Bride Of Christ

[God's Beloved]

I cannot but help looking at the bride of Christ imagery from other perspectives . Some CVs live in countries where there are  atheists , people of other religions ......some CVs work  in multi religious societies . Ideally a  CV should be able to explain her choice of vocation in all these terms too.

 

In most major religions there is the practice of virgins marrying God :  CV in Christianity ,  Marrying the Quran in Islam , Marrying trees among  Primitive tribes  , Devdasi system  in some hindu communities ........etc. etc.

 

Read this one : http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/world-news/detail/articolo/pakistan-pakistan-paquistan-26873/

 

One cannot help reflect in depth on all this. Isn't this one of the reasons why a growing number of religious institutes are moving away from bridal imagery , especially in Africa and Asia where this  has led to abuse of women ?

 

i understand people discerning on this site are mostly of a traditional and conservative thinking. However for  authentic discernment , one needs  information from a broader perspective.

 

I also think , to arrive at the truth of the charism of CV , to build a deeper theology of women as Pope Francis desires ,  we need to look at this theme broadly and deeply . Charisms are the gift of the Holy Spirit for the community of the Church and  the human community . In what way the charism of  being  really a true bride of Christ as a CV  concretely serves her purpose , and how this is different from those women who reflect the Church as bride of Christ in varying degrees ...... will help to understand the uniqueness of CV .

[abrideofChrist]

The dissertation is written by a non-Catholic or a very poorly catechized Catholic.  It contains adult themes and imagery which may be disturbing to innocent minds.  It also has numerous theological errors in addition to the very disturbing sexual imagery.  Such a work can be useful for the professional who reads and interprets private revelations and must sort through piles of pseudo mystical works of others.  I personally think that the Church has said quite enough that is beautiful and true about our vocation and I do not need half baked truths or lies from others who are trying to understand mystical works from the middle ages. 

 

Also, just because people abuse the good in some countries does not mean that the imagery is invalid.  It simply means that it is being abused!  Women should be empowered and part of this is giving them adequate catechesis so that they do not fall victim to predatory men. 

 

All this however, to me, still does not explain how this book or any of the other many things quoted by various people on this thread are resolving the question of how to keep women from being misled by not telling them they are not fully brides of Christ unless they are also a CV?

[Laurie]

This is very interesting : shows the development of the bride of Christ imagery in the history of the Church

 

Marrying Jesus: Brides and the Bridegroom

 

https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/indexablecontent?id=uuid:dbcaac3a-c91e-4eb3-bb18-852a84d09859&ds=DATA_FILE

 

If you type "consecrated virgin" or "bride of Christ" into the Google Books bar, you'll come up with a number of recent works on these topics. Seems the Church's vocations/imagery have been hot topics among the secular set in the last few decades.

 

I skimmed the link above. Looks like it might have some interesting footnotes that point to obscure sources.

 

Beyond that, two thoughts:

 

1) I find that those in liberal arts departments mostly don't know a fig about the Church. Then they write dissertations and are astonished at what they find! And they think they've made discoveries that are profound. They think they know more about the Church than she herself does. Anyone who has read the poems of St. John of the Cross ("Dark Night of the Soul" e.g., knows about the kinds of language used in treating mystical love). This is not an astonishing "discovery" unless you've been keeping your head under a bushel basket. (The Psalms themselves, and the Ecstasy of St. Teresa are other examples.)

 

2) I say many liberal arts departments don't know a fig about the Church, because they don't care to. They don't believe in an objective or serious theology. They don't believe in one or more branches of an objective and serious philosophy. The latter means they get absorbed in linguistic "meanings" that are forever in flux, changing with times and peoples. There is no grounding for anything (language, culture, religions) other than human will and decision making.

 

A book on spousal imagery in the middle ages written by someone of this mindset will be, at best, a chronicling of sources. But it won't be just this. It will be compiled and interpreted by someone looking at the mansucripts divorced from the living history and culture that gave them life. Further, it will be interpreted by someone who does not believe language means anything concrete at all.

 

This is the polar opposite of what the Church does when she considers spousal imagery. This is the polar opposite of how the Church understands language. The Church believes there is such a thing that we can call reality. It consists of God--who He is in Himself, and in relation to everything He created. He made persons (angelic and human) intelligent, so they could know him, and free, so they could choose (or not) to love Him. The human persons' knowing and choosing is more complicated, because human persons exist as a union of soul and body. The human persons mind is capable of knowing reality and expressing that truth known in language.

