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Dicastery Prefect urges Philippine religious to be prophets of peace
Sr. Simona Brambilla, Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, invites consecrated women and men gathered in Zamboanga, Philippines, to recognize God in the vulnerable and become witnesses of peace in a wounded world.
By Fr. Kasmir Nema, SVD & Sr. Helen Ann Palace, FMIJ – Zamboanga City
Consecrated women and men are called to become “disarmed and disarming” prophets of peace, capable of recognizing God in the fragile and wounded realities of today’s world.
That was the message of Sr. Simona Brambilla, MC, Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, in a pre-recorded video message opening the Second Convention of the Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines (CMSP).
The five-day gathering, held in Zamboanga City from 1 to 5 September, has brought together 233 registered participants, including Major Superiors, consecrated women and men, mission partners and collaborators. It is being held under the theme: “Consecrated Persons: Prophetic Witnesses of Peace in a Wounded World.”
Simeon and Anna: prophets of peace
Sr. Brambilla invited participants to reflect on the example of Simeon and Anna, the elderly figures who recognized the Messiah when He was presented in the Temple.
They were not powerful or prominent, she said, but “humble, silent, meek, disarmed and disarming prophets.” Their openness enabled them to recognize salvation in a vulnerable child rather than in the spectacle of power.
Reflecting on Simeon, the Prefect described him as a man who knew how to wait, inviting consecrated persons to become “sentinels in a perpetual Advent,” attentive to the Lord who continues to come each day, often through “small and fragile signs.”
Turning to Anna, she posed a question: “Where do I dwell?” Her answer, Sr. Brambilla suggested, was clear: in God.
Anna’s life of prayer and fasting points to a path of freedom from everything that does not lead to God. Fasting, she explained, can become a renunciation of all that is not love, peace or of God.
Communion and discernment
In his report to the Convention, CMSP Chairperson Fr. Lino Gregorio Redoblado, OFM, described the gathering as a moment of listening and discernment, taking place one year after the canonical establishment of the Conference.
The CMSP, he stressed, must remain faithful to its history while remaining open to the newness God is bringing forth.
“Our greatest strength is precisely our communion,” he said, underlining that the Conference is not merely the work of its Board or Secretariat, but a communion that requires the active participation of all its members.
Religious life, he added, cannot remain distant from the struggles, wounds and hopes of the Filipino people. “Our contemplation must eventually bring us into solidarity,” he said.
Formation and mission
The CMSP Chairperson also highlighted formation as a lifelong journey, accompanying consecrated persons from initial formation through the different stages of their vocation, including the care of elderly and infirm religious.
He pointed to initiatives undertaken during the Conference’s first year, including formation programmes, safeguarding structures and strengthened responses to the needs of vulnerable members of religious congregations.
Communication, too, has become an increasingly important part of the Conference’s mission, Fr. Redoblado said. As the digital world becomes a place of encounter, communication must be “more intentional, more formative, and more evangelical.”
A journey through a wounded world
The Convention follows the journey of MULAT–DAMA–TINDIG–PAGHAYO—a path that invites participants to recognize Christ in a wounded world, embrace the cry of humanity, stand as prophetic witnesses of peace, and go forth renewed in mission.
The programme brings together reflection on the political and Church situation in the Philippines, care for creation and the rights of nature, religious charism and governance in the light of Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, mutual relations in mission, the situation of elderly consecrated persons, and the continuing challenge of creating safe communities of dignity.
Participants will also engage in faith conversations and encounters with ministries involved in interreligious dialogue, peacebuilding, accompaniment of Indigenous Peoples, care for creation and social outreach.
A Peace Festival and Cultural Night will celebrate the diversity and fraternity of the religious communities in Zamboanga, while the final PAGHAYO or sending forth will include the adoption of the Convention Statement and the missioning of participants.
Fasting from what is not peace
Sr. Brambilla connected the witness of Simeon and Anna to a world marked by visible and hidden conflicts—not only wars between nations, but also division within communities, families and human hearts.
Consecrated persons, she said, are called to enter these wounds with the “ointment of peace.”
Echoing Pope Leo XIV’s appeal for a peace that is “disarmed and disarming,” she invited religious to “fast from everything that is not peace, that is not love, that does not come from God.”
For the religious gathered in Zamboanga, the call is therefore not simply to speak about peace, but to become its witnesses: humble and attentive, rooted in God, close to the vulnerable and ready to recognize Christ in the fragile signs of the present moment.
Like Simeon and Anna, they are invited to remain watchful and faithful—and to become “disarmed and disarming” prophets of the peace that the world so urgently needs.
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