Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

86 cration. This is due to two factors: First, because it was composed at a time when the concept of “consecration” became one of the basic categories in theological reflection on the religious life. Let the numbers speak for themselves. In the sixth chapter of the conciliar constitution, Lumen gen- tium, this term does not appear at all. It was used four times in Perfectae caritatis , while in Redemptionis donum, the Pope used it 38 times, plac- ing it also in the title of the whole document and of its third chapter. It is true, that this number goes up to 498 in the four-times-longer exhortation, Vita Consecrata , but it seems that Perfectae caritatis can be considered a ground-breaking document in the field. The second factor is the theo- logical context of the mystery of the redemption in which St. John Paul II conducted his reflection and which made the person of our Savior and His Pascal mystery its main premise of reference. This exhortation is definitely Christocentric. It would be an exaggera- tion to say that the Pope changed the theological structure of consecra- tion, according to which the initiative belongs to God who chooses and calls man, while man responds by making the profession of the evangelical counsels through which the human person is dedicated entirely to God. God is always the first to act and to receive, but in this God’s action, St. John Paul II consistently incorporates Jesus Christ the Redeemer. In the very act of calling, which the Pope contemplates in the context of Christ’s dialogue with the rich young man, the consecrating love of the Father reaches man through the Redeemer. The Pope puts it beautifully: Even though we know that those words, addressed to the rich young man, were not accepted by the one being called, their content de- serves to be carefully reflected upon, for they present the interior structure of a vocation. ‘And Jesus, looking upon him, loved him.’ This is the love of the Redeemer: a love that flows from all the human and divine depths of the Redemption. This love reflects the eternal love of the Father, who ‘so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’ The Son, invested with that love, accepted the mission from the Father in the Holy Spirit and became the Redeemer of the world. The Father’s love was revealed in the Son as redeeming love . It is precisely this love that constitutes the true price of the Redemption of man and the world. Christ’s Apostles speak of the price of the Redemption with profound emotion: ‘You were ransomed...not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that