COME VA COMPRESA LA "OBIETTIVA ECCELLENZA DELLA VITA CONSACRATA".

The history of the theology of consecrated life unveils a reflective process that begins with the definition of consecrated life as a "state of perfection" and finally reaches the understanding that it is a special consecration that is important for the Church and the world. To wonder about the identity of consecrated life denotes the search for its place in a larger whole that has to be viewed together with the totality of the Christian message and of the experience of belief that happens in the ecclesial community. The specificity of consecrated life consists in its being a sign (cf. LG 44). Consecrated life is centered on the God of the Kingdom who shares of himself, while the life of the laity makes one see the incarnation of grace in the values of creation. The "more" pertains to the love and not to the form of one's life, so that we should not confuse love and its mediation. The identity of each form of life ought to concentrate on Christian and not on the specific. The Council locates what is specific to religious consecration in the renunciation of the world. Situated in the ambit of preferential love, consecrated life is aligned with dying to many positive values that, in the end, refer to love, liberty and ownership. The renunciation of the world makes one see that the world is God's. But, the renunciation makes no sense in and of itself, because the world, being something which is good, is called to be renewed not to disappear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]