The Vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience in Religious...
The vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience are taken by men and women religious within congregations or institutes of consecrated life. They express a radical choice to follow Christ by living out the evangelical counsels. Religious life is first and foremost a free response to God’s call. It is rooted in the Gospel and in the very example of Jesus Christ, who was poor, chaste, and obedient to the Father. Understanding the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience therefore allows us to better grasp what religious life truly is: a life entirely given to God and to others, and also a prophetic sign.
What does the vow of poverty mean in religious life?
The vow of poverty in religious life does not mean living without resources. Rather, it expresses an inner detachment from material goods. The religious chooses to possess nothing of their own and to live with simplicity and moderation.
In practical terms, during the stages of religious life—particularly before solemn profession—the vow of poverty requires the religious to dispose of their possessions or have them administered by a third party, such as a family member or another person. They may also bequeath their possessions, if they so wish, to their religious community.
The vow of poverty is also lived out through the sharing of possessions within the community. Religious therefore own nothing individually. For example, particularly in apostolic religious communities (Dominicans, Jesuits, etc.), cars are made available to the community for apostolic work, since they do not belong to any individual religious. And if a brother brings his car with him before entering religious life, at the time of his solemn profession, he is asked to part with it in accordance with the specific provisions of his community.
What does the vow of chastity mean in religious life?
The vow of chastity in religious life does not mean a rejection of human love, but a choice of consecrated celibacy, lived in sexual continence, for the love of God and of others. The religious thus renounces marriage and family life in order to make himself fully available for his mission: the search for God and prayer for the salvation of the world in monastic life, or the proclamation of the Gospel through various apostolates in apostolic religious life. Chastity lived in religious life is therefore not limited to an exclusive relationship, as in marriage, but opens the heart to everyone.
What does the vow of obedience mean in religious life?
The vow of obedience in religious life consists in learning to detach oneself from one’s own will in order to seek and accept God’s will in daily life. In religious life, this involves, in particular, listening to superiors (the Father Abbot or Mother Abbess in an abbey or monastery, or the Provincial Superior, Provincial Superior in an apostolic religious community, or even the Minister in certain orders—a rarer case, particularly among the Franciscans)—as well as through communal discernment, which are considered ordinary means for recognizing God’s will.
Religious obedience, however, is not military or blind obedience, in which the religious would have no say. It is rooted in listening and dialogue. For example, in apostolic religious communities, a discussion generally precedes the decision to send a religious to another community within the province or to entrust him with a new mission.
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