Can. 604 §1 The order of virgins is also to be added to these
forms of consecrated life. Through their pledge to follow Christ more closely,
virgins are consecrated to God, mystically espoused to Christ and dedicated to
the service of the Church, when the diocesan Bishop consecrates them according
to the approved liturgical rite.
§2 Virgins can be associated
together to fulfil their pledge more faithfully, and to assist each other to serve the Church in a way that befits
their state.
POST-SYNODAL
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION VITA CONSECRATA OF THE HOLY FATHER JOHN PAUL II, n. 7. states “ It is a source of joy
and hope to witness in our time a new flowering of the ancient Order of
Virgins, known in Christian communities ever since apostolic times. Consecrated
by the diocesan Bishop, these women acquire a particular link with the Church,
which they are committed to serve while remaining in the world. Either alone or in association with others,
they constitute a special eschatological image of the Heavenly Bride and of
the life to come, when the Church will at last fully live her love for
Christ the Bridegroom.”
Virgins can be associated together
to assist each other to fulfil their resolution
more faithfully. The vocation of consecrated virginity involves BEING AND DOING [Identity and Mission]. In an
Association, virgins would be called to together BE an eschatological image of the Church’s
love for Christ. They are also called to support each other to
bring their resolution to completion and for the Mission of the Church which is their own
mission too. Since Canon 604 #1 refers to the approved Liturgical Rite, lets see what the Rite mentions about the resolution.
EXAMINATION
After the Homily the
candidates stand and the Bishop questions them in these or similar words:
Are you resolved
to persevere to the end
of your days
in the holy state
of virginity
and in the service of
God and his Church?
Are you so resolved
to follow
Christ in the spirit of the Gospel
that your whole life
may be
a faithful witness to God’s
love
and a convincing sign of
the kingdom of heaven?
Are you resolved
to accept
solemn consecration
as a bride of our Lord
Jesus Christ,
the Son of God?
RENEWAL OF INTENTION
Father,
receive my resolution
to follow Christ
in a life of perfect
chastity
which, with God’s
help,
I here profess before you
and God’s holy people
Collect
[From the Ritual Mass in the Roman Missal ,2011]
Grant, we pray, O Lord,
to these your servants,
in whom you have
instilled a resolve to live in virginity,
that the work you have
begun in them
may be brought
to fulfilment…….
c)In the intercessions of Eucharistic Prayer III, after the words,
the entire people you have gained for your own, the following is added:
Strengthen in their holy
resolve, O Lord,
these your servants,
who seek to follow
your Christ in faithful devotion,
giving a witness of
evangelical life
and of sisterly
love…….
Blessing
at end of Mass
May God, who inspires and
brings to completion every holy design,
Guard you always with his
grace,
That you may faithfully
discharge the duties of your calling.
R. Amen.
My previous post Plan of God and Resolution of a virgin
mentions: “the term used for resolution in the Latin text of the Canon is ‘propositum’ which can be translated
as PLAN, PROJECT, PURPOSE, DESIGN, THEME OF DISCOURSE, AIM, THESIS, etc.”
In the references to the Rite as mentioned
above, there are prayers for the grace to
fulfil / bring to completion the Resolve
/ Holy Design . Canon 604#2 also speaks about fulfilment of the resolve using stronger
words in the Latin text.
Order of Virgins as an Image of the Communion of Saints
HENCE IT IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE TO
ME HOW CONSECRATED VIRGINITY CAN BE
AN INDIVIDUAL VOCATION IN THE STRICT SENSE. INDIVIDUALISM IS MORE A SIGN OF THE WORLDLY TEMPORAL
CULTURE AND NOT AN ESCHATOLOGICAL
SIGN OF PERFECTION OF HUMANITY THROUGH COMMUNION WITH GOD AND EACH OTHER.
Every consecrated virgin and the entire Order of Virgins of all times and places since
2000 yrs are called to manifest the Identity and Mission of the Church of Christ that subsists in the Catholic Church, both Individually and Collectively. [Either alone or in association with others,
they constitute a special eschatological image of the Heavenly Bride and
of the life to come, when the Church will at last fully live her love for
Christ the Bridegroom.”- Vita Consecrata, n.7 ]
The Universal Church is present
in the Diocesan Church and the Diocesan
Church is present in the Universal Church.
Similarly we could say that a consecrated virgin/s living the vocation in the Diocesan
reality belong to the Universal Order of Virgins and the
Universal Order of Virgins of all times and places since 2000 yrs is spiritually
present with every consecrated virgin/s in
a diocese. We can compare this with the Communion
of Saints professed in the Apostles Creed. If all the baptized are a Communion of saints
and together the Bride of Christ, how much deeper is the Communion
of Saints in the Order of Virgins expected
to be if consecrated virgins represent the eschatological union of the Church with Christ! ISN’T
THIS SPIRITUAL REALITY A POINTER TO
THE IDENTITY AND MISSION OF
ASSOCIATIONS OF CONSECRATED
VIRGINS ACCORDING TO CANON 604 #2 ?
Various approaches to looking
at the Communion of Saints in the Order of
Virgins.
There could be the Socio-Liturgical category of the Order of Virgins
at the Universal level with a Public Juridical
Personality and Core elements of the vocation
well-defined by the Church and held in common.
At the diocesan level there could be individuals
or groups living or not living together,
as a diocesan life, lived in small households with mutual co-operation in a family spirit, without
the structure, regimentation, vows or resemblance
to religious life. This would be more appropriate for younger consecrated virgins
who need concrete support and solidarity. Read : Consecrated virginity from an Inter- generational perspective
However, such households would have
recognition as a Public Association of Consecrated virgins in the Particular / Local church.
