Bride Of Christ

[abrideofChrist]

Continued

 

Here's what part of an excellent article says about our priesthood:

 

I am fully aware that many—perhaps most—Catholics are unaware of their own priesthood. But when the magisterium speaks of the one priesthood of Christ, in which all of us—lay and ordained—participate, we should pay attention. When you were anointed at Baptism, and the celebrant prayed: "As Christ was anointed priest, prophet and king, so may you live always as a member of his holy people, sharing everlasting life," you received, in that moment, a real participation in the priesthood of Christ. You are truly a priest; your priesthood is, in a very real way, what is to shape your other occupations and relationships in this world.

 

What, then, does your priesthood entail? In what ways are you a priest? Every priest offers sacrifice to God on behalf of himself and others. The sacrifice that Christ offered was himself, for the life of the world. Your first act as a priest is to recapitulate the sacrifice of Christ, by offering yourself to God for the sake of the world: offering your goods, your work, your relationships, your very self to God for the life of the world. When you approach the altar to pray, you come as a priest: you bring, not just yourself, but all with whom you live and work and recreate. When you go to work, you go as a priest: you offer your work to God. No matter how menial or ordinary our work may appear to others, it has the dignity of being the work of a priest. In this way every human endeavor is offered to God for his blessing.

Edited July 28, 2013 by abrideofChrist

[abrideofChrist]

And here are some quotes from the Vatican on the priesthood:

 

Thus the essential difference between the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial priesthood is not found in the priesthood of Christ, which remains forever one and indivisible, nor in the sanctity to which all of the faithful are called: "Indeed the ministerial priesthood does not of itself signify a greater degree of holiness with regard to the common priesthood of the faithful; through it, Christ gives to priests, in the Spirit, a particular gift so that they can help the People of God to exercise faithfully and fully the common priesthood which it has received".[24] For the building up of the Church, the Body of Christ, there is a diversity of members and functions but only one Spirit who, for the good of the Church, distributes his various gifts with munificence proportionate to his riches and the needs of service, (cf. 1 Cor 12, 1-11).[25]

 

This diversity exists at the mode of participation in the priesthood of Christ and is essential in the sense that "while the common priesthood of the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace, - a life of faith, hope and charity, a life according to the Spirit - the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood... and directed at the unfolding of the baptismal grace of all Christians".[26] Consequently, the ministerial priesthood "differs in essence from the common priesthood of the faithful because it confers a sacred power for the service of the faithful"[27]. For this reason the priest is exhorted "...to grow in awareness of the deep communion uniting him to the People of God" in order to "awaken and deepen co-responsibility in the one common mission of salvation, with a prompt and heartfelt esteem for all the charisms and tasks which the Spirit gives believers for the building up of the Church".[28]

[abrideofChrist]

Continued. 

 

Participation in the Church's identity as Bride is rooted in Baptism.  But not all the baptized are called to the essentially different mode of imaging the Church as Bride which finds its perfect image in the Consecrated Virgin.

 

Now, returning to the subject at hand, lots of quotes have been posted about contemplative nuns being Brides of Christ.  The question is whether contemplative nuns are essentially the same thing as contemplative nuns with the Consecration of Virginity.  The obvious thing to do is to try to prove that they are essentially the same thing.

Edited July 28, 2013 by abrideofChrist

[God's Beloved]

Thought I should share an insight.

 

Since sacramental marriage is based on the theology of the consecration of virgins [ a fact very few people are aware of ] , in the former the spouses are the ministers of sacramental grace to each other. But in the latter , the virgin can certainly offer all of herself totally to Jesus -- but  it is Jesus  who gives all of Himself  in a mystical espousal to her through the prayer of consecration that has the gift of the Holy Spirit and the blessing at the end of the rite. The virgin cannot be a minister of the grace to Christ.

 

When a religious consecrates herself through perpetual vows , her consecration to God is a total sacrifice of herself for the Charism of her Institute. . As a woman , as a baptised member of the church and of her religious community -- she does reflect the self-giving of a bride to her spouse , thus fully expressing her womanhood. In this sense she may call herself a bride of Christ even as an individual. This is implicit in her self-giving to God.Every soul is a bride in relation with God. However she does not symbolize the entire Church as Bride of Christ.

 

When a  woman receives the consecration as a virgin , it is a marriage of Christ with His body the church . She offers all her receptivity in body, mind, heart , spirit ----on behalf of the entire diocesan community [ in which the universal church is present ] . Christ gives all of Himself to her  through the grace of the prayer of consecration. He takes her as His bride and she receives Him as her Spouse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[God's Beloved]

----continued

 

Thus the consecrated virgin also symbolizes the entire Church as Bride of Christ. She is the Church personified.

