The fourth video in the series, Vita Consecrata – 4 of 10 – What is the Vow of Chastity?, highlights passages from #88 of Vita Consecrata.
SSVMUSA (www.ssvmusa.org) presents a ten-part series of short videos highlighting selections from Vita Consecrata, Pope John Paul II’s 1996 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “On the Consecrated Life and its Mission in the Church and in the World.”
Vatican link to the complete text of Vita Consecrata:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/joh…
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About the Vocation to Religious Life:
http://ssvmusa.org/index.php/vocation…
Discerning Servidoras, Come and See Discernment Retreats: https://ssvmusa.org/index.php/vocations/come-and-see-discernment-retreats/
Transcript of Vita Consecrata – 4 of 10 – What is the Vow of Chastity?
From Vita Consecrata, #88 © 1996 – Libreria Editrice Vaticana
88. The first challenge is that of a hedonistic culture which separates sexuality from all objective moral norms, often treating it as a mere diversion and a consumer good and, with the complicity of the means of social communication, justifying a kind of idolatry of the sexual instinct. The consequences of this are before everyone’s eyes: transgressions of every kind, with resulting psychic and moral suffering on the part of individuals and families.
(00:30)The reply of the consecrated life is above all in the joyful living of perfect chastity, as a witness to the power of God’s love manifested in the weakness of the human condition. The consecrated person attests that what many have believed impossible becomes, with the Lord’s grace, possible and truly liberating.
(00:48)Yes, in Christ it is possible to love God with all one’s heart, putting him above every other love, and thus to love every creature with the freedom of God!
(00:58)This testimony is more necessary than ever today, precisely because it is so little understood by our world. It is offered to everyone — young people, engaged couples, husbands and wives and Christian families — in order to show that the power of God’s love can accomplish great things precisely within the context of human love. It is a witness which also meets a growing need for interior honesty in human relationships.
(1:24)The consecrated life must present to today’s world examples of chastity lived by men and women who show balance, self-mastery, an enterprising spirit, and psychological and affective maturity.
(1:37)Thanks to this witness, human love is offered a stable point of reference: the pure love which consecrated persons draw from the contemplation of Trinitarian love, revealed to us in Christ.
(1:48) Precisely because they are immersed in this mystery, consecrated persons feel themselves capable of a radical and universal love, which gives them the strength for the self-mastery and discipline necessary in order not to fall under the domination of the senses and instincts. Consecrated chastity thus appears as a joyful and liberating experience.
(2:09) Enlightened by faith in the Risen Lord and by the prospect of the new heavens and the new earth (cf. Rev 21:1), it offers a priceless incentive in the task of educating to that chastity which corresponds to other states of life as well.
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