Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 145 - Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 145 - Part I. Why does Jesus want there to be Christians who live their whole lives in poverty, unmarried chastity, and obedience?

(Youcat answer) God is love. He longs for our love also. One form of loving surrender to God is to live as Jesus did — poor, chaste, and obedient. Someone who lives in this way has head, heart, and hands free for God and neighbor.       

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 914) "The state of life which is constituted by the profession of the evangelical counsels, while not entering into the hierarchical structure of the Church, belongs undeniably to her life and holiness" (LG 44 § 4). 

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) In every age individual Christians let themselves be completely taken over by Jesus, so that “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 19:12) they give everything away for God—even such wonderful gifts as their own property, self-determination, and married love. This life according to the evangelical counsels in poverty, chastity, and obedience shows all Christians that the world is not everything. Only an encounter with the divine Bridegroom “face to face” will ultimately make a person happy.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 915) Christ proposes the evangelical counsels, in their great variety, to every disciple. The perfection of charity, to which all the faithful are called, entails for those who freely follow the call to consecrated life the obligation of practicing chastity in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom, poverty and obedience. It is the profession of these counsels, within a permanent state of life recognized by the Church, that characterizes the life consecrated to God (Cf. LG 42-43; PC 1).     

(This question: Why does Jesus want there to be Christians who live their whole lives in poverty, unmarried chastity, and obedience? is continued)