What Attracts You To Religious Life?

[JTheresa]

[quote name='JoyfulLife' date='30 July 2010 - 09:28 PM' timestamp='1280539699' post='2150073']
Great questions.



I agree with what Shana said. Those things are certainly part of what draw me -- daily Mass, Adoration, giving my all to Him. Especially putting everything into His service as opposed to wasteful secular work. I want the apostolate I'm drawn to more than any secular work that's out there.

Number one, it is about falling in love with God and finding the order I can keep growing in love.

I'm drawn to the total abandonment and consecration of giving my total self and life to Jesus and having Him as my Spouse.

I know I'll find complete fullfillment, happiness, joy, love, peace in accepting the calling I was created for.

I know I'll better save my soul in the religious life, and grow in love and Holiness.

The community -- the love, laughter, friendship, support and fellowship of women in love with God.

The life and prayer of a religious can save souls and bring my loved ones into the Church.

Making up for stains of past sins, purifying my soul.

I'm one that needs the schedule to keep with prayers and everything. And the structure and schedule of a convent fills my day with such pleasure that I feel I've lived out the day to the fullest as compared to the typical day outside the convent.

From times on retreats at convents, I could tell a huge difference in being able to stay away from distractions, and was better able to pray throughout the day, and be in awareness of God. And it really fired me up for spiritual reading.

It is so joyful and wonderful being able to completely live out poverty, chastity and obediance. Especially Franciscan poverty and Divine Providence! It is so freeing.

Praying, chanting and singing in community! The beauty, the pleasure, the joy.
[/quote]

[quote name='Tridenteen' date='30 July 2010 - 11:45 PM' timestamp='1280547950' post='2150127']
JMJ
That says just about everything I feel! I just have to add that extra time to pray for my priests and seminarians!
[/quote]

[ksterling]

Agree with most of the reasons others have posted. It never even occurred to me until I had been active in my parish for about a year and the pastor (who became my SD) approached me and asked if I'd ever considered it. We started to talk and he told me he had noticed how much I enjoyed teaching "sunday school" to the little kids and working with our youth group. I was really trying to make faith and religious devotion seem not corny or old fashioned or just not cool to the hip teens in our parish. He liked my approach and we began brainstorming about things to do with the teens. Everything has mushroomed from those initial conversations. I am currently discerning with the Apostles of the Sacred Heart in Hamden, CT. They have a great sense of community, an apostolate that appeals to me and a wonderful prayer life. They also treat me like an adult (even though they do use those annoying men's undershirts!)

[lookingforfaith]

[quote name='JoyfulLife' date='30 July 2010 - 09:28 PM' timestamp='1280539699' post='2150073']
Great questions.



I agree with what Shana said. Those things are certainly part of what draw me -- daily Mass, Adoration, giving my all to Him. Especially putting everything into His service as opposed to wasteful secular work. I want the apostolate I'm drawn to more than any secular work that's out there.

Number one, it is about falling in love with God and finding the order I can keep growing in love.

I'm drawn to the total abandonment and consecration of giving my total self and life to Jesus and having Him as my Spouse.

I know I'll find complete fullfillment, happiness, joy, love, peace in accepting the calling I was created for.

I know I'll better save my soul in the religious life, and grow in love and Holiness.

The community -- the love, laughter, friendship, support and fellowship of women in love with God.

The life and prayer of a religious can save souls and bring my loved ones into the Church.

Making up for stains of past sins, purifying my soul.

I'm one that needs the schedule to keep with prayers and everything. And the structure and schedule of a convent fills my day with such pleasure that I feel I've lived out the day to the fullest as compared to the typical day outside the convent.

From times on retreats at convents, I could tell a huge difference in being able to stay away from distractions, and was better able to pray throughout the day, and be in awareness of God. And it really fired me up for spiritual reading.

It is so joyful and wonderful being able to completely live out poverty, chastity and obediance. Especially Franciscan poverty and Divine Providence! It is so freeing.

Praying, chanting and singing in community! The beauty, the pleasure, the joy.
[/quote]

This is pretty much everything I wanted to say. Thanks!!

