CONGREGATION FOR INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE AND SOCIETIES OF APOSTOLIC LIFE.

FRATERNAL LIFE IN COMMUNITY.
"Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor".

INTRODUCTION.

"Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor"

1. The love of Christ has gathered a great number of disciples to become one, so that, like him and thanks to him, in the Spirit, they might, throughout the centuries, be able to respond to the love of the Father, loving him "with all their hearts, with all their soul, with all their might" (cf. Deut. 6:5) and loving their neighbours "as themselves" (cf. Mt. 22:39).

Among these disciples, those gathered together in religious communities, women and men "from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues" (Rev. 7:9), have been and still are a particularly eloquent expression of this sublime and boundless love.

Born not "of the will of the flesh", nor from personal attraction, nor from human motives, but "from God" (Jn. 1:13), from a divine vocation and a divine attraction, religious communities are a living sign of the primacy of the love of God who works wonders, and of the love for God and for one's brothers and sisters as manifested and practised by Jesus Christ.

In view of the relevance of religious communities for the life and holiness of the Church, it is important to examine the lived experience of today's religious communities, whether monastic and contemplative or dedicated to apostolic activity, each according to its own specific character. All that is said here about religious communities applies also to communities in societies of apostolic life, bearing in mind their specific character and proper legislation.