 

Language is therefore grounded in metaphysics (what we can know, philosophically, about things that exist, and how they exist) and it is also grounded in Divine Revelation.

 

When the Church uses the term spousal, she is doing so because she believes it expresses something profound and true about herself, her mystical body, her foundation in Christ, and about the members who make up her body. This is not to say that certain images aren't used more in one culture and less than another, more in one age and less in another. There is certainly a human element, and a human flux, to some of this. But it does mean that a serious, trained, theological scholar/historian is going to have a radically different approach, and draw radically different conclusions, about the Church's use of language than will someone coming at it from a postmodern mindset.

 

[I popped on here to look at recent posts and see the thread has mushroomed since I was away. It's too much for me to read right now, but I'm thankful for everyone's input.]

 

[Laurie]

Let me add, I'm not saying the dissertation found at that link limits itself to analyzing the Church's use of language. I only skimmed it, but I'm guessing the author probably conflates "the Church" with every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the middle ages who wrote something on mystical love. So it's probably a mish mash of reputable writings, saints' reflections of varying importance, and stuff from the Joe Schmoes that no one cares about because they were off the beam to begin with. Just my best guess.

[Sr Mary Catharine OP]

Blessed John Paul II Women Religious Faithfully Serve Christ General Audience March 15, 1995

The life of consecrated women has a very important place in the Church. It is enough to think of the deep influence of the contemplative life and prayer of women religious. We think of their work in education and health care, of their collaboration in many places in parish life, of the important services that they provide at diocesan or interdiocesan levels and of the specialized tasks which they are increasingly assuming even in the Holy See.

 

Let us also remember that in some countries the proclamation of the Gospel, catechetical activities and even the conferring of Baptism are largely entrusted to women religious, who have direct contact with the people in schools and families. Neither should we forget the other women who, in various forms of individual consecration and ecclesial communion, give of themselves to Christ in service to his kingdom in the Church. This happens today in the order of virgins, which one enters through special consecration to God in the hands of the diocesan bishop (cf. CIC, can. 604).

 

Blessed be this multiform host of "handmaids of the Lord." Down the centuries they extend and renew the very beautiful experience of the women who followed Jesus and served him and his disciples (cf. Lk 8:1-3).

 

No less than the apostles, they experienced the overwhelming power of the divine Master's word and love, and began to help and serve him to the best of their ability on his missionary journeys. Jesus' pleasure is apparent in the Gospel. He could not fail to appreciate these expressions of generosity and kindness typical of feminine psychology, but inspired by a faith in his person beyond mere human explanation. Mary Magdalene was a significant example of this. A faithful disciple and minister of Christ in his life, she was also later a witness to and, one could almost say, the first messenger of his resurrection (cf. Jn 20:17-18).

 

It cannot be ruled out that her gesture of sincere and faithful adherence is a sublime reflection of the sense of total dedication that leads a woman to betrothal. Even more so, at the level of supernatural love, it leads to virginal consecration to Christ, as I pointed out in Mulieris Dignitatem (cf. n. 20).

 

In this following of Christ expressed as service, we can also discover the other feminine quality of self-giving, which the Virgin Mary so vividly expressed in her final words to the angel: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38). It is an expression of faith and love, which is made concrete in obedience to the divine call, at the service of God and of our brothers and sisters. Thus it was with Mary; thus it was with the women who followed Jesus; thus it was with all those who, in their footsteps, were to follow him down the centuries.

 

Today spousal mysticism appears less pronounced in young aspirants to the religious life. This outlook is not fostered by the common mentality, by school or by reading. Besides, there are well-known saintly figures who found and followed other paths in their relationship of consecration to God. This includes service to the coming of his kingdom, the gift of themselves to him in order to serve him in their poor brothers and sisters, and a keen sense of his sovereignty ("My Lord and my God!"--cf. Jn 20:28). It also includes identification with the Eucharistic sacrifice, being a daughter of the Church, the vocation to works of mercy, the desire to be the least or the last in the Christian community, to be the heart of the Church or to offer in their own souls a little temple to the Blessed Trinity. These are some of the leitmotifs of a life--like that of St. Paul and especially that of Mary--grasped by Christ Jesus (cf. Phil 3:12).

