Dear Friends in Christ,
Religious life has always retained a measure of mystery and intrigue. Those old enough to remember growing up with Sisters at the local school will probably recall having wondered about them. Since many still do wonder, and rightly so since so much of our life is hidden and we look very different from most people, I thought I would share a bit about religious life during the next few weeks, and perhaps you will be able to enter into this beautiful mystery.
At the foundation of Religious life is a vowed Consecration to God. We give our entire life, our very self, to Him and to Him alone. We leave behind family and friends, personal desires, accomplishments, money, ownership of property, even determining our own daily schedule, and make a total gift of self-sacrificing love to the Lord, Whom we take as Divine Spouse.
Almighty God, by the virtue of Justice, deserves from each one of us the love, honor, respect, and reverence which is His due. This is the “right order” of human life. Our vows of poverty, chastity and obedience take us a step further. We are bound by them to fulfill all that they require of us as expressed in our written Rule of Life, our Constitutions. It is as in marriage, when a husband and wife are bound by their vows to certain requirements of the Sacrament. It is no simple or haphazard agreement but a covenant with the Lord God Almighty that lasts, unlike a human marriage, into perpetuity. We will forever and always be Spouse of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Hozzászólások