OnlySunshine Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 (edited) I hope your live-in goes very well and God speaks to your heart about His will and what He desires for you. I'll be praying for you! If you wouldn't mind praying for me please? I'll be making a "Come and See" at the end of August (God-willing) with a Dominican community. I'm not sure if God is calling me to this life, but I have to go there and find out. Edited May 25, 2010 by MaterMisericordiae Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laetitia crucis Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amor vincit omnia Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 Please be assured of my prayers for you as you prepare for your live-in with the Carmelites! God Bless You! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG45 Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 God bless you. May this live in give you a good view of His will for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTheresa Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 Many prayers nunsense!!! may God in His divine love give you everything you need in your discernment!! Have fun!!! Love and prayers, Jessica Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selah Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 I love you, nunsense Be safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccountDeleted Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 Ha - a thread to wish me well - how sweet are you guys? Thank you so much. Yes, I will pray for you MM, please remember me too. This is especially nice since I just received an email from someone who doesn't like me very much and who very charitably wrote me a list of all my faults and sins before I leave, so that I will be able to work on these while I am in Carmel. I do sometimes seem to inspire quite strong feelings of dislike in some people, so perhaps this person is right, I am not quite sure though if some of her complaints aren't just her own issues. She previously told me she would never write to me again because I said something in an email that offended her - she told me she was going to erase my email address from her contacts and block all future emails, so I was a bit surprised to get her message now, on the eve of my departure. I can only assume that she means it all in my own best interests, so I will print out her list and take it with me to see if God can help me work on all the things that she has observed in me. I wrote back to thank her for her wishes for my discernment. This is one of the reasons though that I don't want to reveal which community I am visiting right now. I have had some people who could almost be called internet 'stalkers' because they seem obsessed with me and what I am doing. This particular person has even threatened to phone my SD to tell him how horrible I am (though she doesn't know him or me personally) and a few years ago she phoned a Prioress about me to discuss my possible vocation to Carmel without asking my permission first. It felt very weird. It's things like this that make me cautious about how much I reveal online these days. The good thing is that there are so many wonderful and kind people here on phatmass as well, and this thread just restores my good feelings. So bless all of you for your kindness. And now to share something with all of you - my niece just sent me this lol_cat for a bon voyage wish. The poor kitty does not look happy so I hope she wasn't too traumatized by what they did to her and I would hate for anyone to take offence and to write me nasty emails about animal cruelty - please don't. I have had cats that don't mind what you do to them and some who love being in tight spaces, but not all are the same. I like to think that this kitty is saying "go away with your camera, this is my space" and not "help me please, I am being tortured". [img]http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/ab166/nunsense/phatmass%20photos/funny-pictures-cat-is-ramen.jpg[/img] Anyway, thank you all -- I have to get back to packing and sorting now. I am leaving a lot of things at my sister's house, but there is always last minute stuff to do..... [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/juggle.gif[/img] Much love to all in Our Lord and Our Beloved, Jesus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccountDeleted Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 [quote name='laetitia crucis' date='25 May 2010 - 12:06 PM' timestamp='1274753202' post='2116911'] [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/bigpray.gif[/img] [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/yahoo.gif[/img] [/quote] [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/blowkiss.gif[/img] [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/kiss.gif[/img] [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/grouphug.gif[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlySunshine Posted May 25, 2010 Author Share Posted May 25, 2010 [quote name='nunsense' date='24 May 2010 - 10:42 PM' timestamp='1274755358' post='2116953'] Ha - a thread to wish me well - how sweet are you guys? Thank you so much. Yes, I will pray for you MM, please remember me too. This is especially nice since I just received an email from someone who doesn't like me very much and who very charitably wrote me a list of all my faults and sins before I leave, so that I will be able to work on these while I am in Carmel. I do sometimes seem to inspire quite strong feelings of dislike in some people, so perhaps this person is right, I am not quite sure though if some of her complaints aren't just her own issues. She previously told me she would never write to me again because I said something in an email that offended her - she told