The call to consecrated religious life is always marked by a desire to serve God and God's people, to care for the needy and to bring people to experience God's love. But, since ministry is a part of every vocation, service is not the distinguishing characteristic of a call to consecrated life as a member of a religious community. The uniqueness of the call to consecrated religious life is living the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the community. The essential service of the religious is to witness to all the faithful that each of us is called to treat things, persons and our own self with respect and as ultimately belonging to God.
At the heart of the call to consecrated religious life is a desire to give oneself in love to God in a way so total that the pursuit of union with God makes it impossible for anything or anyone to be more central. One becomes unavailable for marriage.
The Vows
The vow of chastity or consecrated celibacy arises from a hunger to find a love so immense that it impels me to give my whole life in one fell swoop, trusting that the beloved has an infinite desire and capacity for my well-being and happiness. If you feel this hunger to love and be loved in a way that seems to surpass the human capacity, you may be experiencing a call to consecrated religious life. Celibacy expresses a desire to be unconditionally attached to Jesus Christ.
A characteristic of consecrated celibacy is a desire to love more and more people, to see all God's children, especially the most needy, as the ones with a primary right to one's care and love. The lives of religious raise for the people who meet them a question about the possibility of loving without measure, loving those who have no claim on them as family.
The person called to consecrated religious life feels a desire to live simply. The vow of poverty involves assuming a new relationship with things - one that reverences all things, and creation itself, as ultimately given by and belonging to God. Religious share material goods in common and depend on the religious congregation or community to provide what is needed. If you feel a desire to be detached from things, to find your treasure in God, you may be experiencing a call to consecrated life. Religious poverty witnesses to all people that we do not have an absolute right to accumulate things or to treat them as though they were not for the good of all. The vow of poverty is chosen to express dependence on and trust in God's care for us.
The vow of obedience is often misunderstood as a servile dependence. Actually, it is an acknowledgment that all of us are called to listen to the Holy Spirit speaking through the circumstances of our lives. It is easy to see that married people who have children must make decisions that are good for their family. These may not be the same choices that they would make if they had no responsibilities for each other and their children. They listen to the Holy Spirit revealed in the circumstances of marriage and family.
Consecrated religious commit themselves to listen to God speaking through the constitutions and decisions of the community and through those members who are appointed as leaders of the community. God's call is also recognized as coming through the Church and sacred Scripture, the needs of the world and the mission of the community. Listening is always done in prayer and with respect for each person. The witness of obedience is that we are ultimately dependent on God and that a life of interdependence, as opposed to dependence or the illusion of absolute independence, is the way to holiness.
Obedience is assumed to help the religious be honest in his or her search for God's will. If you feel a desire to base your important life decisions more and more completely in a context of God's call, you may be experiencing a call to consecrated religious life.
Each vow is rooted in a desire to give self totally to God, to grow in intimacy with Jesus Christ and help people come to love God more fully. Each of the vows is a witness to all people of the primacy of God which is meant to mark the lives of everyone. Because they are about our relationship with God in the person of Jesus Christ, the vows are always sustained by a life of prayer and by the sacraments. Prayer, both individually and as community, is a central element in the life of every vowed religious.
Community
Our culture is more supportive of sexual gratification, consumerism and independence than it is of chastity, detachment and interdependence. Community life is needed to support one who attempts to live values not prevalent in the culture. At the same time, community life is a challenge. We all know that it is difficult to make room in our lives and in our immediate environment for the idiosyncrasies of others. Just think of family gatherings or the workplace and how easily we annoyed by behaviors that we do not like. Community involves learning lessons of tolerance, self-sacrifice and reverence for persons who are different from us.
Community itself is one of the greatest witnesses that religious life has to offer in a culture where self-interest and individualism can lead to isolation and even violence.
|
