Vocation
How to Discern Consecrated Life as a Lay Person
Vocational discernment · 6 steps
The forms of consecrated and committed life lived in the world: secular institutes, consecrated virginity, the eremitical life, societies of apostolic life, and the third orders; signs and motives, how to learn about each, contacting the diocese or institute, formation, and commitment.
6 steps · About 20 minutes
Not every consecration is lived in a convent or a monastery. The Church recognises forms of consecrated life lived in the midst of the world — secular institutes, the order of virgins, hermits — and forms of committed life that resemble it, such as societies of apostolic life and the third orders attached to the great religious families. Vita Consecrata describes the consecrated life in all its forms, and Christifideles Laici the vocation of the laity to sanctify the world from within. This guide is for a lay person who feels drawn to a definitive gift of self to God but not to religious life in community, and it tries to name the forms accurately, since they are not all the same thing.
What you need
- A stable life of prayer and the sacraments, and some experience of living the faith in your work and relationships
- The freedom to make a lifelong commitment (no marriage bond; for consecrated virginity, a woman who has never married or lived in public violation of chastity)
- A spiritual director
- Contact with the diocesan vocation office or with the institute or community that draws you
When to pray it
Daily, with the Liturgy of the Hours if possible, since most of these forms ask for it; a monthly day of recollection is the traditional practice.
Steps
Step 1: Learn the forms of consecrated life in the world
Secular institutes (approved by Pius XII in 1947) are institutes of consecrated life whose members, lay or clerical, profess the evangelical counsels by sacred bonds while living in the world, usually without community life and often without public sign, sanctifying the world from within. Consecrated virgins (canon 604) are women who, having never married, are consecrated to Christ by the diocesan bishop in the ancient Rite of Consecration of Virgins and live in the world under his care. Hermits (canon 603) profess the counsels publicly in the hands of the bishop and live a life of silence and solitude. Societies of apostolic life (for example the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity) pursue an apostolic purpose in community, some with bonds that are not religious vows. Third orders or secular orders (Secular Franciscans, Lay Dominicans, Lay Carmelites, Benedictine Oblates) are associations of the faithful who share a religious family's spirituality while living ordinary lay or married life; their promises are a real commitment but not a consecration in the canonical sense.
Tips
- Be precise about what you are discerning. Consecrated virginity, the eremitical life and secular institutes are consecrated life in the Church's strict sense; third orders and oblates are associations of the faithful, a real and holy commitment but not a consecration.
- Because these forms are lived alone or in the world, the Church asks for more, not less, proof of stability and prayer before commitment.
- Many people are drawn to a third order first and only later, if at all, to a consecrated form; that is a normal path, not a detour.
- The diocesan bishop is the ordinary point of contact for consecrated virgins and hermits; institutes and orders handle their own members.