me she was going to erase my email address from her contacts and block all future emails, so I was a bit surprised to get her message now, on the eve of my departure. I can only assume that she means it all in my own best interests, so I will print out her list and take it with me to see if God can help me work on all the things that she has observed in me. I wrote back to thank her for her wishes for my discernment. This is one of the reasons though that I don't want to reveal which community I am visiting right now. I have had some people who could almost be called internet 'stalkers' because they seem obsessed with me and what I am doing. This particular person has even threatened to phone my SD to tell him how horrible I am (though she doesn't know him or me personally) and a few years ago she phoned a Prioress about me to discuss my possible vocation to Carmel without asking my permission first. It felt very weird. It's things like this that make me cautious about how much I reveal online these days. The good thing is that there are so many wonderful and kind people here on phatmass as well, and this thread just restores my good feelings. So bless all of you for your kindness. And now to share something with all of you - my niece just sent me this lol_cat for a bon voyage wish. The poor kitty does not look happy so I hope she wasn't too traumatized by what they did to her and I would hate for anyone to take offence and to write me nasty emails about animal cruelty - please don't. I have had cats that don't mind what you do to them and some who love being in tight spaces, but not all are the same. I like to think that this kitty is saying "go away with your camera, this is my space" and not "help me please, I am being tortured". [img]http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/ab166/nunsense/phatmass%20photos/funny-pictures-cat-is-ramen.jpg[/img] Anyway, thank you all -- I have to get back to packing and sorting now. I am leaving a lot of things at my sister's house, but there is always last minute stuff to do..... [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/juggle.gif[/img] Much love to all in Our Lord and Our Beloved, Jesus. [/quote] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccountDeleted Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 Maybe some of you could give me advice here. I am leaving tomorrow so this isn't as big a deal as it could get I suppose but I am curious as to how others would handle this situation. I try so hard to be charitable, even when I disagree with the opinions of others, but like everyone else, I am human and get cranky or sound a bit short sometimes, and this comes across especially when I am writing because, let's face it, no body language to soften the comments. Above I mentioned about someone who had emailed me to list all my faults. I did not use anything to identify this person nor did I really go into any detail. I just stated that I found this upsetting and disturbing (to put it as charitably as I can) and to thank those of you here who have been so positive and supportive. Now this person has emailed me again (if I knew her username I might report her to the moderators for harrassing me but I don't, only her name and email address). She said that she has " indeed, blocked your email from my list so I wrote knowing I would not be receiving any response". So she wanted to write a nasty email to me but didn't want me to have any way to respond. She then complained that I had "decided to respond in a public forum, "tearing me apart, obviously meant for me to read." and asked me why I didn't also let you all know that she considers me to be "be exceedingly harsh and judgmental" - she says that this is probably because you would all concur with her. Honestly, I don't know what to do about this person. I don't know why she still has my email address if she dislikes me so much or why she keeps writing to let me know this! Do I just ignore her? Perhaps she wants you all to think as badly of me as she does... so here it is. I am harsh and judgmental sometimes and according to her this is going to be the reason why I probably won't succeed this time in Carmel either. Heavens, I know I am full of imperfections and that I can appear arrogant, but I don't mean to, and I certainly don't understand why I am the target of so much vitriol from someone I have never met. Surely my opinion about anything can't be that important, can it? If I post any more, she will probably write to me to tell me that I have repeated too much of what she wrote - I can't seem to stem the flow of acid that she writes. So what would any of you do about this? I can't reason with her privately because she keeps repeating that she has blocked my email and won't accept responses from me, despite the fact that she brings up old hurts and resentments about things I have written to her (misinterpreted in my opinion). This is very stressful for me at this time and I want to be as kind as I can but I think she is very disturbed. Do I just send her emails directly to the trash and not read them? I have always tried to respond and to make amends when I have hurt others, but this seems to go beyond what is reasonable to me. Help? [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccountDeleted Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 (edited) [quote name='BG45' date='25 May 2010 - 12:35 PM' timestamp='1274754939' post='2116940'] God bless you. