Is religious life a holier vocation than marriage?

[Theosis]

“They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they remained silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” Taking a child he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it he said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.”” (Mark 9:33-37)

Do this, and you’ll find what you seek.

 

[SerraSemper]

The question is, Is one Sacrament of Service holier then the other. The answer is no, neither Sacrament of Service is holier then the other. This was driven home by Vatican II

That might be your question, but it is not the OP’s. The OP specifically asked about the religious state, which is not connected with the “Sacrament of Service”. The religious state is not a Sacramental state. The superiority of the religious state over marriage is not judged on how much “service” it renders, thus your distinction is very irrelevant.

 

[humilityseeker]

That might be your question, but it is not the OP’s. The OP specifically asked about the religious state, which is not connected with the “Sacrament of Service”. The religious state is not a Sacramental state. The superiority of the religious state over marriage is not judged on how much “service” it renders, thus your distinction is very irrelevant.

Here is the question the OP asked

Does this mean that those called to this vocation are holier than married people?

Unfortunately for the OP, and this goes for several others on this thread,
there has been great confusion on the conflation of perfection in the Sacrament of Holy Orders or in religious orders, and the measure of holiness of whichever vocation a person is living out. Perfection does not equal holiness.

Vatican II has taught they are both Sacraments of Service.- Holy Orders and Matrimony. Vatican II has also taught there is a great relationship between the Priesthood of the People, given us in Baptism, and Ordained Holy Orders and in vowed religious. Baptism and our membership to the Priesthood of the People is our membership in the People of God that comes first. Some of us are then called out into religious life. Never forget these are all graces that flow from God. God set up the vocation to matrimony and the vocation to Holy Orders.

All vocations are vocations of service. Those ordained to Holy Orders, those religious with a vocation and vowed, are in the service of the laity, just as Jesus came as a servant and not to be served. First and foremost an Ordained or vowed religious or laity , be they single or married, belong to the Priesthood of the People. We are all priest prophet king, just as Jesus is. We were all given that first in the Sacrament of Baptism. We are all in a vocation of service.

Being a religious, being Ordained, being in the vocation of marriage is all about service. Why? Because Jesus is all about being a servant. That is precisely what Vatican II drove home.
There is no superiority of the religious state to marriage with respect to holiness. They are both crucial to the Church. To say one is superior to the other is just the type of clericalism Pope Francis is all about making extinct.

Superior does not equal degree of holiness, perfection does not equal degree of holiness.

Trent placed the Sacrament of Marriage on the lowest rung to all other vocations because it involved sex. Vatican II firmly put this Sacrament , this vocation , back into its correct place.

 

[humilityseeker]

The OP asked whether those in the religious state are holier than those who are not.

The OP also stated ‘religious life’ without making a distinction regarding which religious variety of life he or she was referring to. The Op was not specifically asking about public or private vowed religious, rather, the OP was asking about religious life. Not a specific religious state. Therefore according to the question and the title, religious life includes those Ordained to Holy Orders as a Sacrament as well as those living other forms of religious life.

 

[ReaderT]

A married person serves his family and the Church. A celibate person serves the Church alone.

If you think they’re not both called to serve the Church in equal measures, then I disagree. There’s no distinction - raising up godly and holy children is not less of a Church work than, say, brewing beer or making cheesecake (as the nuns in my hometown do). By serving one’s family, one is, in effect, serving the Church.

Do not Orthodox Christians venerate priests as one would venerate an icon of Christ?

It’s not a 1:1 correlation, but I understand what you’re saying - we venerate the icon of Christ at His feet, but we don’t, for example, kiss the priest’s feet.

Do not Orthodox Christians honour monks with the title Father?

We do, but “Father” is the exact same title we give to the man who gets married and begets us, too

This is true even when the lay Christian is holier than the priest or monk in question. This is true even when the priest or monk is lacking in holiness. The vocation itself is elevated and demands reverence… which is a separate issue from personal holiness.

I understand what you’re saying, but we’re supposed to humbly honor all people - down to the electrician and the grocery bagger - there’s nothing unique about monks. We regard ourselves as the “chief of sinners”, and try not to look on others’ sins.

 

[humilityseeker]

There is absolutely nothing in anything you have posted stating that religious life is a holier vocation then married life.
You prove the point that people read what they want into different Vatican documents and interpret accordingly.

The Sacrament of Matrimony is also rooted in Baptism and Vatican II drove that point home.

 

[humilityseeker]

Just a reminder we are discussing the value of ‘holiness’

 

[humilityseeker]

Do you understand what the Sacrament of Matrimony is? It is a good topic for a new thread.

