YOUCAT Question n. 145 - Part VI. Why does Jesus want there to be Christians who live their whole lives in poverty, unmarried chastity, and obedience?
(Youcat
answer - repeated) 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 925)
Religious life was born in the East during the first centuries of Christianity.
Lived within institutes canonically erected by the Church, it is distinguished
from other forms of consecrated life by its liturgical character, public
profession of the evangelical counsels, fraternal life led in common, and
witness given to the union of Christ with the Church (Cf. CIC, cann. 607; 573;
UR 15).
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 926)
Religious life derives from the mystery of the Church. It is a gift she has
received from her Lord, a gift she offers as a stable way of life to the
faithful called by God to profess the counsels. Thus, the Church can both show
forth Christ and acknowledge herself to be the Savior's bride. Religious life
in its various forms is called to signify the very charity of God in the
language of our time.
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