Religious life is not a “no” to love but a big “yes.”
So often we can equate religious life with the institution – the Legion or the Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi for example. Yet that is not the core – it is one aspect.
Instead, the core is love.
Love is an openness to others. Love means to give ourselves to others to the point they could hurt us. Love trusts that they won’t – and that’s key. A man and women open to each other this way in marriage and even in courtship (we’ve all seen painful breakups).
Yet what is the way to open ourselves completely? To open ourselves to others through opening ourselves to God. That is part of religious life. Instead of opening ourselves exclusively to John, Jane or Sam, we open ourselves directly to God through the vows and, through that offering to every person on earth. This may seem theoretical but let’s get real practical – only to a priest or religious would people open up their deepest worries five minutes after meeting them. My sister is a social worker and naturally more compassionate than I, yet in less than two months since ordination people have opened up to me in ways I doubt they ever have to her. For example, I was picking up an early morning coffee one day I had a packed schedule and the woman behind me asked me to pray for a really serious family issue I doubt she shared with too many others.
Two elements of community life teach us love and move us to open ourselves to others. The vows leave us detached from everything here and attached to God. They are not no’s but yes’s. Poverty frees me from things, chastity from people and obedience form myself.
The other element we can often fail to recognize is community life. Community life is far beyond a bunch of guys living together for practical reasons: we are a family, we provide each other mutual help, we share a mission, we are a sign of heaven, and ultimately we reflect the love of the Trinity. That love with those close to us helps us learn to love everyone with the same love which Christ loved us with.
Say “yes” to love in your vocation and help others to say “yes” to love in theirs.