 

A religious through her consecration would symbolize her entire religious community as bride of Christ. She is a personification of her congregation or institute.

 

The consecration in both the vocations is two-fold : a consecrated virgin is consecrated to God and to the diocese [ in which the universal church is present ]. A religious woman is consecrated to God and to her religious congregation or institute [ which reflects the church as bride of Christ].

[abrideofChrist]

God's Beloved, I don't think I'd agree with the idea that a religious woman reflects the community which reflects the Church.  Her consecration, just like the CV's comes from God mediated by the Church, and it consecrates her as a woman dedicated to God's service in a manner that is defined by her community's charism.  She reflects the Church as Bride, but not to the same degree and kind that a CV would.  Just like a deacon reflects Christ the Priest but not to the same extent as a priest.

 

A CV likewise does not represent the diocese, she represents the Church as a whole, as a Bride of Christ.  Her consecration specifies that her vocation centers on being a Bride rather than anything else!  This is made clear in Pope Benedict's address to the CVs gathered in Rome a few years ago. 

[God's Beloved]

God's Beloved, I don't think I'd agree with the idea that a religious woman reflects the community which reflects the Church.  Her consecration, just like the CV's comes from God mediated by the Church, and it consecrates her as a woman dedicated to God's service in a manner that is defined by her community's charism.  She reflects the Church as Bride, but not to the same degree and kind that a CV would.  Just like a deacon reflects Christ the Priest but not to the same extent as a priest.

 

A CV likewise does not represent the diocese, she represents the Church as a whole, as a Bride of Christ.  Her consecration specifies that her vocation centers on being a Bride rather than anything else!  This is made clear in Pope Benedict's address to the CVs gathered in Rome a few years ago. 

 

ABC , what i shared was an insight .

In another thread I have stated the position of the Church as clarified by the CICLSAL  in response to my queries in yr 2003 . If you wish i can send you a scanned copy by email.

 

Religious Profession and Consecration of Virgins both have an element of self-giving to God and God's loving grace poured upon the candidates . But in  the rite for religious what is 'specific' is the ascetic element and in the rite of consecration of virgins what is specific is the charismatic element . The former is based on theology of St.Thomas Aquinas and the latter on the theology of Annunciation as in the Early Church.

 

Regarding the ecclesiological aspects of who reflects or embodies or represents the Church , how and to what degree etc. seems to be an area open to theologizing. Pope Francis at the end of his trip for the WYD has mentioned the need of  a deeper theology of women. Our discussions  seem to contribute to his desire .....so Praise God for this thread !

 

I agree that a CV represents the entire Church as Bride of Christ. In fact the canon 604 itself mentions she is espoused to Jesus Christ , the Son of God , an identity first proclaimed by St. Peter , the rock on which the Church is built. Ecclesiology  has always had a healthy tension  regarding the  diocesan / local churches being part of the Universal and the Universal being present in the diocesan. It seems more a matter of spirituality  depending on whether a CV is rooted  at the diocesan or universal level or both.

[MarysLittleFlower]

 

okay, yesterday a friend alerted me to another good resource for reflection on all of this, the book Walled About With God by 

by Dom Jean Prou, OSB - fifth Abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes and Abbot-President of the Solesmes Congregation from 1959 - 1992.  Many pages are missing in the preview on amazon, and I think this one would be very much worth buying and reading further into. But you can read quite a bit in the preview here. Especially page pgs 186 - 204 are relevant to our discussion. It looks like pages 188 - 192 might be especially insightful, but they are missing.

 

The book quotes St. Thomas Aquinias on pg. 194 on Consecrated Virgins, and then it says of nuns...

 

"Nuns, however, certainly display the spousal character of this rite in its strongest form, whether they receive the consecration of virgins or monastic consecration. Every consecrated woman is a bride of Christ and a figure of the Church. Active religious sisters and members of secular institutes, however, also perform many visible activities which may distract them from this fundamental role of being Christ's bride. On the other hand, the nun is neither more nor less than a nun; she has no other function than to love Christ with nuptial love, to seek Him, to cling to Him with jealous exclusivity so as to be 'one spirit with Him.' For this reason, a nun is a vivid expression of the mystery of the Church, whatever rite of consecration she may have received."

 

Being a bride of Christ for enclosed Nuns is their identity and mission. I believe this is also confirmed by Verbi Sponsa, as I wrote in my other posts. 

 

"Let us add that, for nuns, solemn vows involve nuptial consecration, which reserves them for Christ their Spouse in a more complete way. In this they follow the model offered by the Church, His Immaculate Bride. All this entails more radical measures to ensure their purity, which is a sign of the Church's own purity." (pg. 197)

 

There is also a something here on the spiritual maternity of Nuns. 

