Bwanda Bethany Priests’ House

HJK
June 2023

Consecrated Life

All Christians are followers of Christ, who affirmed: “I am the way and the truth and
the life” (Jn 14:6). There are, however, different ways of following him: “there are varieties
of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord” (1 Cor
12:4,5). These different paths can be grouped into three fundamental charisms, called states
of life: the sacred pastors, the lay faithful and the consecrated persons (Lumen gentium, 43
[hereafter cited as LG in text]).

The sacred pastors have received the sacrament of Holy Orders, and ordinarily they
dedicate themselves to the sacred ministry of preaching the word of God; sanctifying the
faithful through the administration of sacraments and sacramentals, and governing the faithful
in the name of Christ and of the Church. Some of them, the secular priests or deacons, live in
the world as their proper place, while others are religious priests.

The lay faithful live in the world as their proper place, and they dedicate themselves to
secular activities. Thus, it is they who ordinarily engage in matrimony and family life,
business, politics, military service, the trades and other secular activities. They have the
special mission of bringing the spirit of Christ into secular activities in accordance with the
legitimate autonomy of temporal reality, without “sacralising” those activities.

The consecrated persons, or religious, are more particularly set apart for God. All
Christians are supposed to die to sin. The consecrated persons, however, renounce, in
addition, many noble things that other Christians (the lay faithful, and the secular ordained
ministers) not only do not renounce, but often even have the duty of embracing. Thus, all
Christians are called to live heroically all the virtues, including the evangelical counsels of
poverty, chastity and obedience (of course, celibate lay people, married people and secular
ordained ministers live them differently, in accordance with their different vocations). The
consecrated persons, however, profess these counsels publicly (LG, 43) and live them in a
particular way.

The dimensions of consecration and secularity characterise the entire Church and,
therefore, all Christians. However, consecration more specifically characterises the
consecrated persons. They are like a city built on a hilltop, or a lamp placed on a lamp stand,
to be clearly seen by everyone. The secular Christians (lay faithful and secular ordained
ministers) are more specifically characterised by secularity. The laity, in particular, are like
leaven, which is invisibly present in the dough but raises the entire mass of the dough, or like
salt, which is invisibly present in food but seasons the food. Once again, it is convenient to
point out that these aspects characterise all Christians, but secularity applies more to the
secular Christians, while consecration applies more to the consecrated persons.

This special consecration is the reason why the religious profess the evangelical
counsels publicly. All Christians are equally called to live these virtues heroically, but the
secular Christians live them “more discreetly,” so to speak, while the consecrated souls are
called to bring out with peculiar clarity the image of Christ the poor, Christ the chaste, Christ
the obedient. The consecrated souls “bind themselves to the three aforesaid counsels either by
vows, or by other sacred bonds, which are like vows in their purpose. By such a bond, a
person is totally dedicated to God, loved beyond all things. In this way, that person is

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June 2023

ordained to the honor and service of God under a new and special title” (LG, 44). Thus freed
from earthly cares and anxieties, the consecrated person is able to serve the Lord with
unimpeded devotion (1 Cor 7:33).

Consecrated life “not only witnesses to the fact of a new and eternal life acquired by
the redemption of Christ, but it foretells the future resurrection and the glory of the heavenly
kingdom” (LG, n. 44). By their consecrated chastity, for example, “neither marry nor are
given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Mk 12:25). By their way of life, they
remind fellow Christians and all men that this world and temporal realities are not permanent
but, rather, should be lived in such a way as to always “strive first for the kingdom of God
and his righteousness” (Mt 6:33).

Religious life is referred to in the Catholic tradition as a state of perfection. In effect,

devotion to the sacraments, prayer, charity and the practice of all the virtues are expected to
shine out in a special way in the life of consecrated persons, as an example for other
Christians and all men. Consecrated persons are, thus, as special sign of the power of God’s
grace and of the holiness of the Church.

The evangelical counsels lead to charity and concern for the needs of fellow men.
From this arises the duty of consecrated persons to work “to implant and strengthen the
Kingdom of Christ in souls and to extend that Kingdom to every clime. This duty is to be
undertaken to the extent of their capacities and in keeping with the proper type of their own
vocation. This can be realized through prayer or active works of the apostolate” (LG, 44).

Consecrated life is a fundamental charism, which can never be lacking in the Church.
As Pope Vatican II observes, “Indeed from the very beginning of the Church men and women
have set about following Christ with greater freedom and imitating Him more closely through
the practice of the evangelical counsels, each in his own way leading a life dedicated to God.
Many of them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, lived as hermits or founded religious
families” (Perfectae caritatis, 1 [hereafter cited in text as PF]). The same Council teaches that
“the state which is constituted by the profession of the evangelical counsels, though it is not
the hierarchical structure of the Church, nevertheless, undeniably belongs to its life and
holiness” (LG, 44). Hence, wherever the Gospel is well-implanted, vocations to consecrated
life must arise. Conversely, the rising up of vocations to consecrated life is one of the sure
signs of a living church, of a community truly imbued with the Gospel.

The number of religious congregations and institutes of consecrated life in the Church
is immense, and new ones are always coming up, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and
which the ecclesiastical hierarchy has the right and duty to judge and regulate (LG, n. 45). No
two of these families are, however, identical. Rather, each of them has its own spirit and
charism. With the contribution from each one of them, they form a rich mosaic in which the
infinite holiness of Christ and the power of his grace shines out. Each consecrated person has
a grave duty of living the spirit and charism of his or her instituted faithfully, in order for the
Church to appear ever more beautifully “adorned with the various gifts of her children like a
spouse adorned for her husband (cf. Apoc. 21:2) and for the manifold Wisdom of God to be
revealed through her (cf. Eph. 3:10)” (PC, 1).

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Many ordained ministers belong to religious orders or institutes of consecrated life.

They are, by a special gift of God, simultaneously ordained ministers and consecrated
persons. Many other ordained ministers, however, do not belong to religious orders or to
institutes of consecrated life. These are secular ordained ministers. Religious should not be
expected to live in all things like these secular ordained ministers, nor should the secular
ordained ministers be expected to live in all things like the religious. Consecrated life and the
clerical state of the ordained ministers are two distinct states of life, which are combined in
some persons but not in all.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of all the consecrated persons. May she pray
for them and inspire them by her example to live their vocation to perfection, for the greater
glory of God and the good of the Church and of all souls.