 

In addition, it could be useful to underscore for all women religious the value of participating in the condition of the "servant of the Lord" (cf. Is 41:9; 42:1; 49:3; Phil 2:7, etc.), proper to Christ the priest and victim. The service that Jesus came to fulfill by giving his life "as a ransom for many" (Mt 20:28) becomes an example to be imitated and a redeeming participation, to be lived in fraternal service (cf. Mt 20:25-27). This does not exclude--on the contrary, it includes--special fulfillment of the Church's spousal dimension in union with Christ and in the constant application to the world of the fruits of the redemption wrought by the priesthood of the cross.

 

According to the Council, the mystery of the Church's spousal union with Christ is represented in every consecrated life (cf. LG 44), especially through the profession of the evangelical counsel of chastity (cf. PC 12). It is understandable that this representation is especially realized in the consecrated woman. To her the title sponsa Christi is frequently attributed, even in the liturgical texts. Tertullian applied the image of nuptials with God to men and women without distinction when he wrote: "How many men and women in the ranks of the Church have appealed to continence and preferred to be wedded to God..." [1] . But it cannot be denied that the feminine soul has a particular capacity to live in a mystical spousal relationship with Christ and thus to reproduce in herself the face and heart of his bride, the Church. This is why, in the rite for the profession of women religious and consecrated virgins in the world, the singing or recitation of the antiphon "Veni sponsa Christi..." fills their hearts with intense emotion, enveloping those concerned and the whole assembly in an aura of mysticism.

 

In the logic of the union with Christ as priest and spouse, the sense of spiritual motherhood is also developed in women. Virginity, or evangelical chastity, implies renouncement of physical motherhood, but so as to be expressed, according to God's plan, in a superior kind of motherhood on which the light of the Virgin Mary's motherhood shines. Every consecrated virgin is destined to receive from the Lord a gift which in a certain way reproduces the features of universality and spiritual fruitfulness of Mary's motherhood.

This is shown in the work accomplished by many women religious in educating young people in faith. It is well known that many female congregations were founded and have established numerous schools precisely to impart this education. Especially when it is a question of little ones, womanly qualities are valuable and indispensable for this. This is also the case with many works of charity and assistance to the poor, the sick, the handicapped, the abandoned, especially children and little girls, once described as waifs. These are all cases where dedication and compassion, the treasures of the feminine heart, are involved. It is finally found in the various forms of cooperation in the services provided by parishes and Catholic institutions, where a woman's capacities for collaboration in the pastoral ministry are being ever more clearly revealed.

 

However, among all the values in female religious life, prayer should always be recognized as having priority. This is the main form of achieving and expressing intimacy with the divine bridegroom. All women religious are called to be women of prayer, women of piety, women of interior life, of a life of prayer. If it is true that the witness to this vocation is more obvious in institutes of contemplative life, certainly it also appears in institutes of the active apostolate that carefully safeguard the times of prayer and contemplation which correspond to the needs and demands of consecrated persons and to the advice given in the Gospel. Jesus recommended prayer to all his disciples. He wished to shed light on the value of a life of prayer and contemplation with the example of a woman, Mary of Bethany, whom he praised for choosing "the better part" (Lk 10:42): listening to the divine word, assimilating it, making it a secret of life. Was not this a light for the whole future contribution of women to the Church's life of prayer?

 

In assiduous prayer, moreover, lies the secret of perseverance in that commitment of fidelity to Christ which must serve as an example for everyone in the Church.

 

This unblemished witness to persevering love can be a great help to other women in critical situations which in this regard also afflict our society. We hope and pray that many women religious, possessing the heart of a bride of Christ and showing it in their lives, may also help reveal to all people the Church's fidelity in her union with Christ her spouse and enable them to understand it better: fidelity in truth, in charity, and in yearning for universal salvation.

[1]   De exhort. cast., 13; PL 2:930A; Corp. Christ, 2, 1035, 35-39

[abrideofChrist]

Sr. Mary Catherine, you admirably quote from the Holy Father, but I have still yet to see how it helps the discussion.  Usually when a person quotes something but it does not directly respond to a question, the person citing the text explains how it fits with their position and how it refutes points of the other's position.  Did I miss this explanation or did the forum eat it up?  I do not see how it helps distinguish the differences between virgins and religious. 

