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The ʻEvangelical Counsels', or Counsels of the
Gospel, are three:"Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience. They
have been recommended by Christ in particular as means of perfection. By
voluntary poverty, the right of possession and free disposal of property
is renounced. Perfect chastity, which voluntarily renounces not only unlawful
pleasures but even the married life, is recommended by our Lord in the
following words: “There are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the
kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it” (Matt. 19:12).
Perfect obedienceunder a spiritual superior has for its object the perfect
regulation of such actions as of themselves are not prescribed and regulated by
any law. By such obedience our will is not only preserved from transgressions
and forced to the performance of many acts of self-sacrifice, but also, by the
fact of being subjected to the will of God’s representative on earth, it is
wholly conformed with the divine will." (Thein, J. (1900).
In Ecclesiastical Dictionary)
St. Thomas Aquinas explains how these councils, though not
necessary for salvation, are means to perfection
"Secondarily and instrumentally, however, perfection
consists in the observance of the counsels, all of which, like the
commandments, are directed to charity; yet not in the same way. For the
commandments, other than the precepts of charity, are directed to the removal
of things contrary to charity, with which, namely, charity is incompatible,
whereas the counsels are directed to the removal of things that hinder the act
of charity, and yet are not contrary to charity, such as marriage, the
occupation of worldly business, and so forth. Hence Augustine says (Enchir. cxxi.): Whatever
things God commands, for instance, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery,’ and
whatever are not commanded, yet suggested by a special counsel, for instance,
‘It is good for a man not to touch a woman,’ are then done aright when they are
referred to the love of God, and of our neighbour for God’s sake, both in this
world and in the world to come. Hence it is that in the Conferences of the
Fathers (Coll.i., cap. vii.) the abbot Moses says: Fastings,
watchings, meditating on the Scriptures, penury and loss of all one’s wealth,
these are not perfection but means to perfection, since not in them does the
school of perfection find its end, but through them it achieves its end,
and he had already said that we endeavour to ascend by these steps to
the perfection of charity." (STh., II-II q.184 a.3)
image via
wikipaintings in the Public Domain. Nuns convent of the Sacred Heart in Rome
