Denver Catholic

4 AUGUST 12-25, 2017 | DENVER CATHOLIC Cover Story told Jesus I was going to be a nun, and I kind of freaked out." But as she prayed more over the next weeks and months, she realized that what God was asking of her wasn't to leave the world as a religious vocation would require: "I didn't feel called to leave the world. I felt really convicted of my work, I felt really convicted of a Catholic pres- ence in the medical field, which is such a secular place… I didn't feel peace about going and leaving all of that." Through conversations with a friend, Father John Nepil, who would later become her spiritual director, Polito began to consider the vocation of a lay consecrated virgin. PRAYERFUL DISCERNMENT The 20-something embarked on a serious period of discernment and prayer. "Over those years we studied it, and I did a 30-day silent retreat and made an election, and talked to the diocese, and this was what made the most sense and [what] I felt most called to," she said. On July 22, nearly five and a half years after hearing the first invitation to follow Christ, and on the feast of her patron Saint Mary Magdalene, Polito was consecrated a virgin of the Archdiocese of Denver. Archbishop Samuel Aquila celebrated the rite of consecration of a virgin in the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, with more than 20 priests concelebrating the Mass. The consecration of a virgin is one of the oldest sacramentals in the Church, and in the early Church, before religious orders existed, many women consecrated their virginity to the Lord to devote themselves full-time to evangelization. The consecrated virgin lives in the midst of the world, in intimate union with God, o¡ering the gift of her physi- cal virginity to Christ as a sign of the total donation of her entire life to him. There are approximately 3,000 con- secrated virgins in the universal Church, according to the United States Associa- tion of Consecrated Virgins, including 235 in the United States. The Ožce of Consecrated Life for the Archdiocese of Denver reports that there are currently six consecrated virgins in northern Col- orado, and two more women who are actively discerning. 'A DAY OF GREAT JOY' The rite of consecration began with the calling of the candidate after the Gospel, at which time Polito, with candle in hand, approached the sanctuary as the choir sang: "Be wise: make ready your lamps. Behold, the Bridegroom comes; go out to meet him." The archbishop then delivered his homily, which he began by proclaiming that day as "a day of great joy." "You are committing yourself perma- nently to the Lord, and giving yourself completely to him," he said. "If you truly want happiness and joy, you must belong to Christ, and he alone. "This is the Lord's deepest desire for you, Andrea, and for every Christian." After the homily, the archbishop exam- ined Polito about her readiness to accept solemn consecration as a bride of Christ, and then, similar to the sacrament of holy orders and religious profession of vows, Polito lay prostrate while the congrega- tion petitioned the saints to intercede. Polito then approached the arch- bishop, and placing her hands in his and addressing him as father, she o¡ered her resolution to "follow Christ in a life of perfect chastity." The prayer of consecration was said by the archbishop, and then the newly con- secrated received a volume of the Liturgy of the Hours, as well as a ring, clearly sym- bolizing her mystical marriage to Christ. Polito noted that a key moment of the consecration was when she was kneeling before the archbishop with her hands in his, "experiencing that I had a father in the diocese, and I was a daughter of the diocese was really beautiful." CALLED TO DENVER Andrea, now 31, is a native of San Diego, California. She studied nursing at Franciscan University of Steubenville, and after college moved to Washington, DC, to begin working as a pediatric nurse. She moved to Denver in 2010 without a job out of an interior conviction that she was supposed to live in Colorado. "It was a horrible decision at first," she revealed, as it took her four months to find a job, and moving in the middle of winter was not easy for the California native. "But the Lord definitely provided," she said. "Obviously, I see in hindsight why God called me here. It was for the sake of this vocation. For the sake of the mission here in Denver." Listen to the Arch- bishop's homily here: https:// archden. org/ andrea-poli- to-conse- cration/#. WYJjcY- QrKV6 I was like, oh no, I think I just kind of told Jesus I was going to be a nun." ANDREA POLITO 31-year-old nurse to live consecrated life in the world « " Andrea Polito, 31, consecrated herself as a virgin in the Archdiocese of Denver during a powerful ceremony celebrated by Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila on July 22. ALL PHOTOS BY JOSHUA PAUL PHOTOGRAPHY

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