Are vows still relevant?
"Why celibacy?"
"Is the vow of celibacy working?"
"Do you take a vow of obedience to your superiors?"
"Will you get in trouble if you don't do what they want?"
"You are really poor, are you?"
"Will religious have the guts to live out their vows in the future?"
These are some of the questions raised by people when considering the relevance of consecrated life today. Religious took a long look at the vows in the wake of Vatican II - the worldwide gathering of church leaders in the 1960's that led to modernisations in the Church. We continue to reflect on the meaning and relevance of the vows, and we know that this process will go on into the future.
Today we look at our vows in the context of the contemporary world, personal freedom and growth, and the call to apostolic community and mission. Formerly, the vows were seen principally as a means of separation from the world to focus one's attention on developing a personal relationship with God. The vows do help centre one's life in God, but they can also facilitate participation in the world's affairs to bring social and political forces into closer harmony with the gospel.
Like religious life in general, the three vows are subject to reinterpretation in every age because they do not exist in isolation from the world in which they are professed. There seems to be something timeless about them, however, this may lie in their connection with basic human drives: the drive to possess, love and exercise power. These drives can be lived out in ways that are personally satisfying and beneficial for human survival and the development of civilisations. They can be pursued with destructive frenzy and be mistaken for a defence against death.
Religious, in choosing poverty, celibate chastity and obedience seek a way to look death in the face and to be in right relationship to God, self, others and all of creation. The way of the three vows is not the only way. It will never be a common way. But it is one way; it is our way to live fully human lives - lives that are open to divine action and sensitive to divine realities, lives that are spent healing, comforting, serving and seeking justice.
Celibacy
Real Chastity: making life richer
"Oddly enough, perhaps, real chastity provides the glue that enables relationships to develop rather than discourage them. When we love freely, we are able to love many people at once, bringing all of them into a network of friendship that strengthens us all because we have one another, we are not isolated anymore, we are saved from the disaster that is selfishness. Freed from the need to possess, to
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control, to own, to absorb, we are free to see goodness anywhere and pausing to appreciate it along the way, to love it to new life, one at a time, one after another. The chaste lover loves totally for the sake of the other and, surprised by beauty, finds life richer for themselves as well". (Sr. J. Chittister, OSB, The Fire in These Ashes)
Obedience "Religious obedience is a vow of co-responsibility in fidelity to the gospel. It requires that we be attentive to the multiple ways that God's presence is revealed in the world about us". "Obedience may involve hardship or sacrifice; it may mean shouldering crosses not of our own choosing; it always means fidelity to God who is the centre of all our relationships". Poverty "Poverty, like celibacy, has a spiritual dimension that touches on mystery. Lived faithfully, it leads to that sweet sense of having less and enjoying more." |
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