The Church has been blessed this year dedicated to consecrated life. We have the tremendous witness of religious sisters and nuns, religious brothers and friars, and those consecrated in secular institutes to remind us of three things: first, how the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience can influence our own lives; second, how a particular charism can aid the entire Church; and third, of the necessity of joy in community.
First, the religious woman or man, vowed to poverty, chastity and obedience reminds us of how man and woman were created before the fall. Living in the state of primordial innocence, at peace with God, with creation and with each other, man and woman knew who they were in the order of God’s creation: They were creatures, made in God’s image and likeness and they were fundamentally good. When the fall of humankind occurs, that image and likeness is distorted by original sin, but never truly lost.
The religious woman or man, due to his or her consecrated state, reminds us of how we are all, ultimately, meant to live. Consecrated, set apart, the sister or brother is in the world and yet, not of the world. In the living out of the vow of poverty, the religious relies on nothing and no one but God alone. It is the Lord who is his or her portion and his or her reward. The things of this passing life are of nothing compared to the riches of the world to come. We who are not vowed and consecrated in this manner, can learn to focus not so much on material things, as important as they can be in daily life, but to put the gifts with which we have been blessed to use for the benefit of others.
The religious woman or man, in living out the vow of chastity, can remind us of the proper and beautiful state of the human body. The religious woman, in spite of being a vowed, chaste celibate, is called to be sister, and yes, to be “mother,” to nurture life by her prayer and apostolate to all whom she encounters. The religious brother is called to be precisely that, a true brother, accompanying the Church militant along the way, giving example of true, non-possessive love to all whom he meets.
Second, in the living of the charism of a particular religious order, religious sisters and brothers make present the gifts to the Church of their particular founder or foundress. For instance, when we encounter a Dominican, we do not just meet one sister; we meet, in her person, the love of Dominic, Catherine of Siena, Thomas Aquinas and all the Dominican saints. The same can be said for any religious order. When we meet a Religious Sister of Mercy, we need to meet a living embodiment of what Pope Francis has called “God’s other name – mercy.”
Third, and finally, those in consecrated life can teach us the joy of living in community. For most of those in consecrated life, living in common is an essential part of her or his identity. In the joy of common living, in the daily sacrifices of living, the religious can show us how to live and how to love in families. In their daily, joyful living of community, these vowed and consecrated people mirror the one who is, by His very nature, community, Almighty God – He who is a community of Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This year, as we celebrate the Year of Consecrated Life, let us take a few moments to thank God for those Sisters, Brothers, Friars, Nuns, and those who are living other forms of consecrated life. We thank God for those who serve in love now; we thank God for those who served in love in past; and we praise God for those who will serve in love in the future.
