By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Total obedience to God’s will brings wisdom, joy and hope, Pope Francis told religious men and women.

“Yes, the happiness of a religious is a consequence of this path of lowering oneself with Jesus and, when we are sad, when we complain, it will do us well to ask ourselves how we are living this dimension of ‘kenosis’” or self-emptying, he said.

The pope’s words came during his homily at a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica Feb. 2 celebrating the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, which the church marks as the World Day for Consecrated Life. The pope said Jesus came not to follow his own will, but to obey the Father’s will.

“Whoever follows Jesus takes the path of obedience,” which means lowering, emptying and humbling oneself like Jesus, he said.

Living a consecrated life means “lowering oneself in service, that is, taking the same path as Jesus” and becoming a servant in order to serve, the pope said. But religious men and women also have to be obedient to their religious community, their superiors, their order’s rule and to the Church; “it is a docility and obedience that is concrete,” not something theoretical, he said.