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(Vatican Radio)  Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, celebrated a Mass on Tuesday to mark the close of the Year of Consecrated Life at the Cathedral of Ljubljana in Slovenia.

In his homily for the World Day of Consecrated Life, Cardinal Parolin called the religious men and women of the Slovenian Church to present themselves to the Lord.

“It is this gesture, interior and exterior, which characterizes the today’s celebration: present oneself and to be presented. This was Mary and Joseph’s gesture which, as we heard in the Gospel, ‘When the days were completed for their purification, according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord.’ This is the gesture which each one of us, especially consecrated men and women, is called to renew, with pure and sincere hearts and with all our dedication.”

Cardinal Parolin went on to remember the long history of the Slovenian Church.  “You can present to the Lord a glorious history, ‘to be remembered and told’. The consecrated life did not take long to appear within your Church, for already St. Jerome wrote to the virgins of Aemona (modern Ljubljana) and to a Aemonese monk named Anthony about his experience of the monastic life in the Syrian desert. He encouraged them to nourish their interpersonal relations in profound and holy communion.”

He concluded his homily by reminding those present to always leave space for the Lord in their consecrated life.

“It’s important, especially today, to not overlook the essentials, overcoming the risk of leaving aside the important for the urgent, the essential for the contingent. Between the thousands of preoccupations and many interests, the things to do and to follow, may we always leave space necessary to daily nourish our personal relationship with the Lord. Let us never forget to leave space for Jesus, so that he may fill it with his blessing and give us every other thing, even wisdom and the creativity necessary to carry out our duties with patience and efficacy.”

Earlier in the day Cardinal Parolin met with Slovenian Prime Minister, Miro Cerar, with the two calling for a “humane and solidarity-based” resolution to the refugee crisis.

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