Why do religious sisters wear habits?
The religious habit is a sign of consecration and poverty. It also signifies that a religious belongs to a particular Religious Order. St. Francis said that the religious habit itself is a way of preaching. In a direct and silent way, it prefigures heavenly life. Consecrated persons truly live for heaven.
Religious receive the habit from her own order during the Novitiate period. The habit does not only remind the world, but the religious herself as well, that she no longer belongs to the world but to God alone. The use of the habit also helps a religious to not waste time on worldly appearance, but to be attentive to her spiritual life, having holy preoccupations on decorating the soul with virtues, desiring to please God alone.
The use of the habit is also a part of the life of penance for a religious. By renouncing a more comfortable and convenient dress, it is an offering to God of a different sacrifice for the salvation of sinners.
0 Comments