Editor’s note: During this Year of Consecrated Life, this is the second in a series based on the Second Vatican Council’s document, Perfectae Caritatis (Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life) written by Abbot Marcel Rooney, OSB, former abbot primate of the Benedictine order who now resides in Madison.
We have seen in the first reflection commenting on Religious Life that the basis for and origin of this way of Christian life is the example and teaching of Jesus (Perfectae Caritatis, #1).
The Second Vatican Council’s teaching says that the consecration of Religious Life is focused on the pursuit of perfect charity.