 

Further, even though St. Thomas taught about consecrated virginity and the significance of the veiling of virgins, I did not see this in your quote.  Even if you had not quoted him, it would have been helpful for me to know we are on the same page and could initiate a proper discussion with common principles.  Even if you were to quote from the Holy Fathers' various addresses to Consecrated Virgins, the Rite of Virgins, the documents that led to the revision of the Rite, or respected theologians on the subject of consecrated virginity per se, I feel we could then establish what is common ground and where exactly you stand. I must admit that I am astonished that the Angelic Doctor's works would not be readily available to a Dominican.  Surely you have a treasure trove at your fingertips, a luxury most of us, including myself, do not have on the subject of consecrated virginity.  Unless, of course, the only work your convent possesses of St. Thomas is the Summa. Then, maybe it is time to ask the faithful for donations for increasing your library's holdings on the writings of such a prominent saint in your Order.

 

I do appreciate the fact that you are a busy nun and that you take the time to post on this forum. Please understand that the quote you provided was beautiful, but I simply cannot see how it advances our understanding of what the essence of religious consecration is vs. the virginal consecration.

 

 

[AccountDeleted]

Another resource book...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am Republishing The One Bride: The Church and Consecrated Virginity Sr. Mary Jane Klimisch, OSB

 

by Therese Ivers, JCL Posted on July 29, 2013

 

 

by Therese Ivers, JCL

 

 

Several years ago I was doing research in a seminary library and decided for “down time” I would read a book on consecrated virginity. After climbing dusty stairs and sifting through dustier books, I came across this gem on consecrated virginity in its form prior to 1970. Sr. Klimisch takes you through what it means for the Church to be called Bride. She goes on to speak of how people can be called Brides of Christ. She also discusses religious life, and how that fits into the Church’s relationship with Christ. In one of her final chapters, Klimisch treats of nuns who receive the Consecration of Virgins.

 

 

 

more at ...  http://doihaveavocation.com/blog/archives/877

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chiquitunga]

nunsense, Praised be Jesus Christ! I am right now at this moment reading this book, which I was able to find a used copy of online the other day. It was also at a library near me, but I searched again and found a reasonably priced ($20) used copy on amazon. It just came in the mail today! Just thought I'd go back to PM to refresh VS and saw you posted this!

 

It is very interesting reading ... I was going to put a few excerpts here, and offer to scan the whole thing (partly because I felt guilty buying it, I should have told abride about it first) and put it online when I have more free time in late September, but now I won't have to (Praise the Lord, because that takes time!) oh my goodness, I wonder if Therese Ivers is actually reading this thread and sees us inquiring about it :proud:

 

& now here I am at a very ungoly hour again on phatmass!  

[Chiquitunga]

Hi Chiquitunga!  Thank you for continuing this very open minded discourse and for reopening this subject. 

 

Let me be sure that I actually understand where you are coming from.  It seems like we are really on the same page except that you are not entirely comfortable with the idea that nuns who are not CVs should not be called brides of Christ.  Is that correct?  Again, I think that this what you are trying to express and I just want to double check because I understand how frustrating it can be to be misunderstood.

 

abrideofChrist, I am going back to this post of yours to add clarity to the discussion. This I meant to do before I got the book The One Bride today, to state what I believe again, and to wrap up the conversation from my end for the time being (not because I do not like the conversation but to attend to another pressing matter in my life).

 

Yes, that is what the conversation boils down to. I believe there is a difference in essence between the Consecration to a Life of Virginity and Religious Profession of Vows, and that the Church clearly gives the CV this title and specifically consecrates her as thus. And she takes on the whole charism of the Church as Virgin, Bride & Mother. 

 

But I still believe a Nun can be called a bride of Christ in a special way, beyond that of her Baptism (I would include Religious Sister in that, though not in the same way, but for instance as the Abbot wrote here) and I believe she is espoused to Christ in her Religious Profession, which it seems Sr. Mary Jane Klimisch would agree with from what I've read so far... (I will quote her in the next post, I am writing two posts at once actually! hopefully it will not be too confusing)

 

I gave other reasons, but most of these really go back to the Vatican document Verbi Sponsa. I know I keep mentioning and linking to it, but I still wonder about what your specific response to it is. If it is specifically referring to the Nun as "bride of the Incarnate Word" & not making reference to consecrated virgins, I do not believe it can be argued that really Nuns should not be called this. Otherwise the Church would be making a mistake in that document.

 

I think the Consecration to a Life of Virginity heightens and confirms this further for the Nun, and formally gives her this title, and makes her perfectly image the Church, as virgin and bride, and gives her a plenitude of new graces to live this out. This is what it seems to be saying in the book, though I need to read further and a few times again to really understand it ...