 

[humilityseeker]

As I said, this topic is a thread on its own. To truly understand what the Sacrament of Matrimony is all about. This is one huge failing of modern teaching.

Read the entire catechism.
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c3a7.htm

 

[humilityseeker]

Since this thread is about holiness the best place to start reading about holiness is this document
GAUDETE ET EXSULTATE
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
ON THE CALL TO HOLINESS

http://www.vatican.va/content/franc...tazione-ap_20180319_gaudete-et-exsultate.html

The Holy Spirit bestows holiness in abundance among God’s holy and faithful people, for “it has pleased God to make men and women holy and to save them, not as individuals without any bond between them, but rather as a people who might acknowledge him in truth and serve him in holiness”.[3] In salvation history, the Lord saved one people. We are never completely ourselves unless we belong to a people. That is why no one is saved alone, as an isolated individual. Rather, God draws us to himself, taking into account the complex fabric of interpersonal relationships present in a human community. God wanted to enter into the life and history of a people.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

With respect, I think it is helpful to quote Saint Pope JPII’s entire section 32 (not a cherry-picked sentence or two) in order to get the full context and picture of the many “different and complementary paths”, including marriage, that he described. Furthermore, he stated that the consecrated life was “objectively superior” “as a way of showing forth the Church’s holiness”, in other words as providing a public witness to Christ’s life and the eventual life we will live in Christ’s Kingdom. Not that it’s objectively superior in every respect to all the other paths he lists in Section 32. Furthermore, some of the forms of consecrated life he mentions, such as secular institutes, can and do have married members.
(Continued next post due to character limits)

 

[Tis_Bearself]

FULL Section 32 from Pope JPII’s VIta Consecrata:

1. Within this harmonious constellation of gifts, each of the fundamental states of life is entrusted with the task of expressing, in its own way, one or other aspect of the one mystery of Christ. While the lay life has a particular mission of ensuring that the Gospel message is proclaimed in the temporal sphere, in the sphere of ecclesial communion an indispensable ministry is carried out by those in Holy Orders, and in a special way by Bishops. The latter have the task of guiding the People of God by the teaching of the word, the administration of the sacraments and the exercise of sacred power in the service of ecclesial communion, which is an organic communion, hierarchically structured.As a way of showing forth the Church’s holiness, it is to be recognized that the consecrated life, which mirrors Christ’s own way of life, has an objective superiority . Precisely for this reason, it is an especially rich manifestation of Gospel values and a more complete expression of the Church’s purpose, which is the sanctification of humanity. The consecrated life proclaims and in a certain way anticipates the future age, when the fullness of the Kingdom of heaven, already present in its first fruits and in mystery,will be achieved, and when the children of the resurrection will take neither wife nor husband, but will be like the angels of God (cf. Mt 22:30).The Church has always taught the pre-eminence of perfect chastity for the sake of the Kingdom,and rightly considers it the “door” of the whole consecrated life.She also shows great esteem for the vocation to marriage, which makes spouses “witnesses to and cooperators in the fruitfulness of Holy Mother Church, who signify and share in the love with which Christ has loved his Bride and because of which he delivered himself up on her behalf”.In this perspective, common to all consecrated life, there are many different but complementary paths. Men and women Religious completely devoted to contemplation are in a special way an image of Christ praying on the mountain.Consecrated persons engaged in the active life manifest Christ “in his proclamation of the Kingdom of God to the multitudes, in his healing of the sick and the suffering, in his work of converting sinners to a better life, in his solicitude for youth and his goodness to all”.Consecrated persons in Secular Institutes contribute in a special way to the coming of the Kingdom of God; they unite in a distinctive synthesis the value of consecration and that of being in the world. As they live their consecration in the world and from the world,“they strive to imbue everything with an evangelical spirit for the strengthening and growth of the Body of Christ”.For this purpose they share in the Church’s evangelizing mission through their personal witness of Christian living, their commitment to ordering temporal affairs according to God’s plan, and their cooperation in service of the ecclesial community, in accordance with the secular way of life which is proper to them.

 

[humilityseeker]

14. To be holy does not require being a bishop, a priest or a religious. We are frequently tempted to think that holiness is only for those who can withdraw from ordinary affairs to spend much time in prayer. That is not the case. We are all called to be holy by living our lives with love and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves. Are you called to the consecrated life? Be holy by living out your commitment with joy. Are you married? Be holy by loving and caring for your husband or wife, as Christ does for the Church. Do you work for a living? Be holy by labouring with integrity and skill in the service of your brothers and sisters. Are you a parent or grandparent? Be holy by patiently teaching the little ones how to follow Jesus. Are you in a position of authority? Be holy by working for the common good and renouncing personal gain.[14]

From Gaudete et exsultate.