There could be some common place where young consecrated virgins could have
the option to live together, while candidates
and seasoned consecrated virgins could come together occasionally for continual formation, in times of crises like illness, old age, etc. The finances could have to be worked out by consecrated virgins among themselves.
Such an arrangement would differ from religious life in the sense that
just like the Early Church virgins, there
would be neither vows nor strictly common schedules nor common rule of
life involved and such an association would not necessarily be for the purpose of a common
project or charitable activity. Each one would live, earn her living and serve according to her talents gifted by God for the Church and the world, offering moral and concrete support to each other in daily living, to be faithful in the resolution and a
Eucharistic sign of Communion with God and with each other as a Family.
Canon 604 speaks of consecrated
virgins forming associations to help each other to Fulfil their Holy Resolution and Serve the Church. It does not speak of associations with a different charism, using the rite to fulfil the need of
as a ceremony.
In the first 3 parts of the blog posts on Canon 604, I’ve tried
to discover the Ecclesiology of the
Church of Christ that subsists in the
Catholic Church. Providentially the
recent teachings of our Holy
Father Benedict XVI have also covered
the topics of Ecclesiology [relationship
between churches ], Liturgy, Relationship between Christ and His Church,
Virgin Mary,etc. We can safely
apply all of it to the Order of Virgins which has been given the Identity and Mission
of the Church of Christ herself and for whom Virgin Mary is the Role Model.
On the Sacred Liturgy as a
School of Prayer [2012-09-26]
On the Ecclesial Nature of
Liturgical Prayer [2012-10-03]
“But let us not forget: We discover Christ, and we come to know him as a
living Person in the Church. She is
“his Body”. This corporality can be understood in light of the biblical words
about man and woman: the two will be one flesh (cf. Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:30ff; 1 Corinthians 6:16 ff). The unbreakable bond between Christ and the Church, through the
unifying force of love, does not destroy the “you” and the “I” but rather
raises them to their most profound unity. To find one’s identity in Christ
means attaining a communion with him that does not destroy me but rather
elevates me to the highest dignity, that of being a child of God in Christ:
“The love-story between God and man consists in the very fact that this
communion of will increases in a communion of thought and sentiment, and thus
our will and God's will increasingly coincide” (Encyclical Deus
caritas est, 17). To pray
means to be raised to the heights of God, through a necessary and gradual
transformation of our being.
how do I learn to pray, how do I grow in my prayer? Looking to the
model that Jesus taught us, the Pater noster [the Our
Father], we see that the first word is “Pater” [Father] and the second is “noster” [our]. The answer, then, is clear: I learn to
pray, I nourish my prayer, by turning to God as Father and by praying with others,
by praying with the Church, by accepting the gift of her words, which little by
little become familiar to me and rich in meaning. The dialogue that God
establishes with each one of us and we with him in prayer always includes a
“with”; we cannot pray to God in an individualistic manner. In liturgical
prayer, especially the celebration of the Eucharist, and – formed by the
liturgy – in every prayer, we do not pray alone as individual persons; rather,
we enter into the “we” of the praying Church. And we must transform our “I” by
entering into this “we”.
“In the liturgy of the New
Covenant every liturgical action, especially the celebration of the Eucharist
and the sacraments, is an encounter between Christ and the Church” (n. 1097);
therefore, it is the “whole Christ”, the whole Community, the Body of Christ
united with her Head who celebrates. The liturgy then is not a kind of “self-manifestation” of a
community; instead, it is a going out of simply “being ourselves” -- of being
closed in on ourselves -- and the portal to the great banquet, the entrance
into the great living community, in which God himself nourishes us. The
liturgy involves universality, and this universal character must enter ever
anew into everyone’s awareness. The Christian liturgy is the worship of the
universal temple, which is the Risen Christ. His arms are extended on the Cross
in order to draw all men into the embrace of God’s eternal love. It is the
worship of heaven opened wide. It is
never merely the event of a single community, with its own position in time and
space. It is important that every Christian feel and really be inserted into
this universal “we”, which provides the foundation and refuge for the “I” in
the Body of the Christ, which is the Church.
Even in the liturgy of the smallest communities, the entire Church is
always present. For this reason, there are no “strangers” in the liturgical
community. In every liturgical celebration the whole Church participates
together, heaven and earth, God and men. The Christian liturgy, although it is
celebrated in a concrete place and space and expresses the “yes” of a
particular community, is by its very nature catholic; it comes from the whole
and leads to the whole, in unity with the Pope, with the Bishops, with
believers of all times and ages and from all places.”
Pope's Homily at Shrine of
Loreto [2012-10-04]
The idea of
the Son of God dwelling in the "living house", the temple which is
Mary, leads us to another thought: we must recognize that where God dwells, all are "at home"; wherever Christ
dwells, his brothers and sisters are no longer strangers. Mary, who is the Mother of Christ, is also our mother, and she open to
us the door to her home, she helps us enter into the will of her Son. So it is faith which gives us a home in this
world, which brings us together in one family and which makes all of us
brothers and sisters. As we contemplate Mary, we must ask if we too wish to
be open to the Lord, if we wish to offer our life as his dwelling place; or if
we are afraid that the presence of God may somehow place limits on our freedom,
if we wish to set aside a part of our life in such a way that it belongs only
to us. Yet it is precisely God who liberates our liberty, he frees it from
being closed in on itself, from the thirst for power, possessions, and
domination; he opens it up to the dimension which completely fulfills it: the
gift of self, of love, which in turn becomes service and sharing.
HOW HAPPY JESUS WILL FEEL IF
THE HOUSE OF EVERY CONSECRATED VIRGIN/S
IS LIKE THE HOUSE OF MARY !
'Communion' with God and each other is a requisite to the vocation of Order of consecrated virgins , even if it is not structured like a religious 'community'.
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