[Sr Mary Catharine OP]

Abride, I posted that text of Bl. John Paul specifically to point out that the CHURCH calls women religious brides of Christ and in this audience text the Holy Father talks about why.

The CHURCH herself is the bride of Christ. Everyone, including CV's participate in this spousal character of the Church but in different degrees.

A CV participates in the spousal character of the Church in a unique way by her consecration as a Consecrated Virgin. She has the charism to manifest to the Church her spousal nature in a very specific way: the consecration of her being as virgin. It is her vocation to be a spouse of Christ, to be totally given to God through a virginity consecrated to and by Him.  Hers is a secular vocation, that is a vocation LIVED IN THE WORLD. (That is all secular means, if one hasn't studied Latin.That is why a diocesan priest is called a secular priest.) I'm not talking here about the consecration of virgins received by monastic women. A monastic woman as the dual charism of the consecrated virgin and monastic consecration.

A religious woman ALSO participates in the spousal character of the Church and has the charism to manifest it to the Church in another way less specific than the consecrated virgin. But she is still a spouse of Christ. NOT partially. No one can be partially a bride! But her charism is not specifically only that of bride as the CV is but images to the Church the total following of Christ in an evangelical way of life that is ALSO consecrated. As a woman her following of Christ is spousal. The Church, in her liturgy and writings has made this adequately clear.

EVERY baptized person participates in the spousal character of the Church as well but it is not the charism of the lay faithful to manifest it to the Church.

No religious woman is trying to dupe anyone or suppress the specific and beautiful vocation of a consecrated virgin. Such an accusation is unfounded and uncharitable. I myself have recommended to women that they give it serious consideration.

In order to highlight the specific character of one vocation it is not necessary or helpful to speak in a derogatory way about another vocation, nor are snide and rude comments helpful, either.

 

I think that this thread is harmful to a fruitful discussion on the vocations of the Consecrated Virgin and the vowed religious woman. It could cause a lot of confusion to someone, especially someone doing a google search and coming upon it.

 

 

 

[Chiquitunga]

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=FHZBFvLa5SkC&pg=PA182&lpg=PA182&dq=you+make+the+human+family+your+bride+radiant+with+your+own+likeness,&source=bl&ots=MWZ17Mh19v&sig=UzSBJXuZH366Qm0QMZ7bDyieYJ4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mYDhUNWnGYjPrQfCnICQCg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=you%20make%20the%20human%20family%20your%20bride%20radiant%20with%20your%20own%20likeness%2C&f=false

Point 72 gives one version of solemn blessing or consecration of the professed

Point 73  mentions the ring  as signifying ‘Betrothal’

Point 159 gives another solemn prayer of blessing or consecration of the professed.

 

This book refers to the 1988-89 versions . I've referred to the one for women religious.

 

continued......

 

http://www.ssccpicpus.com/userfiles/file/Liturgy/Liturgy%20ENG/Ritual%20SSCC%20Religious%20Profession_E.pdf

 

[ approved in Rome in Feb 2012 ]

 

pages 72-76 mention the two options for the prayer of blessing or consecration for religious women [ in this case the same congregation can use either of the two options for women. Only one has spousal imagery]. 

 

One needs to also differentiate between the Anamnesis and the the Epiklesis in the prayer . The first part remembers God's work in the history of humankind and the Church. The second part  invokes the grace of the Holy Spirit upon the religious women.

 

A careful study of the rite also shows the  intention of the Church that the religious profession  should make the glory of baptism shine again with the innocence of  newborn life , with the Church as their mother.

 

 

 

Hello God's Beloved! You are correct! :) I checked the Ordo Professionis Religiosae again, and see that there is another chapter with alternative texts for women which includes a number of things, like readings, responsorial psalms, prayers, and yes, another Solemn Blessed or Consecration for the Professed which in this case, does not have spousal imagery.

 

Of course, for Dominican Nuns, they would use neither of these, as it is in their tradition that God consecrates a person when they profess the Religious Vows. 

 

In all cases (spousal consecration prayer, non-spousal or no consecration prayer at all), Religious Profession is a deepening of Baptism, as you said and abrideofChrist and others have too. And Baptism is itself a nuptial union with Christ, as we know. (don't mean to state anything new here, but just leading into quoting from the book)

 

"Through baptism each Christian is wed to Christ in the everlasting covenant He has made with His Church. In the one covenant, Christ marries each baptized Christian for better or for worse." The One Bride, pg. 97

 

The book then calls Religious Profession a type of "second baptism" and deepening this marriage with Christ.

