On the solemn occasion of the Consecration to a Life of Virginity of Vandana Maria Paul, celebrated on October 7, 2026, the Most Reverend Alex Vadakkumthala, Bishop of Kannur and Ecclesiastical Advisor to Jesus Youth International, delivered a deeply moving and reflective homily.​The complete text of this inspiring address is presented below.

Dear Vandana Maria Paul, her beloved mother Yuleta Paul, her sister Vineetha, dear Fathers, and JY friends, Sisters and Brothers, 

“Come and follow me”: These words of Jesus have echoed in the hearts of many down through the centuries. Many have responded to this call. They all found a new sense of meaning, satisfaction and fulfillment in their lives. 

Vandana Maria Paul heard this call. She nurtured this in hear heart. Last 25 years in Jesus Youth,  she has been meditating, nourishing this invitation deep within her. On 22 November 2022, on the Feast Day of the Christ the King, she made her first commitment. Today she is making a solemn Consecration to a life of Virginity for the Lord, in the world. 

We pray for her, so that she may ever find the joy in this consecration. 

Today we celebrate the Feast of our Lady of Rosary. Mary our beloved heavenly Mother, responding to the divine call, said, “Let it be done according to your will!”

May Mary be her perfect model, constant companion, and strength! To celebrate this Eucharist in a worth manner, let us acknowledge our sins and failures.

Homily

Congratulations, dear Vandana Maria Paul, for this bold decision, to commit yourself totally for the Lord, for His Gospel values, but, living in the world, as a member of the missionary movement, Jesus Youth!

The words of Mary in today’s Gospel are perhaps the most appropriate words for this celebration: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” Luke 1:38

Vandana, today those words become your words.

1. Before the “Fiat” comes the question: “How can this be?”

There is something very beautiful in the Gospel.

Mary did not immediately say, “Yes.”She first asked:“How can this be?”

Mary’s question was not a question of unbelief. It was the question of a woman who wanted to understand how God’s mysterious plan could become possible in her life.

And the angel gave her three profound answers.

First: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.”

Your vocation is not something you manufacture by your own strength. It is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Second: “The power of the Most High will overshadow you.”

God does not merely give you a mission; He covers you with His grace. The vocation is greater than the person who receives it. Therefore, the grace of God must always be greater than our weakness.

Third: “Nothing will be impossible with God.”

That was Mary’s deepest conviction. And therefore Mary could say: “Fiat.”

“Let it be done to me according to your word.”

Vandana, your consecration today is also a Fiat.

Perhaps there were questions.

Perhaps there were uncertainties.

Perhaps there were things you had to leave behind.

But ultimately your answer is: “Lord, I do not know everything about tomorrow. But I know You. Therefore, Fiat.”

2. “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away”

The first reading from the Song of Songs gives us the language of love:“Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.”

The Church has always understood the language of the Song of Songs as a profound expression of the relationship between God and His beloved people, and, in a particular way, between Christ and the consecrated person.

The vocation of virginity is therefore not principally about giving something up. It is about falling more deeply in love with Someone.

The Christian virgin does not say:“I have no bridegroom.”

She says:“Christ is my Bridegroom.”

She does not live an empty life. She lives a life filled by a greater love. She does not reject human love because love is unimportant. Rather, she allows her heart to become a sign that God Himself is capable of filling the human heart with a love beyond every earthly attachment.

3. A vocation written into the history of the Church

The consecrated virgin is not a new phenomenon. From the earliest centuries of Christianity, women consecrated themselves totally to Christ. Some of them gave the ultimate testimony of their fidelity through martyrdom.

Think of Agatha of Catania.

She came from a Christian family and consecrated herself to Christ. When she was compelled to abandon her commitment and enter a worldly marriage, she refused.

Her faithfulness brought persecution.But Agatha’s heart had already chosen her Bridegroom.

Her story tells us something very simple: When Christ becomes the treasure of the heart, no earthly power can purchase that heart.

4. Saint Agnes – “I have another Bridegroom”

The young Agnes of Rome is one of the most beautiful witnesses of consecrated virginity. She was very young when she chose Christ.

According to the ancient tradition, when a young man of high social position wanted to marry her, Agnes refused. Why? Because she had already given herself to another Bridegroom.

Her refusal was not contempt for marriage. It was fidelity to a particular vocation. The ancient tradition puts this conviction beautifully: she had chosen Christ as the Bridegroom of her soul.

Agnes teaches Vandana today: A vocation becomes strong when Christ is not merely one love among many, but the first and definitive love.

5. Saint Lucy – “My heart belongs to Christ”

Then there is Lucy of Syracuse. Lucy is remembered as a young Christian woman who consecrated herself to Christ. Her name means light.

And what a beautiful name for a consecrated virgin! The Church does not consecrate virgins merely so that they may live privately. They are called to become light.

The instruction Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago speaks of consecrated virgins as women who, through their consecration, participate in the Church’s mission.

Therefore, Vandana:

Your life must become light.

Your prayer must become light.

Your presence must become light.

Your missionary zeal must become light.

6. Cecilia: singing a new song to the Bridegroom

Cecilia of Rome is another early witness. Tradition remembers her as a virgin who remained faithful to Christ even in the midst of persecution. She reminds us of the words of Psalm 45:“Listen, O daughter; pay heed and give ear.”

And: “The king desires your beauty.”

The beauty that God desires is not merely external beauty.

