In a letter to all men and women consecrated, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz and Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo - Prefect and Secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life - express the aims: "With this Day we recall with gratitude the immense grace of our vocation to be a living memory of Jesus' way of existing and acting" (Vita Consecrata n. 22) and, aware that his grace is sufficient for us (cf. 2 Cor 12:9), we ask for it with humility and trust, in order to live the gift of fidelity and the joy of perseverance. This Day unites us with all the communities of consecrated life scattered throughout the world, pilgrims in the same land that sustains us and in which we live this history that challenges us. God continues to call us to consecrate our lives in the different expressions that complement and enrich each other, and which are above all a gift for the Church".. This year, in the absence of the Holy Father due to his apostolic journey to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, Card. João Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Dicastery, presided over the Eucharistic celebration in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.