In order to become a religious, the Brother takes three vows.
-Through taking the vow of obedience he wants to express that he is ready to listen at all times and that he is willing to try and answer every question that is fired at him. -The vow of poverty encourages him to live a more frugal kind of life and to use his talents and gifts to the benefit of people who lack so much.
-Through the vow of chastity the brother demonstrates that God can fill a whole life and nothing more is required. Above all, Brothers of Charity are accessible people who must follow Jesus' example of serviceability.
Observance of the vows of obedience, poverty and chastity may not seem the best way to live a life of pleasure. It has a profundity that often is ignored due to a great many misunderstandings on this subject. Like the marital vows, the religious vows are only means to an end. They enable the person who takes them to reach a higher goal. The three most common vows: poverty, chastity, and obedience allow us to serve a great number of people. Thanks to those vows, we are free to accept a special commitment in the world. We are not subject to the desire to accumulate material wealth, we attach less importance to family and other intimate bonds, and we have no particular tendency to defending our own interests tooth and nail. We represent a counterbalance in this world where far too often the emphasis is on money, sex, and power. The vows remind mankind that the false gods that they sometimes adore are mere ersatz for the love of God, who constantly appeals to man to live his vocation to the full.
