Spouse of Christ?

[SerraSemper]

In the book “the True Spouse of Jesus Christ”, St Alphonsus Liguori talks about consecrated virginity and how it makes one a spouse of Christ. But then he talks about religious life and how to be a good religious for the rest of the book. Something I’m trying to understand with this thread as well. Elsewhere in another book on vocations, St Alphonsus links being a religious with being a spouse of Christ.

Somehow this needs to be understood in connection with other vocations…

I see three possibilities:

1. Only Consecrated Virgins have this title and for everyone else its metaphorical. (This seems to be what you are saying, or have I misunderstood?). The part that im trying to understand with this is all the tradition surrounding calling Religious brides of Christ. I mean it seems like a very serious statement to say that they are all wrong? This is why I’ve asked what is the difference between a CV, a Religious, and a married lay woman.
2. Virginity somehow vowed or consecrated to God makes a spouse of Christ and being a Consecrated Virgin is one type of this. Religious life would then be another type. Not sure how Religious fit in if they are not virgins, as this can happen.
3. The view of the other blog I linked.

One idea is that CVs bear the official title and are literally and most directly Spouses of Christ. Religious are also in SOME way I don’t understand, and for them its linked to a vow of chastity. Virginity would be a perfection of this vow. Married lay people share in being a bride of Christ in the general metaphorical way.

This is becoming very confusing… Not sure what to think. I would be grateful for any information, thank you

You are very insightful. So I think you’ll appreciate it if I tell you that it is pointless for me to give you a short answer. Why? Because you’ll ask even more questions that a simplistic short answer will bring up. It would be a grave disservice to you and others who have similar questions to give you a pat answer because it won’t adequately give you all the nuances you’ll need to truly understand it. Hence, I am not trying to be a salesperson pushing my wares, but I do think it is worth your waiting for me to publish (hopefully next year sometime) my dissertation. A major theme in my dissertation is what is meant by Bride of Christ.

I spent two dozen years connecting the theological dots, getting my degrees, and the diploma from the Vatican’s office for consecrated life to better answer your question and related ones. When my dissertation is complete and published, it will answer many fundamental questions about consecrated life because I struggled with similar questions myself in my own discernment journey. You see, I don’t just give an answer or a theory, but I give the foundations for my position so that its harmony with other parts of theology is clearly demonstrated. I have had to reject thousands of different theories because they weren’t in harmony with what we already know about consecrated and lay life and so I show the common ground in theology and not just my conclusions.

Let me give you some things to ponder. First, religious make the same vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience whether they are male or female. So a theory that discusses the meaning of Bride of Christ must take that into account. What is said of female religious must also equally apply to male religious since there is no real distinction in vocation. A theory must also take into consideration the eschatological significance of vocation and what will be eternal realities. Is religious life and/or sacred virginity only a sign of Heaven or is more than simply a sign? Is it purely affective spirituality or is t more than that? There are so many questions that are interrelated and if you get the answer wrong, it will deny a truth of our faith somewhere which is how you can tell it’s not correct.

 

[Monica4316]

I appreciate your response, but really I am just looking for any indication at all, even a simple yes or no, if women religious can relate to Our Lord in a more distinct spousal way than lay persons. I would be interested in learning the theology at some point probably, but at this moment I am not seeking to understand everything. As pathetic as this probably sounds I am just trying to resist doubting my vocational discernment. As I consider these points I start wondering if my discernment is true because it was always based primarily on a spousal relationship with Our Lord. I have chosen not to marry for this reason. If there’s anything that could help at all I would be grateful, even just an indication that there’s any difference at all in this way for women with a vow of chastity, compared to lay married women for instance.

 

[SerraSemper]

I appreciate your response, but really I am just looking for any indication at all, even a simple yes or no, if women religious can relate to Our Lord in a more distinct spousal way than lay persons. I would be interested in learning the theology at some point probably, but at this moment I am not seeking to understand everything. As pathetic as this probably sounds I am just trying to resist doubting my vocational discernment. As I consider these points I start wondering if my discernment is true because it was always based primarily on a spousal relationship with Our Lord. I have chosen not to marry for this reason. If there’s anything that could help at all I would be grateful, even just an indication that there’s any difference at all in this way for women with a vow of chastity, compared to lay married women for instance.

A private vow does not make a difference in the strict sense that you are outlining but a vow in an institute of consecrated life does. A private vow does entail some stuff that does not apply to the rest of the baptized without that vow… but again, this is why I am not saying a simple yes and no because it all depends on the distinctions…

 

[nameeta]

Hello, I’ve logged in after a very long time, hence there may be some technical issues with posting.

