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By:Mawuena Quist
There is a joke that, even the Holy Spirit Himself does not know the number of religious congregations or institutes in the Catholic Church. This is because, from the early life of the Church, there have always been people who by the impetus of the Holy Spirit responded to the universal call to holiness in a plethora of ways. It is not as if the rest of the members of the Church do not respond to this Church’s universal call to holiness but as St. John Paul II puts in his encyclical “In every age there have been men and women who, obedient to the Father’s call and to the prompting of the Spirit, have chosen this special way of following Christ, in order to devote themselves to him with an “undivided” heart” (VC.#1). These men and woman inspired by the Holy Spirit express their Christian discipleship in a manner that is conspicuously challenging to their peers and gives glory to God (Matthew 5:14.). Since the life of Christ attracts due to its intrinsically purposeful and fulfilling nature, those who genuinely hold on to it without looking back (Luke 9:62) also attract people and later bring them to Christ. This means that, the various form of Consecrated Life in the Church is a metamorphosis of different expressions of the gospel, the life of Jesus through the ages to today. This three edition article will single out some of the men and women who have been consequential three main epochs that has shaped the various expressions of Consecrated Life.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Consecrated Life is “the state of life which is constituted by the profession of the evangelical counsel, while not entering into the hierarchical structure of the Church, belongs undeniable to her life holiness. This definition first of all by mentioning the evangelical counsel which is the very life of Christ expressed in the Gospels, shows how much the life Christ is foundational to the message of the Church. In fact in the last verse of the gospel of Matthew, Jesus will tell his disciples to proclaim this Good News (Gospel) in all parts of the world and because of this the council fathers expressed that “the Gospels have a special preeminence, and rightly so, for they are the principal witness for the life and teaching of the incarnate Word, our savior.it is from this gospel that the consecrated derive the three vows” (VD #18) which are called the 
Evangelical counsel, because they are a summary of God which is the main occupation of consecration.
The life of holiness belongs to every state of life in the Church, however, the Consecrated Life solely dedicate to God, serve as a visible sign of the absolute bonding between God and the Church. And even though does not belong to the hierarchy of the Church as it is stated in the Church perfectly belongs to the Church as active sign of her sanctity and mission.
In the history of the Jewish people, there has always been people who are chosen and set aside for particular purpose. Some of these people may include Elijah (1kings 17:1), and the other prophets. Furthermore, the Nazarite who renounced themselves from a lot of earthly good for a period of time or forever is a typical case of something similar to what we know as monastic life today. Some famous Nazarite we know in the scripture includes Sampson (Judges13: 2) and John the Baptist (Luke 3), all that these people have in common is fact they were set aside or set themselves aside for God.
To be continued
