To enter heaven all men must be religious…in the right way. He must religiously find out God’s will, religiously do God’s will and religiously deny himself.
1. In this sense all Religious orders are identical. The religious way of life is based on Scriptures. It reflects the Evangelical Life containing the Will of God as expressed in the complete teachings of Christ. Their Ecclesiastical approval attest to this.
2. The purpose of Religious life is to fulfill the Apostolic Commission by obeying all the commands of Christ (which contains the “Will of God”) and How to observe them (in accordance to God’s will). Plus to create an ideal atmosphere in the performance of this task. But isn’t this the purpose of Christian life? Knowing the above, a home, a forest, a mountain top or a cave, is as good a place to be a saint.
3. Why, then, are there many seemingly different Religious orders? Man tend to forget the teachings of Christ. So God, through the centuries, would raise Saints to remind men of the doctrine that is forgotten, misinterpreted or distorted. The Saints embodies both the forgotten doctrine and how it must be practiced. Then, they gather disciples around them to exemplify the forgotten doctrine…. thus new Religious orders are born.
Their effectiveness, however, is only during their lifetime (for God gives this task to Saints of their era). When they die their disciples become forgetful, too, unless, there follows a line of holy leaders as in the case of Cluny, where four holy abbots, Odilo, Odo, Maiolo and Hugo brought the Abbey to great spiritual heights. Needless to say the Saints in heaven, the Church Triumphant, continue to help the Church Militant here on earth. But here we are discussing how things work out in the history of the Church Militant.
At the death of a Saint, God raises another Saint, to remind the Church of another forgotten doctrine, and the Saint starts another Religious order. This explains the birth of many seemingly different Orders. The Evangelical message is the same. The forgotten doctrine is different in different eras and taught by different Saints. One gets the impression that those Orders are of different spiritualities.
It’s like a diamond, the spirituality of the Catholic Church: it is beautiful from any angle one might look at it.
4. For example, in the 12th century, the Catholic Church, in general, forgot the importance of the practice of Poverty. So God raised St. Francis and taught him the importance of Poverty. Then Francis founded his Order to demonstrate what he had learned…. how that Poverty should be practiced. Francis alone was God’s instrument of instruction. The Order was Francis’ attempt to demonstrate it to the whole Church. He was successful in demonstrating poverty in his person and in his teaching: he was successful with himself and his handful of original followers.
But as we have seen through the centuries, the Orders began to lose the spirit of their Founders as they relaxed and watered down their rules. When the men of the Church forgot the importance of discipline, God raised St. Ignatius. When they forgot how to prepare people for death, God raised St. Alphonsus Liguori.
5. Sometimes, God has to remind the Church of one or two important doctrines necessary for salvation, which the men of the Church have forgotten or misinterpreted. Sometimes God sees that He has to remind the Church of the entire doctrine of the faith, as in the era of John Cardinal Newman and St. Therese. The two saints obviously reminded the Church of the entire doctrine of the Catholic Church at a time the whole world was forgetting it. Though this doctrine is kept in the Magisterium, these two saints, by their writings and way of life, showed it as a light to the world, instead of merely being (documents) buried in the Vatican Library.
6. The way to heaven for Lay people and Religious, for priests and bishops, is one and the same way. The difference is accidental, in that the life of the Religious is canonically recognized and surrounded by constitutions and statutes while the life of Laymen is not. Though such be the case, we see in our own time that the Roadmap, sadly, has been watered down and rendered ineffective for the salvation of souls.
7. The history of the Church shows that sometimes the Lay were more religious than the Religious, as we see in the example of the Beguines and the Brethren of the Common life (whose manual of life is the famous “Imitation of Christ,” by Thomas a Kempis). This phenomenon is seen in the rise of secular institutes lately. It’s sudden rise was noted by Pope Pius XII: lay communities living the fullness of the Gospel, which should be the life of the Religious.
8. Pope Benedict XVI, in an address to the Austrian bishops on their Ad Limina visit, lamented the fact that the men of the Church have watered down the doctrines that Christ had entrusted to them. The spiritual deterioration of the Church begins always with the deterioration of the Religious orders ….and contaminates all. The deterioration happens on both fronts: they are unable to teach the way to holiness in its completeness and as a consequence they are unable to create the ideal atmosphere in the quest for holiness. Both the lay and those who enter Religious life are unable to find “the face of Christ,” as Pope Benedict XVI describes it.
9. Before St. Therese entered Carmel, she already knew the way to holiness, probably from her parents at home and from the Benedictine nuns who were her first teachers outside the home. Neither did St. Thomas of Aquinas learn it from the Dominicans but most probably from the Benedictines at MonteCassino. Both knew how to be a saint before they entered . Both learned how to be holy before entering religious life. St. Bruno, also, learned how to be holy from the Benedictines and the Eastern Fathers and became holy outside the established orders with his group at Carthusia.
10. Solution. Since it will be difficult to learn the way to holiness in most Religious houses today, one should try to learn this already even before joining any congregation: practising the virtue of humility, with humilty study the writings of the Fathers and the Doctors of the Church. Then with the “Ora et Labora” of St.Benedict and the Rule of St. Basil, these should amply equip a soul beginning her quest for God!
11. If only there was such a place where one could learn the way to holiness, so that those who wish to enter Religious orders that had watered down the teachings of Christ could still become a saint! Why then did St. Therese leave her home to enter Carmel? There was greater opportunity for holiness: there were more crosses for her to bear there…! (Painting is by Pier Francesco Mola, “The Vision of Saint Bruno,” 1660.)