Religious Life and the World
That probably wasn't the best description.
It's hard to describe religious life in terms of its relationship to the world because there are so many different relationships.
There are hermits and there are religious out on the front lines. There are religious like the Benedictines who leave the world and try to build a perfect world in a monastery. Others go into the world and try not to be of the world - living their Christian values from within the world.
A religious is a person who publicly says, "I'll go into the light." But it's not the limelight. A religious is a person who say, "I'm going to try to live a life so that the light of God will shine more int he world, or be more in the world."
That's a little different than saying, "I'm going to go out and do magnificent things ... I'm going to go out and let people see my good deeds ..."
No, it's rather, "I'm going to let the grace of God shine in a way that people will love God. I'm going to try to live my life in a way that lets the grace of God - not of me - be seen."
That's what religious commit themselves to do. They take a vow to do it. Publicly.
- Little White Book, Diocese of Saginaw