A reading of this document, states that all the People of God are called to holiness, regardless of station of life.

(this call to holiness is one of my favorite topics, as is a true and faithful understanding of the Sacrament of Marriage).

 

[humilityseeker]

The question to be answered and posed by the OP was “Is living a religious life a holier vocation then the Sacrament of Matrimony”
It has nothing to do with anything besides what is holiness and how is it seen within the Church. Please read the document I posted “the Call to Holiness”

That is the only question I am answering.

@Tis_Bearself St. John Paul II is such a gift to us.

 

[humilityseeker]

Please read the Apostolic Exhortation I have posted.
Holiness is about salvation. We become holy, seek holiness, find holiness, learn holiness, live holiness, on our journey home to God through the saving salvation of God given freely to us as a gift. Whatever our station in life.

Well I have said my piece and encourage everyone to read Gaudete et exsultate , there is even a beautiful reading of the Beatitudes there and a few examples of how we can practice holiness very simply in our daily lives.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

You saying “But it’s DOGMA” isn’t persuasive here. You cherry-picked quotes, and there is a Deacon of the Church in this thread as well as others giving cogent responses that you didn’t show the whole picture. Your credibility in this discussion has suffered as a result of your cherry-picking and failure to acknowledge the full context of the statements you posted (of the Council of Trent too).

I see no point in getting into a protracted argument with you; have a good day.

Well I have said my piece and encourage everyone to read Gaudete et exsultate , there is even a beautiful reading of the Beatitudes there and a few examples of how we can practice holiness very simply in our daily lives.

Yes, and one great way would be to not be focusing on who has the more “superior” vocation. Jesus wasn’t big on that type of thing; he was all about exalting the lowly and saying the last shall be first. The saints who did their best to follow Jesus weren’t concerned with whether their vocation was “superior” or not, they just lived out his message the best they could in the state of life to which they were called, which in some cases was not the state of life they wanted or would have chosen if they had their druthers, but they made the best of it.

 

[Miketdobbs]

That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should.
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

 

[InThePew]

@InThePew, do you think you might secretly be called to marriage, and have gone down the wrong path?

Why is it that nobody ever asks a married man (or woman) whether they think they might actually be called to priesthood (or religious life) instead?

When I was applying for Holy Orders (it’s something that actually has to be requested - it doesn’t just happen) I did wonder “what if I meet the woman of my dreams after I’m ordained” and it occurred to me that anyone entering into marriage could well aks themselves the same question. There’s a point though at which you just have to make a call one way or the other - as my mum said at the time when I talked to her about this “otherwise, you’d never get anything done”. I believe that God lets us choose our vocation - while it’s calling, it’s still a free choice. It’s also not a question of what God wants as much as one of how we can best make use of the talents, gifts and grace which he’s given us. So, someone who’s feels called to priesthood might equally have been a wonderful husband and father but, it’s not that priesthood (or religious life) is somehow superior, but rather it’s a question of how each of us choose to serve God and our neighbour.

Someone who put it better than I could is Msgr Ronald Knox in his book The Priestly Life:

You may have crept in under false pretences like the Gabonites, but He is faithful to His word, and He promises us the graces we need for our state in life as long as we do our part.

 

[kapp19]

The key to understanding why various states of life are higher than others (in addition to sacramental character, i.e., Holy Orders) is their more perfect orientation towards and around the contemplation of God. This is why, just as well, solitary life is superior to common life, within religious life. But, as Thomas says, solitary life is extremely dangerous… and religious life (or clerical life) can be very dangerous as well for one who needs the help of marriage to free their mind and soul from various pressures. Otherwise, you should become a religious, or at least take up celibacy under a vow, with the guidance of a prudent spiritual director.

So if you need a lower state of life to free your mind from the more harmful distractions that would come from a higher state, then you should take the lower road. They do end in the same place, excepting the character of Holy Orders, which puts one in a “different state” in Heaven as well (or in Hell, too, lest we forget).

 

[Marie7]

The religious vocation is holier than that of marriage. The individual persons in the vocations vary in holiness. A married person who fulfills his/her duty of state perfectly attains greater holiness than a bad religious. IOW, God calls us to different vocations in which to best save our souls. Assuming we accept His call, it is then in our power to choose how or if we follow Him. Nobody should think, “Because I’m a religious, I’m holier than everyone who is married or remains single in the world.” There are canonized Saints from all vocations and walks of life. There are also religious burning in Hell. Whatever our calling, God wants us to walk worthy of it and to be with Him in Heaven.