 

"With religious profession, the virgin [she uses this word throughout in a general way] realizes a new level of bridal union with Christ. She becomes an ecclesial witness in her whole person. What is innermost in the Church of God (bride-hood with Christ) becomes visible in the professed virgin whose very dress (habit) is a witness of her union with Christ." (pg. 99)

 

"Virginity pledges itself to the eternal nuptials, as it were, in the single decisive act of religious vows: oblation." (102)

 

"Religious vows attach a virgin anew, in a deeper bridal way, to the baptismal gifts of God." (112)

 

"A covenant is forged; the primal union of baptismal marriage is deepened to its maximum meaning." (112)

 

She then goes on for several pages specifically about the Vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience, and relates them to Faith, Hope and Love.  

 

"For the virgin love is everything. It is the pearl of great price. Countless virgins have sold all in order to buy it. This all is not only the virgin's own will which she "sells" in obedience for the greater good of true freedom. This all is not only attachment to material possessions or to a false self. This all is the virgin's very person, her entire being, which she delivers up in a direct oblation to her Bridegroom. So total a deliverance is meaningful only in the greater context of the Church's bridal mystery where the Church as virgin-bride gives herself wholly to Christ, and Christ in turn gives Himself to His Church. The virgin realizes and manifests this "high mystery" even here and now in her own deliverance to Christ." (125)

 

"It is for this reason that religious profession may be considered a second baptism. It both reaffirms the virgin's basic baptismal commitment and brings it to flower in chaste and ardent nuptial love. The religious vows, postures of faith, hope and charity, hold the virgin close to the heart of Christ "as locket or bracelet cling." (pg. 130)

 

I have read most of the parts on Religious Profession and then the chapter at the end on Consecrated Virginity, and from what I have understood so far, I can see how they are different, as I already believed. 

 

I am having a hard timing seeing though (from the author's point of view) how Consecration to a Life of Virginity is more of a marriage to Christ than Religious Profession (but here she is speaking of a Nun receiving the Consecration after she has made Profession) She makes a lot of comparisons between Religious Profession and marriage. There is a lot there and I don't think I can quote and organize it all here very well. Most of it was on a spiritual plain, but one I remember was how the individual name is given at Profession as in marriage "I, Sister N ..." Something else in a later chapter speaking of gifts Christ gives to His brides, points out the new religious name, similar to a bride taking the name of her husband. Of course this is allegorical, and there is more in there especially about the vows and the covenant they make and how this relates to marriage.

 

"The covenanted life of a professed virgin and Christ is accomplished in the framework of marital exchange." (135)

 

Later though when she speaks of the Consecrated Virginity, she says how the Church is formally constituting someone as a bride of Christ, It seems like from her perspective though that it is more of a confirmation and heightening of a marriage that already took place... (for a professed nun)

 

"The total deliverance of one's whole being to God, which has been wrought in religious profession, is in virginal consecration not made more certain or complete, for it was that already. Rather, the vowed virgin is now through consecration given the status of a sacred person in the sacramental meaning of the term. Consecration elevates her to a new position in the Church and, in so doing, brings her to an even greater share in all that the Church is and does. In turn the sacredness of her person equips the consecrated virgin to become a more complete witness to the intrinsic holiness of the Church."  (180)

 

"What is the Church consecrating? What is she celebrating? In the rite of consecration, the Church is establishing as sacred not only a person but a virgin-person married to Christ in religious profession. Seeing this mystery as her very own bridal life, the Church celebrates in confirmation in a rite deliberately modeled upon the marriage liturgy, Every detail of the rite accents the literal interpretation of the virgin's marriage to Christ. The unifying idea in the richly integrated consecration rite is that of the virgin's bridehood. It is the totality of bridal surrender as it exists in the person of the virgin-bride that is consecrated and, in a real sense, confirmed publicly in the sacramental rite." (181)

 

"The Preface, sung by the presiding prelate, invokes the Spirit of Christ upon the virgin, constituting her formally a bride of Christ." (182)

 

"As a consecrated bride of Christ, she both shares more profoundly and expresses the nature and function of the one Bride." (183)

 

