of the greatest love. Is there not a mysterious relationship between renunciation and joy, between sacrifice and magnanimity, between discipline and spiritual freedom? 2 The exhortation, Redemptionis donum can be regarded as a key doc- ument for understanding the Christological-Passion dimension of conse- 2 The Apostolic Exhortation of His Holiness St. Paul VI, Evangelica testificatio , on the Re- newal of the Religious Life According to the Teaching of the Second Vatican Council, June 29, 1971, 29.