Reflection I--Vita Consecrata: The Life of Religious Women and Men

VITA CONSECRATA--CONSECRATED LIFE Reflection I Consecrated life is a gift from God the Father through the Holy Spirit to the Church. Through their profession of the vows of poverty, consecrated chastity and obedience, women and men religious follow the chaste, obedient, and poor Christ. They are the face of Christ in the world of today. Through our lives of consecrated chastity, obedience and poverty—holding all things in common for the sake of the common good, for the sake of the mission of Christ to proclaim and build up the God’s Kingdom here on earth—we women and men religious direct all people to one thing necessary: living a life of faith, hope and love here on earth until that day when love alone reigns forever. Jesus tells us in Luke 17: 20-21 that the Kingdom of God is among us. We religious make the invisible visible by living, loving and being totally for the sake of that Kingdom here on earth! (Compare Vita Consecrata, #1).