IN THE FACE OF THE IDOLATRY OF MONEY, UNBRIDLED SENSUALITY AND THE SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE

To the idolatry of money, which hardens hearts, raises nations against one another and gives rise within them to ever more violent social conflicts, the religious (man or woman), by the vow of poverty, opposes the example of total detachment and voluntary dispossession and raises insurmountable barriers against the invasion of greed it engenders. 

In the face of unbridled sensuality, whose power is no less destructive than that of money, the religious, with the vow of chastity, proclaims that it is possible to dominate the senses, and by his example encourages households to submit to the sacred laws of marriage. 

Before the spirit of independence and emancipation that dreams of destroying all authority and does not want to recognize any obstacle, the religious, with the vow of obedience, offers the example of a submission that, far from degrading, ennobles, since it is surrendered only to God. 

Religious attract people to the practice of the Christian virtues: they do more than what is necessary, so that others are encouraged to do what ¡is indispensable, and furthermore, they atone for the sins of the nations. How the world errs in its judgments when it believes that in religious houses, particularly in contemplative convents, so many lives are buried without use for the common good!

Religious Life, Father Royo Marin