Why is becoming a Religious not a Sacrament?

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MusherMaggie

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Why is becoming a professed religious sister or brother not a Sacrament?
 
MusherMaggie said:
Why is becoming a professed religious sister or brother not a Sacrament?
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Why do you think it should be, and where did Christ institute such, apart from the priesthood which of course is Holy Orders?
 
The simple answer is because Christ did not create such a sacrament. He did preach the Evangelical Counsels, poverty, chastity, and obedience. However, our present system of religious orders taking solemn vows, did not develop until later centuries.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
Why do you think it should be, and where did Christ institute such, apart from the priesthood which of course is Holy Orders?
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I think the OP was asking an honest question. It is not very charitable for you to immediately pick a fight.

To answer the OP, the sacrament of Holy Orders was instituted by Jesus during his public ministry. We can see in the NT where this applies to people we would now call bishops, priests, and deacons. (I haven’t memorized chapter and verse on this, but you can look it up here.)

Religious life developed early in the Church, but was not instituted as one of the seven sacraments. People started going out into the wilderness to be alone with God, and things gradually became more formal as the hermits developed communities and routines.

You could think of religious vows as being similar to the vows of chivalry a medieval knight would take. They are oaths sworn before God and binding until death, but they are not a sacrament.

For the record, some of the male religious do have Holy Orders. That is, there are monks who are also priests.
 
Religious life isn’t a sacrament because it’s not a outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace (the definition of a sacrament). Sacraments are also symbols of heavenly things, like the sacrament of marriage is the symbol of the heavenly marriage of Christ and the Church. But religious life isn’t a symbol of that marriage, it’s the real thing. Some religious such as St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila began the higher state of their heavenly marriage here on earth. Or there’s St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4.
 
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