It is the beauty of a heart entirely given to Him.

That is the beauty we celebrate today in Vandana.

9. From Jeremiah to John the Baptist: the prophetic sign

The vocation of consecrated virginity also has a profound prophetic dimension.

In Jeremiah 16:2, God gives the prophet a remarkable command:“You shall not take a wife, nor have sons or daughters in this place.”Jeremiah’s personal life itself became a prophetic sign.His life proclaimed that something greater was coming.

In the New Testament we see this especially in John the Baptist.

John identifies himself as:“the friend of the bridegroom.” (John 3:29). John’s ascetic life, his wilderness, his preaching, his detachment and his self-emptying all had one purpose:to prepare the way for Christ.

His great desire was:“He must increase; I must decrease.”

That could become a beautiful motto for consecrated virginity. Christ must increase in me; I must decrease.

10. Jesus Himself is the centre

But the deepest foundation of virginity is not Jeremiah. It is not John. It is Jesus Christ Himself.

Jesus freely embraced a life without marriage and without the ordinary family obligations of earthly life. He lived in radical freedom. He possessed nothing as His ultimate security.

He was completely available for the Father’s will.

His life tells us: My Father is enough. My mission is enough. Love is enough.

Christian virginity is therefore profoundly Christocentric.

Vandana, today you are not simply promising to remain unmarried.

You are saying:“Jesus, You are enough for me.”

11. “No longer I, but Christ lives in me”

Saint Paul says:“It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)

That is perhaps one of the most beautiful descriptions of consecrated life. The goal is not merely: “I will live for Christ.”It is something deeper: “Christ will live in me.”

My eyes become His eyes. My hands become His hands. My words become His words.

My compassion becomes His compassion. My availability becomes His availability.

My life becomes a window through which people can see Christ.

12. “Undivided devotion to the Lord”

Today’s second reading from 1 Corinthians 7: 25 gives us an important insight. Saint Paul speaks about being:“anxious about the affairs of the Lord.”

His concern is not that marriage is bad. Rather, he recognizes a particular vocation in which a person can offer herself to the Lord with an undivided heart. This is precisely the grace of consecrated virginity. It is a special gift. It is a particular calling. It is a vocation to spousal union with Christ. And this spousal union must be nourished every day.

13. Prayer, Eucharist and contemplation

Vandana, your vocation will not survive merely through good intentions. It must be nourished.

Daily prayer. Daily meditation. Daily Eucharist. Daily listening to the Word of God.

The Eucharist is particularly important. Every day at the altar, Christ says: “This is my Body, given for you.”

And the consecrated virgin responds: “Lord, this is my life, given for You.”

The Eucharist is therefore not merely something you receive. It is the school in which you learn to give yourself.

And now, Vandana, your personal story makes today’s Gospel particularly meaningful. You were born on Christmas Day. What a beautiful providential sign!

Christmas is the feast of God giving Himself to humanity. And today your consecration is your response: “Lord, I give myself to You.”

You have cultivated a deep devotion to Mother Mary. And today Mary stands beside you—not simply as a statue or an image, but as the woman of the Fiat. She teaches you: Listen. Ask. Trust. Surrender. Go.

You vocation has already been tested. Your vocation has not remained merely an idea. You have experienced the cost of surrender. You have been willing to sacrifice job, income, material security and personal plans.

And you have experienced something equally important: God’s providence. Especially during the illness of your father, you experienced that when human security becomes fragile, God’s providence does not disappear.

Sometimes God does not explain everything. He simply says:“Trust Me.” And the consecrated person learns to say:“Fiat.”

And there is another beautiful aspect of your vocation.You have already experienced missionary outreach, even travelling to a challenging country three times, including circumstances that were not always easy. That tells us something.

Virginity is not a vocation of withdrawal from the world. It is a vocation of availability for mission. The consecrated virgin must be ready to go where love sends her. The world needs people who can say: “Here I am.”

Like Mary:“Fiat.”Like Isaiah:“Here I am; send me.”Like John:“He must increase; I must decrease.”

17. Jesus Youth: communion and mission

Your consecration also takes place within the spiritual family of Jesus Youth. This is significant. Jesus Youth has a strong missionary character.

Therefore, your consecration should not isolate you from the community. Rather, it should make you more deeply available to communion and mission.

You are called to bless, heal and liberate.Where there is confusion—bring light.

Where there is loneliness—bring presence. Where there is woundedness—bring compassion.

Where there is discouragement—bring hope.Where there are young people searching for meaning—bring them the joy of the Gospel.

Dear Vandana: keep your lamp burning

I would like to leave you with five words today:

Remember your Fiat. Whenever you are confused, return to Mary:“Let it be done to me according to your word.”

2. Remain Eucharistic. Receive Christ daily and learn from Christ to give yourself daily.
3. Remain contemplative. Do not allow activity to replace intimacy with the Bridegroom.
4. Remain missionary. Your consecration is not an escape from the world but a gift to the Church and the world.
5. Remain joyful. A bride should not live as though she has lost something. She has found Someone.

Dear brothers and sisters,

At Nazareth Mary asked:“How can this be?”The answer was: The Holy Spirit will come upon you.The power of the Most High will overshadow you.Nothing is impossible with God.

And Mary said:“Fiat.”

Vandana, today the Church receives your Fiat. May you repeat it—not only today, but every day, until your last breath: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.”Amen.