There are two rites for profession of perpetual vows for religious women. One has spousal imagery and the other does not. Institutes and Congregations also get some minor modifications/adaptations approved by the appropriate authority in the Church, in harmony with their charisms.

One can be a 100 per cent religious, without following a spousal spirituality. But to be a consecrated virgin, a spousal spirituality is essential.

Hope this helps!

 

[nameeta]

But there is a twist–

NATURE AND IMPORT OF RELIGIOUS PROFESSION From the Ritual of Religious Profession]
In response to God’s call many Christians dedicate themselves to his service and to the welfare of humanity through the sacred bonds of religious life and seek to follow Christ more closely through the evangelical counsels. This leads to the “grace of baptism” achieving richer results in them.

From the suggested homily in the Rite of Consecration of Virgins:
The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, through Baptism has already made you temples of God’s glory and children of the Father. Today through our ministry he anoints you with a new grace and consecrates you to God by a new title. He gives each one of you the dignity of being a bride of Christ and binds you to the Son of God in a covenant to last forever.

The bonds of religious life are different from the spousal bond in the consecration of virgins.]

 

[Monica4316]

A private vow does not make a difference in the strict sense that you are outlining but a vow in an institute of consecrated life does. A private vow does entail some stuff that does not apply to the rest of the baptized without that vow… but again, this is why I am not saying a simple yes and no because it all depends on the distinctions…

Ok, thank you for the reply!

 

[Monica4316]

It is true that CVs have this title canonically and of course the relationship with Christ of being His bride.

I am trying to understand why various Saints who were in religious orders and even some mystics with private vows were called “spouse” by Our Lord in revelations to them. I know these are private revelations but Church tradition uses this language too.

Maybe… This is just my idea. I don’t know anything and I’m not trained in theology or canon law. But I’m thinking maybe private vows cause a person to say a deeper ‘yes’ to the ordinary meaning of a soul being espoused to Christ. As in all the faithful. Religious vows do something further but I’m not sure what. Consecration of virginity is most direct.

Since religious do renounce marriage to love Christ more exclusively and vow their chastity to Him - that does seem to reflect the heavenly reality of Divine espousal more than for married lay people. I mean, the religious are living out what would be a heavenly reality for all the blessed souls. Maybe with CV this is done in a more official way of actually receiving that title and representing the Church more directly. I don’t know what the case is with religious life though

I found this article from Catholic Encyclopedia: newadvent.org/cathen/09703a.htm

It is informative but talks mostly about the mystical marriage (in two forms: the espousal as happened in the lives of some mystics, and the stage in prayer).

 

[Monica4316]

In this homily about St Clare the spousal dimension of her vocation is talked about… She was a nun and her order never did the consecration of virgins. So I think that somehow this can be said of nuns, even if less directly than for CVs? I guess the mystery here is in the distinction, something I don’t understand… But I’d provide the quote anyway:

"You dear Clares, fulfil in a spousal dimension the following of the Lord, renewing the mystery of the fertile virginity of the Virgin Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, the perfect woman. May the presence of your monasteries entirely devoted to the contemplative life be also today a “memory of the Church’s spousal love” (Verbi Sponsa, 1), filled with the consuming desire of the Spirit that incessantly implores the coming of Christ the Spouse (cf. Rev. 22:17).
ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP2CLARE.HTM

Also from Verbi Sponsa…

“The Church as Bride of the Word shows forth in an exemplary way in those dedicated to a wholly contemplative life the mystery of her exclusive union with God. For this reason the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata presents the vocation and mission of cloistered nuns as “a sign of the exclusive union of the Church as Bride with her Lord, whom she loves above all things”, (1) showing how they are a unique grace and precious gift within the mystery of the Church’s holiness”

Cloistered nuns see themselves especially in the Virgin Mary, (3) Bride and Mother, figure of the Church; (4) and sharing the blessedness of those who believe (cf. Lk 1:45; 11:28), they echo her “Yes” and her loving adoration of the Word of life, becoming with her the living “memory” of the Church’s spousal love (cf. Lk 2:19, 51). (5)

The nuptial dimension belongs to the whole Church, but consecrated life is a vivid image of it, since it more clearly expresses the impulse towards the Bridegroom.(17)

In a still more significant and radical way, the mystery of the exclusive union of the Church as Bride with the Lord is expressed in the vocation of cloistered nuns, precisely because their life is entirely dedicated to God, loved above all else, in a ceaseless straining towards the heavenly Jerusalem and in anticipation of the eschatological Church confirmed in the possession and contemplation of God. (18) Their life is a reminder to all Christian people of the fundamental vocation of everyone to come to God; (19) and it is a foreshadowing of the goal towards which the entire community of the Church journeys, (20) in order to live for ever as the Bride of the Lamb.

