Vocations Awareness Week: Religious Life

Kristyn Russell
Nov 7, 2017
2 min read

Is God calling you to the religious life?

In the consecrated religious life, one is called to live life dedicated to God in a special way. “From the Church’s earliest times there were women and men who set out to follow Christ more freely and to imitate him more closely..”(Perfectae Caritatis, 1).

What does it look like to live the consecrated religious life?

The distinct essential components to the consecrated religious life include:

Public vows of poverty, chastity and obedience professed freely to God and accepted in the name of the Church. This profession obligates and liberates the consecrated religious priest, brother or sister to strive to love as God loves and to abide in his love.
Public witness or visible presence in the Church witnessing to the Person of Jesus Christ who is present here among us, loves us to the end and gives rise to this great hope.
Life lived in common according to the charism of the founder or foundress.
Through a certain separation from the world proper to the charism of the institute, consecrated religious are called to be salt and light—a prophetic countercultural sign—whose focus is on God who illuminates all things.
A corporate or common apostolate which means they are part of a community that unifies and gives direction to the community.

Don’t the religious spend all their time in prayer and away from the world?

The two main categories of consecrated religious who profess public vows are 1a) consecrated religious monks and nuns and 1b)consecrated apostolic religious priests, brothers and sisters.

consecrated religious monks (men) and nuns (women) live and work primarily within the enclosure of their community setting, and have given their lives in support of the Church through prayer and hidden sacrifice.
Apostolic communities are frequently engaged in works related to education, health care, communication, social work or administration, for example.

Sr. Mary Lou Owczarzak, Mission Sisters of the Holy Spirit, Saginaw, MI

My "Yes" to God's call has made all the difference in my life. My life is filled with joy, purpose and gratitude. St. Paul says, "I want you to be happy, happy always in the Lord". Happiness is that sense of blessing in the midst of all that happens in our lives.