To the nun, in place of the marriage sacrament, the liturgy of virginal consecration is granted as a particular means of grace for the strengthening of her vocation; at the least, it is the solemn vow by which she is wedded to the Lord for always. By partaking in this ceremony, she receives the blessing by which to live as the Spouse of Christ: to waive freely all things in which worldly people see their happiness—material goods, husband and children, and freedom to form their lives at their own discretion.

If the married woman is obliged to be subject to her husband as to the Lord, so is the nun obligated to honor her legitimate superior as Christ’s proxy and to accept her directive as promulgated by the divine will. In certain ways, the Lord also grants her His love and care in visible form and intervenes by worldly means: in the paternal, maternal, and sisterly love which she finds in the order as family; she, in turn, must reciprocate by sharing in all communal possessions, enterprises, and destinies.

However, all of these visible aids must always be seen in light of the invisible. The Lord himself is the one to whom she belongs and at whose side she is exalted: the graces she wins are the inexhaustible treasury of merit which the divine Spouse generously grants her—for herself and those for whom she intercedes. The endeavors and destinies which now become her own are occasions for the kingdom of God: feast days of the Church and spiritual works of mercy are her joys, by which she is motivated to employ her strength; opposition to Christ’s kingship and the power of sin are her sorrows, against which she takes up arms.

Should she live in a strictly enclosed monastery, should her task be the solemn praise of God, she is removed in definite ways from worldly life into the community of angels and saints singing the eternal Sanctus.

Or, identified by her holy habit as a servant of the Lord, she walks with her guardian angel by her side, bringing divine love in her compassionate service to the needy and distressed.

Perhaps, hidden from all human eyes, she intercedes for endangered souls by expiatory prayer and vicarious works of reparation in God. Of course, this does not include all members in the order, but whoever has ascended to this height has already been granted a foretaste of the visio beatific.

But it does belong to the supernatural powers of mind and soul that one can detach self from worldly matters in order to live transcendentally; this is a power bestowed only through grace, a strength which must be endlessly renewed by inexhaustible asceticism.

Saint Edith Stein

The Spirituality of the Christian Woman (1931)
First published in Cologne, January 1932, in the journal Die Christliche Frau

Note: We can already see Edith’s depth of insight into the cloistered life, which she embraced when she entered the Carmel of Cologne-Lindenthal on 14 October 1933.

Stein, E 2017, Essays On Woman, The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Book 2, translated from the German by Oben, F, ICS Publications, Washington D.C.

Featured image: This stained glass window of a guardian angel is in St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village, New York City. Image credit: Fr. Lawrence Lew, OP / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/10/01/edith-guardangel/

#consecratedLife #guardianAngel #marriage #nuns #StEdithStein

The primordial reference of Christian spirituality is Jesus: conversion to Him and to following Him. Christian life is a life “in Christ” and “in the Spirit,” which is accepted in faith, expressed in love and lived in hope.

This Christian life is diverse due to the richness of its content and the circumstances in which it is lived. There is unity of Christian life and diversity of spirituality: Eastern and Western, ancient, medieval, modern, contemporary, lay, priestly, religious, male and female. This happens because spirituality embraces all of life, even action, and is conditioned by the circumstances in which it is lived. From these circumstances, different accents arise which characterize spirituality within the Church.

Consecrated life is a style or way of living [the] Christian life. Its point of departure is a charism communicated by the Spirit to follow Jesus in a consecration through vows, lived in communion for mission.

Among the characteristic aspects of the spirituality of consecrated life, there is the fact of living one’s faith, hope, and Christian love beginning with the commitment of the vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity. These vows introduce special tones in the way of living a theological life.

The three vows are expression of the three theological virtues, but each of them emphasizes and exercises one of them in particular. […]

A spirituality of the vows furnishes a special framework to the three fundamental demands of the following of Jesus (Cf. Lk 14:2–35), which are addressed to all Christians: keeping family ties in balanced perspective is expressed in consecrated chastity; seeing material goods in just perspective is concretized in poverty; keeping one’s autonomous life plan in perspective is symbolized by carrying the cross and seeking to fill God’s will in obedience, and living free for the service of the [Kingdom], in consecrated chastity.

Father Camilo Maccise, O.C.D.

Spirituality of Vows (excerpts)

Note: Father Camilo Maccise, O.C.D. was Superior General of the Discalced Carmelite Order from 1991–2003 and President of the Union of Superiors General from 1994 to 2001.

Featured image: The Discalced Carmelite nuns of Santiago de Compostela gather in the monastic choir to sing the solemn Salve Regina. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/20/maccise-vows/

#CamiloMaccise #chastity #consecratedLife #HolySpirit #Jesus #obedience #poverty #theologicalVirtues #vows

On this day in 2019 (4 years ago already!), I attended my first papal Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. It was a celebration of #ConsecratedLife. In his homily, Pope Francis reminded us:

“To retrace in our mind the decisive moments of encounter with [Jesus], to renew our first love, perhaps writing down our love story with the Lord - this would be good for our consecrated life, so that it does not become a time that passes by, but rather a time of encounter.”