By means of the cloister, nuns embody the exodus from the world in order to encounter God in the solitude of “cloistered desert”, a desert which includes inner solitude, the trials of the spirit and the daily toil of life in community (cf. Eph 4:15-16), as the Bride’s sharing in the solitude of Jesus in Gethsemane and in his redemptive suffering on the Cross (cf. Gal 6:14).

Nuns moreover, by their very nature as women, show forth more powerfully the mystery of the Church as “the Spotless Bride of the Spotless Lamb”, rediscovering themselves individually in the spousal dimension of the wholly contemplative vocation. (21)

The monastic life of women has therefore a special capacity to embody the nuptial relationship with Christ and be a living sign of it: was it not in a woman, the Virgin Mary, that the heavenly mystery of the Church was accomplished? (22)

In this light, nuns relive and perpetuate in the Church the presence and the work of Mary. Welcoming the Word in faith and adoring silence, they put themselves at the service of the mystery of the Incarnation, and united to Christ Jesus in his offering of himself to the Father, they become co-workers in the mystery of Redemption. Just as in the Upper Room, Mary in her heart, with her prayerful presence, watched over the origins of the Church, so too now the Church’s journey is entrusted to the loving heart and praying hands of cloistered nuns".

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccscrlife/documents/rc_con_ccscrlife_doc_13051999_verbi-sponsa_en.html

 

[Monica4316]

Vita Consecrata:

"The living image of the Church as Bride

1. In the consecrated life, particular importance attaches to the spousal meaning, which recalls the Church’s duty to be completely and exclusively devoted to her Spouse, from whom she receives every good thing. This spousal dimension, which is part of all consecrated life, has a particular meaning for women, who find therein their feminine identity and as it were discover the special genius of their relationship with the Lord.

A moving sign of this is seen in the New Testament passage which portrays Mary with the Apostles in the Upper Room, in prayerful expectation of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:13-14). We can see here a vivid image of the Church as Bride, fully attentive to her Bridegroom and ready to accept his gift. In Peter and the other Apostles there emerges above all the aspect of fruitfulness, as it is expressed in ecclesial ministry… …] In Mary the aspect of spousal receptivity is particularly clear; it is under this aspect that the Church, through her perfect virginal life, brings divine life to fruition within herself.The consecrated life has always been seen primarily in terms of Mary — Virgin and Bride. This virginal love is the source of a particular fruitfulness which fosters the birth and growth of divine life in people’s hearts.Following in the footsteps of Mary, the New Eve, consecrated persons express their spiritual fruitfulness by becoming receptive to the Word, in order to contribute to the growth of a new humanity by their unconditional dedication and their living witness. Thus the Church fully reveals her motherhood both in the communication of divine grace entrusted to Peter and in the responsible acceptance of God’s gift, exemplified by Mary.God’s people, for their part, find in the ordained ministry the means of salvation, and in the consecrated life the incentive to make a full and loving response through all the different forms of Christian service"

The Order of Virgins; hermits and widows

1. It is a source of joy and hope to witness in our time a new flowering of the ancient Order of Virgins, known in Christian communities ever since apostolic times.Consecrated by the diocesan Bishop, these women acquire a particular link with the Church, which they are commited to serve while remaining in the world. Either alone or in association with others, they constitute a special eschatological image of the Heavenly Bride and of the life to come, when the Church will at last fully live her love for Christ the Bridegroom

 

[Monica4316]

From another encyclical:

"On the basis of the Gospel, the meaning of virginity was developed and better understood as a vocation for women too, one in which their dignity, like that of the Virgin of Nazareth, finds confirmation. The Gospel puts forward the ideal of the consecration of the person, that is, the person’s exclusive dedication to God by virtue of the evangelical counsels: in particular, chastity, poverty and obedience. Their perfect incarnation is Jesus Christ himself. Whoever wishes to follow him in a radical way chooses to live according to these counsels. They are distinct from the commandments and show the Christian the radical way of the Gospel. From the very beginning of Christianity men and women have set out on this path, since the evangelical ideal is addressed to human beings without any distinction of sex.

