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

YOUCAT Question n. 145 - Part IX. 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 931) Already dedicated to him through Baptism, the person who surrenders himself to the God he loves above all else thereby consecrates himself more intimately to God's service and to the good of the Church. By this state of life consecrated to God, the Church manifests Christ and shows us how the Holy Spirit acts so wonderfully in her. And so the first mission of those who profess the evangelical counsels is to live out their consecration. Moreover, "since members of institutes of consecrated life dedicate themselves through their consecration to the service of the Church they are obliged in a special manner to engage in missionary work, in accord with the character of the institute" (CIC, can. 783.; cf. RM 69).      

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 932) In the Church, which is like the sacrament - the sign and instrument - of God's own life, the consecrated life is seen as a special sign of the mystery of redemption. To follow and imitate Christ more nearly and to manifest more clearly his self-emptying is to be more deeply present to one's contemporaries, in the heart of Christ. For those who are on this "narrower" path encourage their brethren by their example, and bear striking witness "that the world cannot be transfigured and offered to God without the spirit of the beatitudes" (LG 31 § 2).     

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

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

YOUCAT Question n. 145 - Part VIII. 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 929) By a "life perfectly and entirely consecrated to [such] sanctification," the members of these institutes share in the Church's task of evangelization, "in the world and from within the world," where their presence acts as "leaven in the world" (Pius XII, Provida Mater; cf. PC 11). "Their witness of a Christian life" aims "to order temporal things according to God and inform the world with the power of the gospel." They commit themselves to the evangelical counsels by sacred bonds and observe among themselves the communion and fellowship appropriate to their "particular secular way of life" (Cf. CIC, can. 713 § 2).    

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 930) Alongside the different forms of consecrated life are "societies of apostolic life whose members without religious vows pursue the particular apostolic purpose of their society, and lead a life as brothers or sisters in common according to a particular manner of life, strive for the perfection of charity through the observance of the constitutions. Among these there are societies in which the members embrace the evangelical counsels" according to their constitutions (Cf. CIC, can. 731 §§ 1 and 2).    

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

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

YOUCAT Question n. 145 - Part VII. 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 927) All religious, whether exempt or not, take their place among the collaborators of the diocesan bishop in his pastoral duty (Cf. CD 33-35; CIC, can. 591). From the outset of the work of evangelization, the missionary "planting" and expansion of the Church require the presence of the religious life in all its forms (Cf. AG 18; 40). "History witnesses to the outstanding service rendered by religious families in the propagation of the faith and in the formation of new Churches: from the ancient monastic institutions to the medieval orders, all the way to the more recent congregations" (John Paul II, RMiss 69).    

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 928) "A secular institute is an institute of consecrated life in which the Christian faithful living in the world strive for the perfection of charity and work for the sanctification of the world especially from within" (CIC, can. 710).    

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

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

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.     

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

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

YOUCAT Question n. 145 - Part V. 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 923) "Virgins who, committed to the holy plan of following Christ more closely, are consecrated to God by the diocesan bishop according to the approved liturgical rite, are betrothed mystically to Christ, the Son of God, and are dedicated to the service of the Church" (CIC, can. 604 § 1). By this solemn rite (Consecratio Virginum), the virgin is "constituted… a sacred person, a transcendent sign of the Church's love for Christ, and an eschatological image of this heavenly Bride of Christ and of the life to come" (Ordo Consecrationis Virginum, Praenotanda 1).    

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 924) "As with other forms of consecrated life," the order of virgins establishes the woman living in the world (or the nun) in prayer, penance, service of her brethren, and apostolic activity, according to the state of life and spiritual gifts given to her (Cf. CIC, can. 604 § 1; OCV Praenotanda 2). Consecrated virgins can form themselves into associations to observe their commitment more faithfully (Cf. CIC, can. 604 § 2).    

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