Within the Church, religious bear a special witness to Christ through their example of chastity, poverty and
obedience for the sake of the Kingdom. The evangelical counsels reveal the heart of the Gospel: the Good
News that God loves us and invites us to respond to his love with the total gift of ourselves. Religious life is
therefore of its very nature apostolic. The various pastoral and apostolic tasks which you perform (...)
are the expression of this love. All your activities, therefore, must flow from prayer and contemplation.
The effectiveness of religious life depends on the quality of the fraternal life in common. Even more so, the current renewal in the Church and in religious life is characterized by a search for communion and
community. Therefore, religious life will be all the more meaningful the more it succeeds in building "a
community of brothers or sisters in Christ in which God is sought after and loved before all else."