 

Again, there is a lot more in the book, and parts that are missing, so are we are not getting the full context of everything here. I plan to get get a copy of this or check it out at a library... and also that One Bride book too.

 

I still believe what I had written before about a difference between the Rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity and the Rite of Religious Profession. But I wonder now about this difference for a cloistered contemplative Nun... These words here I have to take into account and reflect upon further. They weren't just written by anyone, but the Abbot and President of the Benedictine Congregation of Solemnes. I also believe wholeheartedly what Sponsa Christi wrote, which I quoted above. And I believe personally that the Lord could very well espouse someone fully to Himself at their Religious Profession. Again,  "God is not bound to the visible sacraments." ~ St. Thomas Aquinas

 

 

Maybe I should get this book too, to read it all in context...

 

but just looking at the quote: is the author saying that nuns are brides of Christ even if they didn't receive the Consecration? How would this relate to the thread? I'm not saying that there isn't anything special about the Consecration, - but it seems here that there's also something special about the enclosure, and that both are brides of Christ? My original interpretation was that the two vocations are both spousal but living it out in different ways: in the world or in the cloister... both belong to Him though. The author here also talks about the enclosure and how it helps them. But any thoughts?

Edited July 29, 2013 by MarysLittleFlower

[Chiquitunga]

abrideofChrist, thank you for you replies! I have read them a few times and am following your logic.

 

One point I want to touch on first (which is my point #2 that I was referring to it as before) is this about our common priesthood and common sponsality (I'm not sure if that is the right term, you understand what I am saying though, our all being brides of Christ by virtue of our Bapstim, clarifying for others)

 

In the article above on our common priesthood, it says "You are truly a priest."  

 

This is also how I understand the common sponsality: each soul is truly a bride. That means that the ESSENCE (not trying to be sarcastic but to emphasize) of a soul is that it IS a bride. Therefore, all souls in the Church can have a spousal relationship with Christ. If the soul IS a bride, the soul's relationship with Christ IS spousal. 

 

This is not what you are saying here though, in this post that has bothered me the most in this whole thread.

 

If by "The interior relationship of these women with Christ is a spousal relationship" you mean that it IS a spousal relationship, I wouldn't agree.  I would say it shares or participates in in the Church's spousal relationship.  Again, this is because those of us who are unordained share in the priesthood of Christ but we are not priests. Consecrated virgins ARE spouses and Have a spousal relationship.  Religious reflect that to a certain extent but only to a certain extent.  I thought I read somewhere of a comparison someone else was making (on a different website/thread?) of how religious life is like the diaconate.  It isn't lay.  But it isn't the fullness of the priesthood or the fullness of what it means to be bride of Christ.

 

 

I don't think it can be said that an individual soul that IS a bride of Christ, can only have a partially spousal relationship with Our Lord. 

 

How would this look?  Jesus: "Little soul I love you, who are partially My bride." No the soul IS fully His bride. He would have died for that soul alone, who is His bride. He gives Himself FULLY to that one soul in the Eucharist, the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. He does not give less of Himself to a non-CV soul in the Eucharist. He never gives Himself only partially in the Eucharist. He's giving His FULL self to His bride, which is each and every individual soul.

 

Each baptized soul though does not image the whole Church perfectly/fully, as a virgin bride, as a CV in all of her being does ... can we say, not only her soul but whole being, body, because she is physically a virgin, & soul? That would make her perfectly image the Church! This makes sense to me, and helps me see the difference between a CV and non-CV baptized soul.

 

Edited July 30, 2013 by Chiquitunga

[Chiquitunga]

Please recall that the Consecration to a Life of Virginity is reserved to nuns, or in your words, "cloistered contemplative Nun".  If this were identical in essence to Religious Profession, then it would have been suppressed. 

 

Okay, this makes sense. I do not think they are identical in essence.

 

I still believe non-CV Nuns are brides of Christ in a special way though (I know I am repeating myself a lot, but I am trying to make my view clear, also to new readers)

 

They are "unique grace" as Verbi Sponsa states, to be "a sign of the exclusive union of the Church as Bride with her Lord" (Vita Consecrata) I am responding to MLF's post with more about this next, though I said it earlier in the thread, but I am just thinking more about it... and trying to develop this thought as I type...

 

Earlier you had quoted from a prayer for Carmelite nuns beginning with "Loving Father chaste bodies...".  Having gone to the Solemn Profession of Carmelites (active and cloistered) and of other Religious Orders (I visit communities often), I can tell you that many active and contemplative communities traditionally "borrowed" from the Rite of Consecration to boost their identity as "brides" in their prayers.  That is fine as all consecrated women participate in the Church's nature as Bride.  If they totally borrow and the Consecration prayer to a Life of Virginity IS recited in whole by a bishop at a Carmelite's Profession of vows, then she becomes a Consecrated Virgin Nun (if she is a virgin).  If, on the other hand, parts of the prayer are taken from the Consecration, then the Nun receives a Religious Consecration.