[organwerke]

[quote name='Sister Marie' date='03 March 2010 - 04:31 AM' timestamp='1267583488' post='2065661']
This may be a different answer but in my discernment and growth in understanding myself, I realized that I wanted to live a life of total self-gift to God and to His people. I envisioned a radical and all-encompassing lifestyle. I yearned for each moment to be filled with the holy. The total gift of self which I was longing for is present in my life as an apostolic religious. When I first began discerning I thought that I would definitely enter a contemplative/cloistered community but I soon realized that my gift was going to be different from what I had originally thought. Total can mean different things, it is how God has called us to give that makes it total!

I love that my days are packed with the work of God. Prayer, community, and apostolate are all the outpouring of my consecration and I am so grateful to God for all the opportunities I have to spread His love throughout the world. I find that I am being as true to myself and this call as I possibly can be in the apostolate of education. Spiritually, the Eucharist, Mary, the Incarnation, and the Passion of Jesus are my strongholds.

I really think that the gift of self is what vocation really comes down to. The question is, "In what way was I made to give myself to God entirely?" Many prayers that we all find out and are faithful to His will! God Bless!

Sister Marie
[/quote]

Called or not called to religious life, this is surely my favourite!

[OnlySunshine]

I think, when I was discerning, the thing that drew me the most to religious life is service and love to all of God's people. I wanted, more than anything, to be a spiritual mother to souls and imitate the Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary in their humble service to others.

Now that I am discerning life in the world as either a single person or a married person, I am trying to find ways to serve and love through potentially being a member of a Third Order Dominican community.

[elizabeth09]

Mainly the prayers.

[LaPetiteSoeur]

A peace. When I was figuring out what God wanted for me, I was never at peace saying "Oh, I want to be a mom and have twelve kids." And then three people asked me in quick succession if I'd ever thought about being a sister. It took me a year to openly admit it to anyone.

The idea of praying in community, being so close to Jesus in the Eucharist and in the apostolate is what attracts me to religious life, especially the Dominicans.

Dieu vous bénisse

[FutureSister2009]

Being A Bride of Christ. Living to serve Him and His people. As my Order is a Missionary Order, our goal is to bring Christ to those who do not know Him yet. I want to live only for Him and Our Lady. God has been so good to me. Living in prayer and praise for Him is all I ever want to do. I want to save souls.

[Tally Marx]

I feel drawn to the religious life for many reasons!
One is community. To live with and always be with others who Love Jesus as much as I do and who have the same ultimate goal as I--namely, sainthood!--who I will work and struggle with, who I can help and will help me is just so wonderful! I know it will get hard sometimes; there's a lot less privacy than I am used to (understatement) and it is a given that some will have habits I find annoying, and I will have habits they find annoying and I will get on their nerves and.... but, it is just so beautiful.
Another is apostolate. A secular job has one primary goal--to get money. You can have the most noble purpose for earning money (to support a family) but that is your first goal in the job and whether or not it directly serves God isn't as important. I know that this isn't a rule and there are some who don't do this, but isn't it natural, when you have a family to support, to ask "How much money will I make a year?" as opposed to "How much does this job involve evangelization?" or "Will this job make me holier?" etc. For lots of working people, their apostolate is separate from their work and their work detracts from it. For a religious, your "job" is your apostolate and that is serving God. Always. Also a problem for me is, I bounce. Everywhere. Like a ping-pong ball. I will start one project that I think is amesome and will quickly move on to another one before finished the first. Having a set job for God--having a real and set apostolate--wouldn't allow me to do that. Also--and this ties in with community--but you are doing it with other people who have the same goal.
A third reason is poverty. I like poverty. And face it, you can't live in the world with as little as a religious does.
A fourth is chastity, for Christ. I can marry Jesus! I'm not knocking Marriage by any means, but after dwelling on that idea for a while, it seems...blah...sort of... to marry a mortal man. You can marry Jesus or you can marry a guy. Put that way, the former is just so appealling.
Fifth: Prayer!!! In the world, you can't always go to Mass every day and Adoration or spend six hours in prayer.

