Our Consecrated Life
Our Vows & Commitment to Consolation
A Life Given to Christ for a Wounded World
The Life We Discern
Four Commitments — One Gift of Self
To discern life with the Anima Christi Missionaries of Consolation is to discern a radical gift of oneself to Christ.
ACMC life is shaped by the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, together with our distinctive commitment to Consolation for the suffering. These are not simply promises about what we do; they express the kind of women we seek to become in Christ.
During formation, a woman is gradually introduced to the meaning and demands of these commitments so that any eventual profession or commitment may be made freely, prayerfully, and with mature understanding, according to her stage of formation and the ecclesial life of the community.
Poverty
A Heart Free for God
Christ becomes our treasure. Poverty calls us to simplicity, detachment, common life, responsible stewardship, dependence upon God’s providence, and solidarity with the poor.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” — Matthew 5:3
Chastity
A Heart Given to Christ
Consecrated chastity expresses an undivided gift of love to Christ and opens the Missionary of Consolation to spiritual motherhood, sisterhood, availability, and generous love for God’s people.
“Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.” — Matthew 5:8
Obedience
A Heart Listening for God’s Will
Obedience is a life of listening—to God in prayer, Sacred Scripture, the Church, legitimate authority, community discernment, and the needs of mission—following Christ in loving availability to the Father’s will.
“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me.” — John 4:34
Consolation
A Heart for the Wounded
Our distinctive commitment to Consolation calls us to encounter Christ in those who suffer and to remain close to the grieving, poor, displaced, sick, wounded, forgotten, and those without hope.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” — Matthew 5:4
Sister Felicia contemplating the Twelfth Station of the Cross during the Good Friday Triduum.
Our Distinctive Call
Consolation: Remaining at the Cross
Consolation is more than performing works of charity. It calls us to remain, accompany, listen, heal, serve, pray, and bring hope. Like Mary standing beneath the Cross, the Missionary of Consolation does not turn away when suffering cannot be quickly resolved.
Sometimes consolation means remaining faithfully present beneath another person’s cross, trusting that Christ is present even in wounds that cannot immediately be explained or removed.
“Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother…” — John 19:25
We contemplate Christ. We receive His consolation. We become consolation for others.
Chastity gives the heart.
Obedience teaches the heart to listen.
Consolation sends the heart toward those who suffer.
All four lead us to Christ the Consoler and make our lives available for His mission.
For Those Discerning
Before You Make This Commitment
A woman who attends a Come & See or begins formation is not immediately making vows or definitive commitments. Formation is a time of prayer, learning, human and spiritual growth, community experience, and careful discernment.
The purpose is to help both the woman and the community discern whether God is truly calling her to this way of life. No commitment should be made without freedom, adequate preparation, mature understanding, and prayerful discernment.