 

Here is how it appears in the program. There was a page break after the word wisdom. I put them together on Word and took a screen shot. I need to ask this Carmel about this further and to see if any other Carmels are doing this today also.

 

Edited July 30, 2013 by Chiquitunga

[Chiquitunga]

Continued. 

 

Participation in the Church's identity as Bride is rooted in Baptism.  But not all the baptized are called to the essentially different mode of imaging the Church as Bride which finds its perfect image in the Consecrated Virgin.

 

Now, returning to the subject at hand, lots of quotes have been posted about contemplative nuns being Brides of Christ.  The question is whether contemplative nuns are essentially the same thing as contemplative nuns with the Consecration of Virginity.  The obvious thing to do is to try to prove that they are essentially the same thing.

 

They are not essentially the same thing. I am getting your logic. They are different.

 

I still believe a non-CV Nun can be called "a bride of Christ" though, in a special way beyond common sponsality, by her identity and the very mission of her life spelled out in Verbi Sponsa.

 

I believe this also because of my point #2 in that when a woman makes a total gift of herself, it is spousal in nature, as Mulieris Dignitatem says, and as Sr. MC said, Solemn Profession is a total holocaust.

 

Reading her post again, I see that she says they do so by participation. So I am getting this... This does not translate though as, Nuns should therefore not be called a brides of Christ in a special way. They give themselves to God in a total holocaust.

[Chiquitunga]

I'm going to take my break posting here for a while soon, I promise .... but back to the question about St. Clare, I wanted to say, I have asked someone who has a few biographies of her to look it up, about when exactly she made a private vow. But I feel that if Pope Benedict XVI said she did and became (implying something beyond common sponsality) a virgin bride of Christ, that is enough evidence for me, and evidence that God espoused her to Himself, without the Rite of CV (again, St. Thomas and God not being limited to the Sacraments) when she made a private vow.

 

 

Edited July 30, 2013 by Chiquitunga

[abrideofChrist]

Well, I am deeply shocked.  Except for one sentence, it is the same as the consecration for virginity (bad translation?).   I did not realize any Carmel in the United States had received the authorization from the Holy See to have the Consecration of Virgins.  I hope that the nuns have received proper catechesis about this and that they realize that the virgins who receive this from their bishop will be bound to continue in virginity should they leave the Order.  It goes against the traditions of Carmel to have this consecration and this consecration certainly is invalid for nuns who are not virgins.  If they do not have this permission from the Holy See, then I wonder if they just cobbled this together thinking it was a suitable "bridal consecration" and use it without realizing what they've done.

[Chiquitunga]

But if they started doing it after Sponsa Christi in 1950, why couldn't they continue to? 

Edited July 30, 2013 by Chiquitunga

[abrideofChrist]

I'm going to take my break posting here for a while soon, I promise .... but back to the question about St. Clare, I wanted to say, I have asked someone who has a few biographies of her to look it up, about when exactly she made a private vow. But I feel that if Pope Benedict XVI said she did and became (implying something beyond common sponsality) a virgin bride of Christ, that is enough evidence for me, and evidence that God espoused her to Himself, without the Rite of CV (again, St. Thomas and God not being limited to the Sacraments) when she made a private vow.

 

I think it is irrelevant as to when St. Clare made her private vow.  What is at stake is whether and how the essence of consecrated virginity differs from the public consecration of a contemplative nun because that is the closest that can approach consecrated virginity.  I suggest in the future that energies be directed in trying to figure out what constitutes this difference or try to show if there is no essential difference rather than bringing up quotes as to how any pope or saint calls any nun or virgin like St. Maria Goretti the bride of Christ.  Otherwise we wind up in a circular argument, using the terms "bride" to "prove" that the person is "bride" even if the term is referring to the soul or mystical union of a friar or a woodcarver.  I could muddy the waters and start quoting all manner of saints who discuss the mystical union as "bridal" "spousal" and male saints estatic over this... or about the relation of the soul to God but that would not be helpful in avoiding getting bogged down with numerous examples that don't directly address how they are to be interpreted.  In other words, unless there are documents from respected authorities who show how either consecration is the same or different, then it is rather pointless to spin the wheels.  I have given countless examples of what I believe and the reasons why.  Now it is time for my reasons to be addressed.  If the difference is essential, or that it really doesn't matter if there is a consecration or not because God can just do it out of the blue, then we really need some compelling reasons for that.  Just because He isn't bound to the Sacraments doesn't mean that He will automatically raise the woman under private vow or religious profession to nuptial seal of consecrated virginity any more than we assume He makes the devout monk who has a priestly spirituality a priest.