The Religious Life (Aquinas 101)

"When a man vows all that he has, all that he lives, and all that he understands to God, it is a holocaust."
-St. Gregory the Great

The genius of religious vows is that it is a Holocaust, a declaration that God, the creator and end of all is worthy of one's whole heart, a sacrifice solemnly effected by a devout self-offering.

The Religious Life (Aquinas 101) - Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.

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[keithemert]

Thank you, Fr. Pine. You and the others at the Thomistic Institute are doing important work. I am discerning religious life and the Dominicans in particular partly because of you.

[leonarduskarolusiuliustant]

Great video, I am discerning a religious vocation and the Dominican Order is one of my best options.

[lorraine]

I am discerning monastic life as well, ever since an overwhelming conviction & repentance that God has put on my heart. It was such a clear moment in the quiet of midday, where He spoke into my heart the sublime beauty of being His & His alone! Praying for all of you who are discerning & already committed to the Life; thank you Fr Pine & the Thomistic Institute for consistently putting into words how I have felt my entire life as a contemplative soul! P.S. Referencing the Theology of Vocation too, was profoundly moved by it. Glory be!

[emilykling]

Great video! I appreciate the imagery and concept of a religious being a “whole burnt offering” to God.

[BooleansLab]

Thank you Fr. Pine for this and also for that video on discernment you were on with Pints with Aquinas. I'm currently a high school student discerning whether I am for the contemplative life, particularly the Dominicans (one of the driving factors was the Thomistic Institute), or for the married life. Please pray for me, and God bless.

[sasinin]

Thank you fathers for this extraordinary explanations. A Bio science student from sri lanka

[katmorales]

My missionary experience and the experience I had living with an active community some yrs back made me understand that I am called to a contemplative / active life.

[rev.blakeevans]

Great teaching and much needed in a world where everyone wants every Vocation to be the same Vocation. This is great.

[sherryduva]

Thank you so much Fr. Pine, what your saying and describing makes a lot more sense than reading. Your wonderful may God continue to hold you in the palm of his wonderful hands

[kristindreko]

Thank you Aquinas 101, may God bless you!

[michaelmolnar]

In the Active and Contemplative juxtaposition, I can't help but think of Martha and Mary. One of the two was indeed deemed by Christ to be following the "better" part...and not the one most might naturally or instinctively guess!

[renecordero]

Excellent discussion about the ideal of what religious life should be. Since the 1960's, however, there are many religious orders and congregations that appear to have rejected this ideal, and many of their members pursue very worldly lives. In contrast, and thanks be to God, there are other religious orders and congregations where their members pursue the religious life ideal presented in the video, which appears to be the case with the Dominican Providence of St. Joseph.

[katmorales]

All styles of Religious life are beautiful and very important and necessary!! None are less or more. Because like a Cloister sister told me “they are all for the same GOD”. Cloister nuns and brothers are like the Lungs of the church and the Active orders are like the hands and feet of Jesus. I have been seriously discerning for some yrs already and I know I am not called to be a cloister but yes contemplative and active like Jesus was. I feel Jesus is calling me to the semi-contemplative life. Because when I visited some monastic order even though it was beautiful and rich I strongly felt I had to be on the other side of the grill. When I was headed back home I saw all the homeless people and felt the need to help them. Don't get me wrong cloister life is beautiful but I feel Jesus needs me with the people and also living a strong prayer life.

[patri]

"Faith seeks understanding" the mystery of God, Reality, and self. Thru filial and innocence faith, we see reality is governed by Super Mind and reveal to us the Power n Wisdom of the Creator. When logos in our minds purified from filth, we began to see ourself and reality in a new way, as pure gift, from the One who has no Beginning or End but always IS.

[ziesha.marie]

I love Aquinas I had a dream I met him twice!

[lfranciscohs]

thank you for the videos!!! would it be possible to make them in Spanish too?

[albertbenedictsolimanosa]

...anyone considering the Augustinian way of life? 💘

Don't worry, Luther's long gone 🙂
And our General Curia's right in front of the Apostolic Palace, so the Pope can check whether another Luther will come out from us 😅

"...for you [O God] have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."
- St. Augustine, Confessions, I, 1, 1

[nickk]

I'm attracted to and even feel called to religious life, but I have very little to offer in terms of knowledge, skills, and abilities, to a religious community (and it's not for lack of trying). I don't mean to be down on myself, but in all humility, I'm just not a very capable person. I don't know that I'd be of much help, except for the most simplest of tasks, with the work that needs to be done around a monastery and to help support the monastery. Do religious communities generally still accept people like me?

[eduardocavanagh]

I do understand the better choice of Maria vs Martha, being both in the presence of Jesus, an extraordinary event in time and place. However, if we assume that contemplative life is the best throughout the human era, taking this proposition to the limit would result in the extintion of human life on earth (no marriages, no children). Somebody has to provide for the wellbeing of humanity, including the sustenance of the contemplative communities through charity. If God has provided humans with the talents and the material means to do so in the Universe, I find equally valid a saintly active life to the contemplative one (Sorry, St Thomas).

[danielfox]

What about the mixed life? Doesn't St. Thomas say that this is the best state of religious life as it is the way of life that our Lord lived? It also seems that he says that to defend the Dominican life, right?