Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

70 Council. The Conciliar Fathers first noted the need to abandon the practice of describing the religious state as status perfectionis – “a state of perfec- tion.” This treatment of religious life as an exclusive, and the easiest path to achieve Christian perfection and holiness met with many reservations. Sometimes it led to some peculiar discussions – from today’s point of view – about the superiority of the religious state over the secular one, or the superiority of the ministerial priesthood over the religious state. In its teaching, the Second Vatican Council strongly departs from such a risky concept and avoids statements favoring something over the other. For this is contrary to the universal calling to holiness according to the vo- cation granted to each person by God. The starting point for defining the identity of every Christian is Baptism. The equality of all in the Church is rooted in it, and baptismal consecration enables man to be holy. In Vatican II’s teaching that attempts to capture the specificity of the religious order members’ identity, we come across statements about the need for a singu- lar post-baptismal “special consecration” (PC 5). A religious accepts it so “that he may be capable of deriving more abundant fruit from this baptis- mal grace” (LG, 44); this consecration “is deeply rooted in that of baptism and expresses it more fully,” (PC, 5), and enables him to fulfill the entrusted mission in a spirit of service to God (LG, 44). The Conciliar teaching did not resolve all of the theological questions with regard to religious consecration. For this reason, a series of requests for clarification were sent to the Vatican’s dicastery dealing with the reli- gious. The most important of them concerned the precise definition of the action of God and man in the mystery of the vocation to the reli- gious life . The Congregation thus explains it in one of its replies: Consecration is the basis of religious life. By insisting on this, the Church places the first emphasis on the initiative of God and on the transforming relation to him which religious life involves. Consecra- tion is a divine action. God calls a person whom he sets apart for a particular dedication to himself. At the same time, he offers the grace to respond so that consecration is expressed on the human side by a profound and free self-surrender. The resulting relationship is pure gift. It is a covenant of mutual love and fidelity, of communion and mission, established for God’s glory, the joy of the person conse- crated, and the salvation of the world (EE, 5).