Consecrated Christians (in "Religious") represent Jesus to our world:
- Jesus in contemplation on the mountain
- Jesus  proclaiming the kingdom of God to the crowds,
- Jesus healing the sick and maimed
- Jesus reaching out to "tax collectors and sinners"
- Jesus showing care for children and young people
- Jesus showing goodness to all people

"This Sacred Synod encourages and praises the men and women,
Brothers and Sisters, who in monasteries, or in schools and hospitals, or in the missions,
adorn the Bride of Christ by their unswerving and humble faithfulness in their chosen consecration and render generous services of all kinds to the human family".

"The profession of the evangelical counsels does not detract from a genuine development of the human persons, but rather by its very nature is most beneficial to that development."

Yes - for some people. No - for others.  See  Reflection 59

"Indeed the counsels, voluntarily undertaken according to each one's personal vocation, contribute a great deal to the purification of heart and spiritual liberty. They continually stir up the fervor of charity. But especially they are able to more fully mold the Christian man to that type of chaste and detached life, which Christ the Lord chose for Himself and which His Mother also embraced"

Jesus - yes; Mary - poverty and obedience,  yes. But nearly all Protestant Bible scholars and an increasing number of Catholic Bible scholars say that "the brothers and sisters" of Jesus were children of Mary....which is why Jerusalem James had such honor in the New Testament....he was a brother of Jesus. See this article by New Testament professor Fr Jerome Neyrey s.j.

The first time one hears this view, it's a bit of a shock. But the more one studies the topic, the more one understands how this topic, and many others like it, need truthful re-assessment. This does not take away from Mary's beauty and example as the No. 1 Christian whom we should love and honor every day. Nor does it deny the virgin birth of Jesus. When Mary conceived Jesus, she was "the Blessed Virgin, Mary"

Jesus,  may all "religious" continue to incarnate you in our world, just as Mary did

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