Is there a default obligation for Catholics to formally take the three evangelical counsels (poverty, chastity, and obedience), meaning if you believe yourself to be capable of doing so, then that is automatically your vocation? If you think the answer is yes, can you provide sources for this? I’m aware that this is the case for celibacy, but that is not the same thing as formally taking the three evangelical counsels.
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"this is the case for celibacy" what do you mean?– equesCommented Aug 31 at 22:39
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@eques It means you have to practice celibacy unless you're not capable of doing so.– wmasseCommented Aug 31 at 22:52
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1St. Paul phrases it sorta like that, but that doesn't mean that Catholic doctrine is "you must be celibate unless you are unable to do so"– equesCommented Sep 1 at 0:16
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1 Answer
Is there a default obligation for Catholics to formally take the three evangelical counsels?
The short answer is no.
There exists no such obligation according to Catholicism.
The difference between a precept and a counsel lies in this, that the precept is a matter of necessity while the counsel is left to the free choice of the person to whom it is proposed. It is fitting, therefore, that the New Law, which is a law of liberty, should contain counsels of this kind, which would have been out of place in the Old Law, which was a law of servitude. The precepts of the New Law have for their scope the ordinance of those matters which are essential for the obtaining of life eternal — the gift which it is the special object of the New Law to place within the reach of its followers. But the counsels show the means by which that same end may be reached yet more certainly and expeditiously. Man is, in this life, placed between the good things of this world and the good things of eternity, in such a way that the more he inclines to the first the more he alienates himself from the second. A man who is wholly given up to this world, finding in it the end and object of his existence, loses altogether the goods of eternity, of which he has no appreciation. So in like manner, the man who is wholly detached from this world, and whose thoughts are wholly bent on the realities of the world above, is taking the shortest way to obtain possession of that on which his heart is fixed. The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light, but the case is reversed if a larger view be taken. - Evangelical Counsels
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This is one of my core reasons why I'm partial to Catholicism. Protestants tend to flatten out the do's and dont's and arrive at conclusions such as there is no inherent value in being celibate, etc. While Catholics celebrate the varied paths to obtain eternal happiness and to maximize love for the Lord; some paths through evangelical counsels. BTW, feel free to delete this comment once it's read. Commented Sep 4 at 14:23