"The Church's sacramental gestures are the acts of Christ. They effect what they signify. Virginal consecration has placed a new seal of sacredness upon the virgin-bride in her nuptial relationship with Christ. By being celebrated int he Church's rite, this union is also celebrated and ratified in heaven. Above all the sacramental has drawn he virgin more deeply into the Church's own bridehood and into the Holy Spirit's dynamism which surges through the Church. The consecrated virgin-bride now embodies, in the most profound way, the living relationship of the one ecclesial Bride with Christ. She is a concrete proof through and through of this relationship. She is a witnessing mark of the Church's bridal meaning and her total consecration to God. " (184)

 

"Virginal consecration thus brings an unsurpassed nuptial blessing to the virgin-bride, a blessing that, if approached with faith, is seen to be pressed won and running over." (184)

 

 

There is more and again, I am really glad Therese Ivers is re-publishing this. I need to read all of this a few times to understand it better. 

 

I Need to go for now, and may or may not be able to post here again...

 

God bless!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chiquitunga]

Abride, I posted that text of Bl. John Paul specifically to point out that the CHURCH calls women religious brides of Christ and in this audience text the Holy Father talks about why.

The CHURCH herself is the bride of Christ. Everyone, including CV's participate in this spousal character of the Church but in different degrees.

A CV participates in the spousal character of the Church in a unique way by her consecration as a Consecrated Virgin. She has the charism to manifest to the Church her spousal nature in a very specific way: the consecration of her being as virgin. It is her vocation to be a spouse of Christ, to be totally given to God through a virginity consecrated to and by Him.  Hers is a secular vocation, that is a vocation LIVED IN THE WORLD. (That is all secular means, if one hasn't studied Latin.That is why a diocesan priest is called a secular priest.) I'm not talking here about the consecration of virgins received by monastic women. A monastic woman as the dual charism of the consecrated virgin and monastic consecration.

A religious woman ALSO participates in the spousal character of the Church and has the charism to manifest it to the Church in another way less specific than the consecrated virgin. But she is still a spouse of Christ. NOT partially. No one can be partially a bride! But her charism is not specifically only that of bride as the CV is but images to the Church the total following of Christ in an evangelical way of life that is ALSO consecrated. As a woman her following of Christ is spousal. The Church, in her liturgy and writings has made this adequately clear.

EVERY baptized person participates in the spousal character of the Church as well but it is not the charism of the lay faithful to manifest it to the Church.

No religious woman is trying to dupe anyone or suppress the specific and beautiful vocation of a consecrated virgin. Such an accusation is unfounded and uncharitable. I myself have recommended to women that they give it serious consideration.

In order to highlight the specific character of one vocation it is not necessary or helpful to speak in a derogatory way about another vocation, nor are snide and rude comments helpful, either.

 

I think that this thread is harmful to a fruitful discussion on the vocations of the Consecrated Virgin and the vowed religious woman. It could cause a lot of confusion to someone, especially someone doing a google search and coming upon it.

 

Sr. Mary Catharine, thank you very much for taking the time to post here again. I really appreciate the clarity you bring to the conversation. "No one can be partially a bride!" Thank you! That is the part in this thread that confuses me the most.

 

Also the idea that a woman religious' relationship with Christ "IS not" spousal but only shares in the Church's spousal relationship with Christ, and only a CV's relationship with Christ IS spousal. This greatly confuses me... If all souls are brides of Christ their relationship with Christ is spousal.

[abrideofChrist]

Sr. Mary Catherine, I am not trying to be rude or snide.  That is your own judgement or reaction to my words which I wrote to alert you to the fact that what you have written has not directly addressed the main reasons why I claim a religious only participates in the spousal nature of the Church and the consecrated virgin religious or the consecrated virgin in the world IS bride.

 

The reason you and others have a difficult time with the concept of the CV nun or the CV in the world BEING what she is called, namely Bride of Christ as opposed to the religious nun's participation in the Church's spousal nature is that you would prefer that the title Bride of Christ be said to be shared by the religious nun in a univocal manner with the Church in reality than by derivation and thus equivocal manner.  Certainly nuns are not "partially" brides of Christ any more than men and women lay persons are "partially" priests.  I never said they were and so you are mischaracterizing what I am actually saying. 

 

I said nuns participate more fully in the Church's spousal, therefore bridal nature.  I also said that CV nuns and CV seculars actually fully embody what it means to be spouse of Christ and therefore the title they share with the Church should be restricted to them so that people realize that the essence of being bride is in consecrated virginity.  Otherwise you would get the same problem we have now (as evidenced by this thread replete with personal attacks upon myself for bringing up a deeply unpopular truth) and the problem we would have if we were to call all baptized persons priests just because we all participate in the priesthood of Christ.

