The Evangelical Counsels and Benedictine Tradition

The evangelical counsels are a useful support in our pursuit of living a life of devotion to Jesus Christ.

When understood for what they are, it becomes easy to see that all Christians are invited to practice the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They are called the "evangelical" counsels because we find them lived and therefore recommended [counseled] by Jesus in the four Gospel accounts of his life and earthly ministry.

Jesus Christ was poor in spirit, chaste in heart, and obedient in love to the will of his Father.

The evangelical counsels are closely linked to the way of life of religious communities. Though people have been living the evangelical counsels since the time of Jesus [Acts 2:43-47 is representative of a collective communal display] it was not until the development of monastic and mendicant communities that these virtues were professed publicly with the swearing of a vow or promise. Canon Law 603 recognizes and allows for individuals outside of communities [religious hermits] who commit their lives to the pattern formed by the Evangelical Counsels. These individuals live their lives under the direction of a local bishop. The difficulty is finding a local bishop that is interested in overseeing an individual hermitary that is not attached to an abbey.

Vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience are now taken in some form by all formal congregations and orders of religious in the Roman Catholic Church. The counsels are regarded as the foundation of their conduct and way of life modeled after the life of Christ. Poverty and chastity, though not specifically named, are considered inherently part of our Benedictine Vow and Oblate Promise of Obedience. To Obedience, in the Benedictine tradition, are added the vows and promises of Stability and Conversatio Morum or Conversion of Life.

The invitation to live poor, chaste, and obedient is not restricted to monks, nuns, and clergy. The evangelical counsels are recommended for all the baptized.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the aim of the counsels is to remove whatever might hinder the development of charity. The evangelical counsels are to be lived by those who seek the perfection of the Christian life. All Jesus’ followers are invited to adopt these principles in whatever way is appropriate to their state in life. The state of life which is constituted by the profession of the evangelical counsels, while not entering into the hierarchical structure of the Church, belongs undeniably to her life and holiness. Christ proposes the evangelical counsels, in their great variety, to every disciple – to every follower of his.[1]

Poverty, chastity, and obedience are not ends in themselves - they are humility producing virtues that we practice in order to conform ourselves to the Gospel and to more closely resemble our Lord Jesus. By integrating and living these counsels as a free choice, we take on prophetic roles in the heart of the Church, reminding all people by our dedication to Christ that God alone can set us free to be fully human and alive.[2]

Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit. [Matthew 5:3]

Though he is not explicitly addressing physical poverty in The Beatitudes, it is rather obvious in reading the Gospels that there is a direct relationship between being poor in pocket and poor in spirit. The two, as they offer an opportunity for the birth of humility, compliment and support each other in the teachings of Christ.

The humility that Christ insists upon as part of the character of those who accept him and follow in his way of life is foreign to us and hard to know at first. It becomes easier as we conscientiously practice it. That is the way it is with any virtue. Remember, too, that Satan hates the practice of virtues and will never miss an opportunity to cause us to slip and stumble in our practice.

Why does Satan hate the practice of virtues? Because practicing virtues polishes the image of Jesus within us and enables us to reflect the light of Christ into the world around us. Satan is not worried or bothered by people who profess to be Christians but do not resemble Jesus in their actions and attitudes.

Saint Benedict tells us that the first step of humility is unhesitating obedience, which comes naturally to those who cherish Christ above all.[3] Humility is immediately impaired and thwarted without unhesitating obedience to Christ and his words. Hence the dire importance of knowing not only Christ and the words he spoke but of also personally putting into action the way of life that Jesus taught.

The humility that is born in this poverty deflates ego. This poverty-born humility crucifies pride and quenches greed.

Yet, as important as this poverty and the fruit that it produces are, I have never once heard it mentioned by a priest in a homily or in any other pastoral instructional setting. Why? Has the prosperity gospel promulgated in the last half of the 20th Century by post-modern Independent Evangelicals so captivated the Catholic Church that those who shepherd us are afraid to call the Church to the deeper levels of faith and commitment that are characteristic of the Saints whom we are to model our lives after?

And what of chastity in this modern liberal age?

[1] CCC 914-915 [2] Adapted from archdpdxvocations.org/evangelical-counsels [3] Holy Rule 5:1-2