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"Religious life derives from the mystery of the Church. It is a gift she has received from her Lord, a gift she offers as a stable way of life to the faithful called by God to profess the counsels. Thus, the Church can both show forth Christ and acknowledge herself to be the Saviour's bride. Religious life in its various forms is called to signify the very charity of God in the language of our time." - Catechism of the Catholic Church
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 The call to the religious vocation is a call to total self-sacrifice for Christ and His Church. Although it is a life which requires that you "lay down your life" (i.e. your own personal interests and comforts) in order to serve others and God, Jesus promised that "he who loses his life for My sake will save it." The religious life is considered as the most perfect of the states of life, not because priests or nuns are necessarily any better than married or single people, but because the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience which religious take, involve the renunciation of everything that human beings most prize: possessions, marriage, and power. To dedicate oneself wholly to the service of God and work "in His vineyard," leaving everything for love of Him, is a truly beautiful act, if it is the one to which you are called.
Ever since the early days of the Church, some Christians, both men and women, have practiced celibacy and devoted themselves to prayer, penance, and various apostolates. Some of them remained in the world in the service of the Church, and others left everything and went out into the desert to be alone with God. The beginnings of religious orders came in the third century A.D., when groups of hermits began to be organized into communities with a specific rule and a superior. Eventually, religious orders arose from this basis.
There are two basic types of religious orders: cloistered orders and active orders.
 The cloistered orders emphasize prayer and separation from the world, and, depending on how strict an enclosure is observed, cloistered monks and nuns do not generally leave the monastery. Their lives are dedicated to prayer and penance; they also work around the monastery and often make things to sell in support the monastery. (Learn more about the cloister at our Cloistered Life Page.)
 Active orders, on the other hand, carry out their mission in the world. Each order is dedicated to a particular apostolate, such as teaching, missionary work, preaching, and caring for the sick, the poor, or the neglected. However, prayer is still a priority in active orders, and specific times are set aside for being with God.
In some religious orders for men (usually the cloistered ones), the religious do not take Holy Orders. Other orders consist of both priests and lay brothers. In such orders, men can enter as a lay brother or as a priest, depending on whether you have a vocation to the priesthood or not.
Religious, both men and women, take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience (the three Evangelical Counsels - some orders take an extra vow, such as the vow to serve the poor, etc.). If a candidate is accepted into the order, he or she undergoes several stages of formation over a period of several years, beginning with postulancy and ending with permanent vows.
How did other young men and women find their vocations to the religious life? Read their stories!
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