St Gilbert of Sempringham: "My vows to the Lord I will repay"

... in the sight of all his people.

-- Ps 116:12-13, 14-15, 18-19

The Church recognizes an exemplary value in the vows to practice the evangelical counsels:

Mother Church rejoices that she has within herself many men and women who pursue the Savior's self-emptying more closely and show it forth more clearly, by undertaking poverty with the freedom of the children of God, and renouncing their own will: they submit themselves to man for the sake of God, thus going beyond what is of precept in the matter of perfection, so as to conform themselves more fully to the obedient Christ.

-- CCC 2103

St Gilbert of Sempringham, pray for us.

Photo credit: Ed O'Keefe.