In this segment from the Son Rise Morning Show on Sacred Heart Radio, Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. discusses Women Religious with a focus on Apostolic and Contemplative Religious communities.
In this segment from the Son Rise Morning Show on Sacred Heart Radio, Fr. Frank Donio, S.A.C. discusses Women Religious with a focus on Apostolic and Contemplative Religious communities.
Apostolic communities are characterized by their work of charity in the world. They are sent out to care for those who are suffering and witness Christ. The contemplative communities emphasize the need to pray for the world and growing in a deeper relationship with God through their prayer.
Apostolic religious life is a form of consecrated life within the Church wherein the members profess vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience within a congregation or community approved by the Church. Shared community life is an integral part of this form of consecrated life. In professing vows and living within community, the members individually and as a whole witness to a life of communion with Christ, the Church, and one another.
The mystery of the contemplative life is woven tightly with the mystery of the Incarnation. This mystery finds an especially vivid expression in the life of a cloistered nun, when a woman chooses to spend her whole life within the walls of a monastery, hidden from the world for the sake of intimacy with God. The cloister is a shocking thing, and sometimes non-Christians (and Christians!) are scandalized by it. But even more shocking is the idea that an infinite God chose to take on a finite human nature, to confine Himself within the limits of the created world, which, to Him, must have seemed far, far smaller than the bounds of a cloistered monastery!
Notes:
Learn more about Apostolic Religious Life here.
Explore Contemplative Communities here.
Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
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