“Follow me”
“From the very beginning of the Church there were men and women who set out to follow Christ with greater liberty, and to imitate him more closely, by practicing the evangelical counsels. They led lives dedicated to God, each in his own way. Many of them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, became hermits or founded religious families. These the Church, by virtue of her authority, gladly accepted and approved.”[i]
What are the Evangelical Counsels? The vows are poverty (a detachment from worldly things[ii]), obedience (submission to the authority of God[iii]) and chastity (temperance which leads to the unity of the body and soul[iv]). A Franciscan friar once said for younger children to understand it “no bling bling [poverty], no sweet thing [chastity], and Christ is our King [obedience]”
The Evangelical Counsels should not be confused with an Ecumenical Council, which is a universal gathering of bishops from around the world to discuss matters in the Church.
What does “evangelical” and “counsel” mean in the context of evangelical counsels? The word evangelical derives from both Greek and Latin and means “good news” or Gospel. The root or source of the evangelical counsels is the Gospel - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Counsels are “good actions that are not prescribed by any law. They are morally better than the corresponding precepts, as fasting is higher than temperance. Among the counsels the most important are the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They are called evangelical because they were taught and practiced by Christ in the Gospels. Moreover, they are especially proposed by the Church as means for attaining Christian perfection. A person can freely bind oneself to practice the evangelical counsels, as in the religious life, and then they become obligatory according to the conditions of the vows or promises assumed.”[v]
What is the difference between a counsel of the Church and a precept of the Church? In a precept, a rule must be followed and the faithful are bound to the rule; in a counsel the rule is not obligatory, but up to the individual. To assist at Mass each Sunday and on Holy Days; is not a counsel, but rather a precept. Poverty for example, is a counsel, the faithful do not have to take a vow of poverty, and rather it is left to each individual to choose. The goal of Christ and His Church is the perfection of the Christian. This is why the Church prays each Thursday night at Night Prayer, “May the God of peace make you perfect in holiness. May he preserve you whole and entire, spirit, soul, and body, irreproachable at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”[vi] In the precepts and counsels of the Church are means of Christian perfection, the precepts are obligatory, the counsels are to be lived out in a manner in which the individual chooses. As the Catechism states in section 918, many of the faithful have chosen to imitate Jesus more closely and to follow Him with greater liberty by embracing and in fact binding themselves to the counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
In regards to precepts of the Church, the Church binds the faithful to the precept. In regards to the counsels of the Church, the individual binds himself to the counsel. For example both a monk and a lay person are bond by the Church to the precept of assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; this is the same precept for both. Both the monk and layman are called to obedience, but they will bind themselves to different ways of living this counsel out, the monk in a strict sense to that of his superior, the lay person in a loose sense to temporal bosses, family, etc.
Venerable Pope Paul VI says that the evangelical counsels are a means in which the Christian can echo and re-echo the Life of Christ. “Remember: [it] is Jesus Christ I preach day in and day out. His name I would see echo and re-echo for all time even to the ends of the earth.”[vii] When the world sees the Christian imitating the poverty, chastity, and obedience of Jesus, they see Jesus. The Christian who lives the counsels either as a counsel or as a precept choose to preach Christ. “Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak.”[viii] The evangelical counsels are the actions of Christ perpetuated in various ways through the life of His faithful followers.
Why would anyone wish to live a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience? Each of these counsels will be discussed further, but the simple answer is that Jesus Christ Himself chose and lived a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience. A Christian is an imitator of Christ, the Christian bears witness to Christ, and therefore the Christian must be ready to practice the evangelical counsels in their life, even if these counsels are not strictly observed as a rule or vow. For example a Christian may not choose to take a vow of celibacy, but all Christians no matter what their state in life are called to practice the virtue of chastity. A Christian may not choose to give up all their possessions and own nothing, but all Christians are called to have a healthy detachment from the goods of this world and never place “goods” before God. A Christian may not choose to bind themselves in strict obedience to a superior or spiritual director, but all Christians are to obey the will of God, placing His will prior to all other human will including their own will. As baptized and confirmed Christians we are the Church Militant. As long as we are living on this earth we are battling what we call concupiscence, our tendency to sin.
What are main areas of concupiscence? Saint John narrows concupiscence down to three main areas of the flesh (what we do), the eyes (what we want or desire), and the pride of life (our will over God’s will). “For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world.”[ix] Jesus tells us to “look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.”[x] Our heavenly Father knows our needs. Do we trust our Father? When we fall into the concupiscence of flesh, eyes and pride of life, we are accepting things that are not from our heavenly Father but rather from the world. These offerings of the world are the very “false promises” that we rejected at our baptism which claimed us as a child of the Father.
How can we battle the threefold concupiscence (flesh, eyes and pride of life)? The Church has given to us the weapon of the evangelical counsels to counter this threefold concupiscence. The evangelical counsels are the also called vows. These are taken by religious, but should be practiced by all Christians because they were lived by Jesus. The flesh or sensual lust is conquered through the virtue of chastity. The eyes of pride is conquered through the virtue of poverty. The pretentious or prideful life is conquered through the virtue of obedience. If would seem that a person that gives up self, pleasure, goods, would not be happy, but in fact the opposite occurs. Those who live the evangelical counsels experience great joy, for in giving up our self, we discover our true self in Christ, in giving up worldly pleasures, we experience the beatitudes, and in giving up worldly goods we begin to understand the source of all goodness, God Himself. For this reason the Christian can live out the words of the entrance antiphon, “All nations, clap your hands, shout unto God with a voice of joy.”
Where is the best example we can see the evangelical counsels? We best see the example of the evangelical counsels when we gaze at the crucifix. When we meditate on the hands of Christ, they are open and full of nothing; this shows us that Christ was detached from worldly goods and possessions. When we meditate on the feet of Christ, they are nailed down, they do not walk wherever they wish, but rather the feet of Christ walk the path of God, as Jesus submits and is completely obedient to the will of the Father. When we meditate on the side of Jesus opened by the soldiers lance we see both blood and water poured out for us from the Sacred Heart. Jesus practices perfect chastity, giving the gift of Himself, pure in heart, to God and to all.
VIDEO – Olympic Speed Skater to Franciscan Sister?
Three sisters share the joy that is made possible by living out the evangelical counsels.
Search: The Attractiveness of Earthly Goods
[i] Catechism of the Catholic Church - 918
[ii] Catechism of the Catholic Church Glossary
[iii] Ibid
[iv] Ibid
[v] Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., Modern Catholic Dictionary
[vi] 1 Thessalonians 5:23
[vii] Pope Paul VI; Office of Readings; 13 Sunday in Ordinary Time
[viii] Saint Anthony of Padua
[ix] 1 John 2:16
[x] Matthew 6:24-34