Saying ‘yes’ to the Father’s call and to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, they choose this way of life to devote themselves to Christ with an undivided heart.  Like the Apostles, they leave everything to be with Christ, and to put themselves at the service of God and of their brothers and sisters.

Usually they live together in community, supporting each other in a shared way of life, in prayer, and in dedication to a particular service or ministry in the Church. 

Religious life is a gift of God for the individuals who are called, and for the whole Church.

Core points

• All Christians are called to holiness.  Religious life is one way, among many ways, of Christian life.
  
• Religious life is rooted in Baptism.  By profession of vows the religious deepens, strengthens, and gives fuller expression to his/her baptismal commitment.
  
• A call to religious life is an invitation from God.  Someone who chooses to enter religious life does so in response to that invitation or call.  The initiative always comes from God.
  
• Those called to religious life dedicate themselves totally to God, whom they love above all else.  Led by the Holy Spirit, they strive to follow Christ more intimately and to live more and more for him.  The vows are means to and instruments of love.
  
• Religious also serve the Church, especially in her poorest and neediest members, according to the particular charism or mission of the different Orders or Congregations.
  
• Religious life has a special role in witnessing to the world that we have here on earth no lasting city, and that it is worth giving up everything else for the sake of God and the Kingdom of God.
  

There are many forms of religious life.  The Second Vatican Council said that the different religious families are like a wonderful, wide-spreading tree which has grown up in the field of the Lord.  The various Orders, each in its own way, contribute to the saving mission of the Church, by showing forth Christ to the world: Christ in contemplation on the mountain; Christ proclaiming the kingdom of God to the multitudes; Christ healing the sick and maimed; Christ converting sinners to a good life; Christ blessing children; Christ doing good to all people.

Monastic life is a particular form of religious life.  In every age, the words of Jesus to his disciples, “Come apart with me to some remote place for a while” (Mk 6:31), speak to the hearts of some believers, who take them as the foundational principle of their lives.  So they go apart to a more solitary place, to seek God in prayer and worship, in simplicity and silence, through work and service, humility and obedience, in communities of faith and love, in ongoing conversion of heart, perseverance, and joy.   

Monastics do not engage in any active apostolate, but by their prayer and fidelity to their particular way of life they participate in the mission of Christ and serve the church and the world.

God continues to call women and men to religious life.   If you are a Catholic who has not already made a permanent commitment to another way of life in the Church, why not take some time this week to think and pray about it?  It could be that God is offering you the gift of a religious vocation.