That's some of my reasons. I know I haven't explained myself adequately by half, but I hope it makes a little sense, at least.

Oh, and I am discerning with the SsEWs.

[OnlySunshine]

I thought I answered this question when it was first posted, but I don't see it on here, so I guess I didn't.

I, too, am discerning with SsEWs along with TallyMarx and JoyfulLife.

The thing that first drew me to religious life was the witness to Christ's love and service to the Church. I met my first religious in December 2007 at a retreat during Advent and was just in awe of their beauty and humility. The way that they lived was just grace to me. Since my reversion, my mission in life, whether it be as a religious or not, was to imitate the Blessed Virgin Mary. One of my friends told me something that has stayed with me to this day: she believed that she saw the Blessed Virgin in me because I was a silent witness and I try to conduct myself like her. I never told her I wanted to be like the Virgin Mary--in fact, it was the day after my reversion and Confession! It stirred within me a great desire to serve God in a radical way. Since meeting more religious, I have come to the conclusion that their life is not all joy--it has it's own hardships, but there is a different joy--joy of the Cross.

I also have the deep desire to be able to live close to the Eucharist. To me, living in a convent is like living in a shrine to Jesus because the focus is totally on Him. Being able to attend Mass everyday with my Sisters and live in a community that holds the same desires and goals as I do would be heaven on earth.

I've tried to shed the romantic, rosy glasses outlook on religious life. I am trying to look at with a practical perspective and understand that I can't do this without God's grace. It is only He who can give me the vocation and if I don't have that grace, I won't persevere no matter how hard I try. I still believe that I will not be happy unless I at least TRY.

[Sarah147]

WOW! I totally agree with Tally and Mater. Excellent explanations, ladies!

Here's my original post to this thread: [url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?showtopic=103103&view=findpost&p=2150073"]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?showtopic=103103&view=findpost&p=2150073[/url]

Edited May 4, 2011 by JoyfulLife

[AccountDeleted]

I don't know why - it's either a disease or an aberration I guess.

.....

Oh yeah, I forgot to add... that once I was having a medical checkup by a doctor friend of the family prior to entering religious life, and when he read out the part that asked..."Any signs of mental illness?"

he answered out loud as he pretended to write down...

"Yes, wants to enter convent."

Edited May 4, 2011 by nunsense

[InPersonaChriste]

[quote name='nunsense' timestamp='1304518997' post='2236808']
I don't know why - it's either a disease or an aberration I guess.

.....

Oh yeah, I forgot to add... that once I was having a medical checkup by a doctor friend of the family prior to entering religious life, and when he read out the part that asked..."Any signs of mental illness?"

he answered out loud as he pretended to write down...

"Yes, wants to enter convent."


[/quote]

HAhahaha!
Yeah I know! When I visited the nuns in Chile my in-laws after saying goodbye to me after a very nice supper said "no monja!"

Which as i translate in my slow brain meant don't be a nun!

Edited May 4, 2011 by InPersonaChriste

[Sarah147]

[quote name='nunsense' timestamp='1304518997' post='2236808']
I don't know why - it's either a disease or an aberration I guess.

.....

Oh yeah, I forgot to add... that once I was having a medical checkup by a doctor friend of the family prior to entering religious life, and when he read out the part that asked..."Any signs of mental illness?"

he answered out loud as he pretended to write down...

"Yes, wants to enter convent."


[/quote]

Ha!

Do all orders have you fill out forms asking about mental health?

[InPersonaChriste]

[quote name='JoyfulLife' timestamp='1304522989' post='2236840']
Ha!

Do all orders have you fill out forms asking about mental health?
[/quote]

Most orders because they want to make sure you are sound in mind and body before entering. Though i remember hearing about when Mother Angelica just started to move out of her community to found PCPA in Birmingham and one nun chased her up the stairs with a butchers knife.. (In the book of her life....cant remember the exact name)

So you can see why they need to do this..