Why is religious life not a sacrament?

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Dumb Protestant question: So, members of religious orders are not considered in Holy Orders??? That only refers to ordination? I’da thunk that taking the veil was part of the same, but what do I know? :confused:
 
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headman13:
Dumb Protestant question: So, members of religious orders are not considered in Holy Orders??? :
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that is correct.

Holy Orders is Sacrament where upon aspects of the delegated Authority of Christ are passed on.

Each Aspect of Holy Orders descends from a chrism given to the Apostles by Christ.

Holy Orders comes in 3 stages, 1 Sacrament (sounds familiar , huh 🙂 )
  1. Episcopal - The Bishops. They receive the fullness of the Authority given to the Apostles. To Teach, to bind or forgive sin. Since they have the fullness of the Holy Spirit as given to the Apostles at Pentecost, they are the Ordinary ministers of Confirmation.
  2. Presbyterial - The Priests. They receive the Authority to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass. Through their Bishops they receive provisional authority to forgive sin and to offer Confirmation (in certain circumstances)
  3. Diaconal - The Deacons. These men receive the authority of service, to supervise the care of the sick, poor and infirm (see Acts 9)
Monks, Friars and Nuns recieve no special Apostolic charism per se, but that does not say that they recieve no special Grace, far from it.

Their lives are a dedication to the Lord of service and prayer and is gifted by the Spirit in other ways.

Each is a calling from Spirit to fulfill certain aspects of God’s Will on Earth. Entering in a religious life is by no means less in the eyes of God or faithful Catholics than those in Orders. What is of primary importance is that one answers to where the Spirit calls.
 
Dear lily628,

I happened to hear in a homily today the following point regarding consecrated life not being a sacrament: it is not a particular sacrament because it is simply a person’s desire to live more fully his Baptismal promises. So, the sacrament which is related to the vows and religious life is baptism. You can look at these two documents from Vatican II to see this point made: Lumen Gentium, paragraphs 43-47 (especially # 44) and Perfectae Caritatis, the whole thing (especially #5).

Also, before a person makes profession, the point is in the ritual of profession that the person has already been consecrated to God by water and the Holy Spirit and now wishes to follow Christ more closely by making particular vows.
 
Sisters and Brothers did so much to cultivate vocations to the priesthood. As their numbers decreased, so did the number of priests. God bless you Brother Dan for what you do!

Deacon Tony
 
Brother Dan,

Thanks so much for those references. They helped explain things a lot for me. I think I’m beginning to understand it better. I thought I’d include the links below to the documents you referenced, in case any other readers are interested:

Lumen Gentium (43-47, esp. 44)
vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html

Perfectae Caritatis (entire doc, esp 5)
vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651028_perfectae-caritatis_en.html

God bless you and your work for His Kingdom!
Lily628
 
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