What exactly does consecration mean?? The Nuns discuss.
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Sister Rejane
This Random Nun Clip is brought to you by A Nun's Life Ministry.
Sister Maxine
Consecration means to associate with the sacred. And so it's a setting apart for the service of God. And of course, the first consecration that we have is our baptism. And we live that consecration out our whole entire life. So consecration, in that sense, is still different from what it means to live in a consecrated state. And this has to do with a couple of things -- vows, and basically, who those vows are received by.
Sister Julie
So the first aspect of that that we're going to address is public vows. A public vow is a vow that is received by, quote, a legitimate authority within the name of the church.
Sister Maxine
So that in terms of a legitimate authority, for example, for Sister Julie and I, and for many women religious --
Sister Julie
Oh, I thought you were gonna say that you were my legitimate authority. I was getting worried there for a minute. [laughter]
Sister Maxine
I wish I could say that. [laughter]
Sister Julie
But you know, Sister Maxine can't be my legitimate authority no matter how wise she is because I actually have rank. I actually entered religious life before she did. So if there's any legitimate authority happening here, Sister!
Sister Maxine
Now, under canon law, that might be a little different. [laughter] But anyway, so that canon law dimension, what does it mean to have your public files received by the legitimate authority? For example, for us, it would be our vows are received by the President of the congregation, by the congregation as a whole in the person of the president. For a diocesan hermit, for example, it would be the bishop.
Sister Julie
You know, the key to that is that when you make a public vow, it's not just public for the people who happen to show up. It's not just public for the local parish or even the local diocese, but that it is a sign and a symbol of making that profession to the whole universal church. And when we say the universal church, we mean the church writ large, the church across time and space.
Sister Maxine
Vows that are not publicly professed and received by a legitimate authority in the name of the church, those might be called private vows. And those are intended to intensify the baptismal vows. And course, the public vows do that as well. But private vows are not, in canon law, a state of life.
Sister Julie
So when we talk about this reference to total consecration, and we're referring not to the state of consecrated life, to the life form that is consecrated life, but we're referring to a practice that has been used at different times over history and across different cultures. A practice of basically a kind of form of devotion of how a person can more deeply immerse themselves in the life of Christ.
Sister Maxine
Throughout our tradition, people have engaged in spiritual practices to deepen their faith. That is totally not a new thing in our church.
Sister Julie
Now, when Deb mentions specifically a particular 30-plus-day study, my guess is she is referring to an approach of St. Louis DeMontfort, and it is a practice that is called total consecration.
Sister Rejane
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