Covenant in Religious Life

[katherineH]

Hello friends,

I've been corresponding with a protestant friend about the vocation to religious life and I highlighted the role of covenant: just as a man makes a covenant to his wife, so does a sister make a covenant to Christ making a gift of herself in a total, faithful, free, and open way.  This was his response:

" I've studied covenant theology quite a bit (including reading Scott Hahn's dissertation). Christians are members together of the New Covenant, mediated by Christ, but you seem to speak of individual covenants between a woman and God or a man and God when they choose celibacy. If you've read much Scott Hahn, you know that he understands covenants primarily in terms of creating family bonds -- and I think that's good language to use. What then is the difference between, on the one hand, the married Christian's familial relationship to God as an adopted child and part of the Bride of Christ via the New Covenant and, on the other hand, the celibate Christian's relationship with God via both the New Covenant and this other covenant you speak of? "

I'm having a difficult time articulating a response because all Christians are covenanted to Christ, but there is a uniqueness to the covenant of a consecrated person. Is it correct to say that the covenant of a consecrated person is exclusive, whereas the covenant of a married person isn't (since they are also covenanted to their spouse?) I'm not a philosopher/theologian so this is racking my brain a bit. 

[MarysLittleFlower]

I am not a theologian either but I do see it as a greater exclusivity. Each soul in Heaven would be married spiritually to Christ as part of the Church which is the Bride - and earthly marriage is a sign of that, but consecrated life is a way to start the heavenly reality in a more direct, more exclusive way. The vow of chastity is related to giving all your love to Christ including what would have been reserved for a spouse. Just how I see it! Hopefully its correct