 

Although you picked up on a key difference between religious life and consecrated virginity (namely, the quality of virginity), you did not make the connection that the Church does, in that she does not call Bride by title anyone who is not a virgin -bride.   The Church is Bride by virtue of her Virginity, a fact that is made plain in the explanation of the Consecration of Virgins given in the Rite itself.  If what it means to BE Bride means to be Virgin, then clearly religious life can only partially participate in this because it is by nature not a consecration of virginity but a commitment to a life of the evangelical counsels. Even in the Summa, St. Thomas discusses how virginity is higher than chastity and why it alone gets a crown (as opposed to the other degrees of chastity).  Religious life vows chastity. A religious person can vow chastity and be in fact a virgin, but the consecration of religious is informed by chastity and not by virginity.  For this reason, one must conclude that there are strong parallels to the reality we call Holy Orders.  Let me spell these out (and I am not the only one to do this as you can see by other internet and offline searches):

 

1) Common priesthood.  This means that all of us share in the priesthood of Christ.  We participate in His priesthood and ministry.  Does this mean we are "partial priests"?  No.  It means that we participate in the quality of priesthood but we do not possess the fullness of ministerial priesthood within our souls.

 

2)  Diaconate.  Only some men are deacons.  Deacons not only participate in the priesthood of Christ in the common way but also ministerially.  Nevertheless, their form of Holy Orders cannot be said to be called (in Church speak, this means they cannot be said to reflect the reality) of the fullness of priesthood.  Interestingly enough, this is what I have been saying about religious nuns.  They participate in not only the common bridal imagery of the Church of the baptized, but they also participate in the spousal nature of the Church in a stronger way.

 

3) The episcopacy.  I choose the episcopacy because it is the "fullness" of Orders.  The bishop is fully a Priest of Christ both ministerially and by virtue of the common priesthood of the faithful.  The CV nun or the CV secular is fully a Bride of Christ by charism and by virtue of the common spousality of the faithful.  The CV is fully a Bride of Christ because she is a virgin and it is essentially herself as a virgin that is consecrated and made into a bride by the Church. 

 

 

[abrideofChrist]

Also the idea that a woman religious' relationship with Christ "IS not" spousal but only shares in the Church's spousal relationship with Christ, and only a CV's relationship with Christ IS spousal. This greatly confuses me... If all souls are brides of Christ their relationship with Christ is spousal.

 

This is why it is important to look at the common priesthood vs. the ministerial priesthood.   You consistently refuse to do so.  Until you are able to see the parallels between this and the consecration of virgins, you will never be able to understand the difference between religious life and consecrated virginity.  They are not different merely by degree but by essence, a fact the Church has no problem in saying of the priesthood as well.
 

[Sponsa-Christi]

 

 

This is why it is important to look at the common priesthood vs. the ministerial priesthood.   You consistently refuse to do so.  Until you are able to see the parallels between this and the consecration of virgins, you will never be able to understand the difference between religious life and consecrated virginity.  They are not different merely by degree but by essence, a fact the Church has no problem in saying of the priesthood as well.

 

As I said earlier, I do think in many cases it can be helpful to look for parallels between consecrated virginity and priesthood, but I’m starting to doubt that this is one of those cases.

 

I don’t think it’s altogether wrong for abrideofChrist to explore the idea that the call to consecrated virginity/the call to be a bride of Christ might be directly analogous to the ministerial priesthood versus the priesthood of all the baptized (although as this thread goes on, somewhat to my surprise I’m personally finding it less and less convincing here in this particular instance…).

 

But, I think it’s good to keep in mind that the Church herself has never given us this particular analogy as a required interpretive key for the question at hand. Also, to my knowledge, the Church has never given us an authoritative presentation of being, essence, and ontological change as it relates to religious life, consecrated virginity, or consecrated life in general. So right now, abrideofChrist is actually engaging in a little bit of speculative theology.

 

This doesn’t mean that abrideofChrist is automatically wrong, or that she doesn't make some good points. But I do think this means that we can’t use the “ministerial priesthood vs. baptismal priesthood” analogy as the definitive answer to the question of what it means to be a bride of Christ. 

Edited August 1, 2013 by Sponsa-Christi