Religious Life

1. Religious Life All Christians are called to be religious – to live their faith in the way that God calls them.

5. Religious • Choose to live in communities; vow solely to serve God • Publicly profess the evangelical counsels: poverty, chastity and obedience • Sisters, brothers, priest who belong to Religious Orders • Religious Orders: groups officially recognized by the Catholic Church as offering a way of life for those called to profess the evangelical counsels. • Also known as religious congregations or religious communities

6. Christian religious communities • Began a few centuries after the Resurrection of Jesus – desert to pray, fast and meditate on the word of God. • Members are nuclear physicists, spiritual direction, administrators, missionaries, lawyers, doctors. • Each group is unique and has a unique charism – ministry and a unique rule of life on how to live out that charism • Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity

7. Three Essentials: Community, Prayer, Service • Community Life: • Support and challenge each member. • From convents, brothers’ residence, rectories to the same plus apartments. • Saint John Baptist de La Salle, aka Christian Brothers worked with poor boys who roamed the streets of seventeenth - century France. (St. Gabriel’s Hall)

8. Prayer: • Focus on God • Prayer can be the Eucharist, Para liturgical services, meditation, shared reflection. • Prayer is a central experience in religious life.

9. Service: in various ways, depending on the charism and gifts and talents of each member. • Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Missionaries of Charity) • Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling – Joseph House Village in Salisbury, Maryland • Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul (& Louise de Marillac) opened Marillac House in Chicago in 1940’s to serve in a high crime area.

11. Ruined for Life (We are all called to be religious) • JVC: Four “pillars” or values • Simple living • Spirituality/prayer • Social justice • community • Catholic Network of Volunteer Service • Survey of former JVC volunteers • 18% work in nonprofit field (compared to 7.4% of general public) • Half work in service • 96-98% donate regardless of income • 92% vote in presidential elections • 71% women

12. Three Religious Vows: poverty, chastity and obedience • “evangelical” because they are Gospel-oriented, striving for the charity of the Gospel. • Public vows living according to the way of Jesus as best they can. • This is consecration – a divine action and gift from God. God calls a person whom he sets apart for a particular dedication to himself.

13. Poverty • Doesn’t mean destitute; comes from the word poverty (from a Latin word meaning “little”.) • Few material possessions to avoid distractions that accompany ownership. • Live simply, share their resources with others. The goods of this earth are meant to serve everyone’s needs.

14. Chastity • It includes the pledge to be celibate. • Vowed chastity is rooted in our intimacy with God and in a deepening love and compassion for others, esp. those most in need • Chastity gives them the freedom to love and respond to needs, a pledge to build community and shows reliance on God.

15. Obedience • Latin word meaning “to hear.” • Pledge to listen (discern) to the call of God – God’s will. (Remember when we listen we are trying to understand what is in the mind of the other person.) • Learn the will of God in human ways – through the church, the Bible, in their constitutions and community decisions, signs of the times and esp. in the needs of the human family.