Each feast day of a consecrated person reminds us that the Lord calls many of His children to a special devotion to Him as a brother or sister in a consecrated state. As the Catechism notes, all of Christ's disciples are called to follow the evangelical counsels. However, a special call is given to those whom the Lord asks to profess these counsels in a permanent state of life.

915   Christ proposes the evangelical counsels, in their great variety, to every disciple. the perfection of charity, to which all the faithful are called, entails for those who freely follow the call to consecrated life the obligation of practicing chastity in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom, poverty and obedience. It is the profession of these counsels, within a permanent state of life recognized by the Church, that characterizes the life consecrated to God.

916   The religious state is thus one way of experiencing a "more intimate" consecration, rooted in Baptism and dedicated totally to God. In the consecrated life, Christ's faithful, moved by the Holy Spirit, propose to follow Christ more nearly, to give themselves to God who is loved above all and, pursuing the perfection of charity in the service of the Kingdom, to signify and proclaim in the Church the glory of the world to come.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

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