In this wider context, virginity has to be considered also as a path for women, a path on which they realize their womanhood in a way different from marriage. In order to understand this path, it is necessary to refer once more to the fundamental idea of Christian anthropology. By freely choosing virginity, women confirm themselves as persons, as beings whom the Creator from the beginning has willed for their own sake.[41] At the same time they realize the personal value of their own femininity by becoming “a sincere gift” for God who has revealed himself in Christ, a gift for Christ, the Redeemer of humanity and the Spouse of souls: a “spousal” gift. One cannot correctly understand virginity - a woman’s consecration in virginity - without referring to spousal love. It is through this kind of love that a person becomes a gift for the other.[42] Moreover, a man’s consecration in priestly celibacy or in the religious state is to be understood analogously.

The naturally spousal predisposition of the feminine personality finds a response in virginity understood in this way. Women, called from the very “beginning” to be loved and to love, in a vocation to virginity find Christ first of all as the Redeemer who “loved until the end” through his total gift of self; and they respond to this gift with a “sincere gift” of their whole lives. They thus give themselves to the divine Spouse, and this personal gift tends to union, which is properly spiritual in character. Through the Holy Spirit’s action a woman becomes “one spirit” with Christ the Spouse (cf. 1 Cor 6:17).

This is the evangelical ideal of virginity, in which both the dignity and the vocation of women are realized in a special way. In virginity thus understood the so-called radicalism of the Gospel finds expression: “Leave everything and follow Christ” (cf. Mt 19:27). This cannot be compared to remaining simply unmarried or single, because virginity is not restricted to a mere “no”, but contains a profound “yes” in the spousal order: the gift of self for love in a total and undivided manner."

w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1988/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19880815_mulieris-dignitatem.html

Based on all this I’m kind of thinking that any form of consecrated life mirrors the Church as Spouse and has a spousal dimension because of the vow of chastity. Contemplative cloistered nuns show this more strongly. Consecrated Virgins show it most directly being a direct image of the Church. I’m still not sure about the distinctions between the two (which are probably nuanced theologically) but it does seem from these documents that consecrated life in general has a spousal dimension more strongly than lay vocations, and CVs have it most directly and maybe in a greater way than religious, but all consecrated persons seem to have it in some way maybe in different ways.

 

[nameeta]

Dear Monica,

Your reflections are in the right direction. Consecrated virginity is the earliest form of consecrated life in the Church. For several centuries, until Vatican II, it was lived only in monasteries. The world was not so well connected in the past, as it is today. Only the clergy seem to have studied theology and often they identified consecrated virginity with monastic/ religious life. The spirituality of the *Ordo Virginum *was applied to nuns and to several congregations or institutes of apostolic religious, continuing even with some secular institutes and lay associations that have private vows. When the Rite of consecration of virgins was revised after Vat II, theologians were still not familiar with the vocation. Even Church documents have often identified consecrated virginity with monastic/ religious life of women. Sociologically and psychologically, some would interpret this as an attempt by men to domesticate women by using the ‘virgin, bride, and mother’ terminology.

Women who felt called to give their lives to Christ, often knew only about monasteries and convents. Every human person is by nature, called to give self in a spousal and parental way. This may be expressed explicitly or implicitly. So it would be natural for some women to relate with Christ as their Spouse. God too relates with a human person through his or her own horizon or worldview. So, if a person has been taught that a vow of virginity or religious vows or mystical union is like a human marriage /ceremony, that person will experience Christ relating with them and using spousal imagery and terminology.

Some years ago, there was a documentary on the ‘stigmata’. It showed how stigmatists tend to have wounds positioned according to what they had previously seen on crucifixes and images. This did not disprove their religious experience. It only showed that Christ communicates with each person, within his or her worldview.

Solemn vows in monastic life, do effect union with God. Canonically, all monastics and religious are an image of this eschatological union. But Canon law uses the term ‘mystical espousal’ only for the Ordo Virginum. We are in process of studying this in depth.

I guess, the union brought about in the bonds of religious life, can be seen through various lenses, according to the charism of every congregation/ institute/ individual. Also, according to me, religious are an image of the Church, only as a community. Consecrated virgins, on the other hand, image the Church as individuals as well as in groups.

Interestingly, if a religious leaves her congregation or institute, she is totally freed from the bonds, and not a public image of the Church as spouse anymore. But, a woman with private vows taken as an individual or in a private association, although not a public image of the Church as spouse, is always answerable to God for them, even if she leaves the association, unless she receives dispensation through Confession.

 

[Monica4316]

I don’t know… To be honest I’m kind of confused about this.

I think that even if CVs have the title of the bride of Christ more directly, there is still some reality of this in religious life - in some way… I think Our Lord does relate to religious in a spousal way. (I dont think its any attempt to “domesticate” women as you said that some believe)

Hopefully I’ll figure this out somehow!