I remember the first time I heard of religious life. Honestly, I thought that the term referred to any religious person, but later I learned that religious life entailed much more. In college, I had the opportunity to meet people who were in religious life, such as nuns and sisters. When I first met a sister, I was actually scared of them. For some odd reason, I thought if I ever ran into a sister, it meant that God was calling me to be one. I also believed that I had to be super holy and educated to even talk to one. However, I started to realize that they were completely normal people.

So, what is religious life? I'm no expert, but over the years of growing in my faith and interacting with those in religious life, I have learned a lot. Religious life is a form of consecrated life in the Catholic Church, which consists of men and women who make specific vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. According the Catechism of the Catholic Church, religious life "is distinguished from other forms of consecrated life by it liturgical character, public profession of the evangelical counsels, fraternal life led in common, and witness given to the union of Christ with the Church" (CCC 925), and is life seen as a gift received by the Church. Those who are part of the religious life make their vow in either a Congregation or Community such the Community of the Beatitudes, which are approved by the Catholic Church. Each religious Community is formed and developed through tradition that comes from the founders of those communities. These communities can consist of sisters, nuns, brothers, monks, or religious order priest.

I will elaborate on the differences between sisters and nuns, and brothers and monks. In general, religious sisters take what are called simple vows where a nun makes solemn vows and usually engage in more prayer time. Also, nuns are distinct in that they live in what is called contemplative/cloistered life or what is considered living in a confined area or enclosed place such as the monastery. Visitors are not allowed to enter into a cloistered area and nuns or monks are not permitted to leave, unless under some special circumstances. If there are visitors, there is a grill or barrier that separate the two. It may seem at first like a miserable life, but after being blessed to meet some Carmelite nuns behind a grill at a monastery in St. Louis, I was shocked to see how much joy they were filled with. They described their life as beautiful and fulfilling. The differences between nuns and sisters is similar to that of monks and brothers. A monk will live in a monastery as well and they can either be a priest or deacon.

Religious life includes vows, charisms, and spirituality. Again, the vows made by a religious person include chastity, obedience, and poverty. Each vow plays a significant role in religious life. A charism is the way in which an order expresses itself in following Christ. This can relate to culture, such as the culture of teaching or serving the poor. The final part of religious life is spirituality. Spirituality consists of a set of values or a manner of the derived from people and Saints within the Catholic Church, such as St. Dominic, where the Dominican spirituality begin. Overall, this is just a general idea of what religious life is. However, from the sisters and others I have met in religious life, their lives are a beautiful example of what it means to devote and commit your life completely to God.