Why all Believers are Consecrated

by Kilian SC · October 27, 2016

Fr Ralph De Hahn says the Bible shows that all believers are consecrated, not just those in religious life

The Catholic Church is blessed by the thousands of her children who live the total consecrated life in the many religious congregations throughout the world.

In 2014, for the Year of Consecrated Life, Pope Francis called for a fresh renewal of their commitment because of their extreme importance to the life of the Church. He called on the enclosed communities to live their lives of exterior as well as interior silence, embracing joyfully and lovingly the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, in the continuing process of purification, that emptying of self.

These religious choose the ideal environment to contemplate the mysteries of God; it is the total living of faith in the truth and love as revealed by God in Christ.

Despite all our human limitations and vulnerability, the desire is ever-present and inflamed by the Holy Spirit: the desire of total abandonment to the will of God.

This total consecrated life is a gift to the Church; it adds to her holiness and maturity; it is the very heart of her mission.

Does this consecrated life not also touch our lay people?

It certainly does, but not on that same deep level. It is through their Christian baptism and baptismal promises that they enter into the full life of the Church; they are reminded that they are anointed as the consecrated children of the eternal Father; baptised not only by water, but by “water, blood and the Holy Spirit” (1 John 5:6-8).

Even Peter reminds the early Christians: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God…and now you are God’s people” (1 Peter 2:9). And the Father will feed his people with the consecrated Bread so as to create “other Christs”.

In the Old Testament we find “the whole community and all its members are consecrated, and Yahweh lives among them” (Numbers 16:3). God also spoke to Moses: “I will count you a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation”(Exodus 19:6).

These members of the consecrated laity may well be clay vessels, human and vulnerable; however, they also contain within an extraordinary presence and power (2 Corinthians 4:7) Every baptised believer is touched by the blood of the world’s Redeemer.

Furthermore, the baptised believer is sealed with the divine authority and he has the pledge of the Holy Spirit — made secure, set apart for God, marked as belonging to him.

“[O]n him the father has set his seal” (John 6:27). “He who has anointed us in God has also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge” (2 Corinthians 1:22).

Scripture is so clear that when we are baptised into the Body of Christ, and consecrated to the Lord, the Spirit enters us and by his presence seals us. He is God’s pledge assuring us of our inheritance to come (Ephesians 1:13-14).

Moreover, the Spirit is also our witness within — “by one offering Christ has perfected for all time those who are sanctified, and the Holy Spirit bears witness to us” (Hebrews 10:14,15).

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:16), and so we can cry out from our hearts, “Abba, Father!”

Therefore, not only do we have the seal and the pledge but also the witness of God’s Holy Spirit.

If only this was preached more often from our pulpits!

People are precious to God, they are sacred — more sacred than temples and religious objects. In fact all the earth is sacred, ever since the incarnation, when “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14)

The laity are called to grow in holiness; at least to desire holiness for “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”. Peter tells us that the Holy God declares: “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16). And the Lord assures us that his grace is enough for us, despite the wounds of original sin.

We certainly need a saviour. However, we are created with the capacity to seek and find God, able to communicate with the Infinite. “He who seeks will always find” (Matthew 7:8).

Ultimately, it is God himself one yearns to possess, whether we realise it or not. And the road in our searching is one of expectation and also surprises.

However, we have the Way, the Truth and the Life only in Jesus the son of God; that is the Christian way.

He is the indisputable central figure, says Paul, “for nothing can happen that will outweigh the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord” (Philippians 3:8).

Everything about prayer, transformation, consecration, hope and trust is about faith, and how we intend to live it, for both the deeply consecrated religious and the believing Christian.

Paul’s second letter to Timothy spurs us on: “…and that is why I am reminding you to fan into a flame the Gift of the Spirit…not of timidity, but of power and love and self-control” (1:6)

Fr Ralph de Hahn is a priest of the archdiocese of Cape Town.