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif[/img] May this live in give you a good view of His will for you! [/quote] [quote name='JTheresa' date='25 May 2010 - 12:38 PM' timestamp='1274755082' post='2116944'] Many prayers nunsense!!! [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/pray.gif[/img] may God in His divine love give you everything you need in your discernment!! Have fun!!! Love and prayers, Jessica [/quote] [quote name='Selah' date='25 May 2010 - 12:41 PM' timestamp='1274755260' post='2116950'] I love you, nunsense [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif[/img] Be safe. [/quote] Thank you all. I have really needed this kindness right now. It isn't an easy thing to keep going back over and over again and I appreciate the positivity of everyone here who keeps inspiring me. Prayers for all of you. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/signofcross.gif[/img] [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/pray.gif[/img] edited for typo Edited May 25, 2010 by nunsense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradMom Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 +Praised be Jesus Christ! Dear Nunsense, Blessings on your new experience. May it please God that you find peace and consolation in this Carmel; whatever happens - may it bring you even closer to Our Divine Savior! I have had some family issues, hence my absence here. I am almost certain you posted a while ago that you have closed comments and pm's - otherwise I would send this privately. As Holy Mother St. Teresa would say, "All things are passing..." I have sadly - firsthand & through others - encountered some very strange things on the Internet, which has greatly influenced my decision to keep personal details so private. I'm afraid the subject of religious life has the tendency of bringing out some very bizarre behavior in some people. I'm not sure why. From "play-acting" nun groups to men who find stories of nuns and their clothing to be inappropriately stimulating, I am often aghast. I recommend that you cease all contact with this person and put the list straight into the shredder! I have no doubt the Reverend Prioress, Novice Mistress and cmunity will come up with their own list for you to work on! Your life is for God alone; you have made that clear! We all struggle and we all stumble. It is most worthy to support in charity...a good reminder is to pull the plank out of our own eye, first! Let your heart be free, your step unfettered, your arms open! Do not let the enemy - in whatever means he appears - take your eye off your Beloved! I enjoy your writing, I wish the best for you, and praise God you have the courage of Christ Himself - to try again, again, again AND again! Please pray for us... Pax, TradMom [quote name='nunsense' date='25 May 2010 - 01:46 AM' timestamp='1274766381' post='2117104'] Maybe some of you could give me advice here. I am leaving tomorrow so this isn't as big a deal as it could get I suppose but I am curious as to how others would handle this situation. I try so hard to be charitable, even when I disagree with the opinions of others, but like everyone else, I am human and get cranky or sound a bit short sometimes, and this comes across especially when I am writing because, let's face it, no body language to soften the comments. Above I mentioned about someone who had emailed me to list all my faults. I did not use anything to identify this person nor did I really go into any detail. I just stated that I found this upsetting and disturbing (to put it as charitably as I can) and to thank those of you here who have been so positive and supportive. Now this person has emailed me again (if I knew her username I might report her to the moderators for harrassing me but I don't, only her name and email address). She said that she has " indeed, blocked your email from my list so I wrote knowing I would not be receiving any response". So she wanted to write a nasty email to me but didn't want me to have any way to respond. She then complained that I had "decided to respond in a public forum, "tearing me apart, obviously meant for me to read." and asked me why I didn't also let you all know that she considers me to be "be exceedingly harsh and judgmental" - she says that this is probably because you would all concur with her. Honestly, I don't know what to do about this person. I don't know why she still has my email address if she dislikes me so much or why she keeps writing to let me know this! Do I just ignore her? Perhaps she wants you all to think as badly of me as she does... so here it is. I am harsh and judgmental sometimes and according to her this is going to be the reason why I probably won't succeed this time in Carmel either. Heavens, I know I am full of imperfections and that I can appear arrogant, but I don't mean to, and I certainly don't understand why I am the target of so much vitriol from someone I have never met. Surely my opinion about anything can't be that important, can it? If I post any more, she will probably write to me to tell me that I have repeated too much of what she wrote - I can't seem to stem the flow of acid that she writes. So what would any of you do about this? I can't reason with her privately because she keeps repeating that she has blocked my email and won't accept responses from me, despite the fact that she brings up old hurts and resentments about things I have written to her (misinterpreted in my opinion). This is very stressful for me at this time and I want to be as kind as I can but I think she is very disturbed. Do I just send her emails directly to the trash and not read them? I have always tried to respond and to make amends when I have hurt others, but this seems to go beyond what is reasonable to me. Help? [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif[/img] [/quote] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccountDeleted Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 (edited) [quote name='TradMom' date='25 May 2010 - 04:32 PM' timestamp='1274769179' post='2117123'] +Praised be Jesus Christ! Dear Nunsense, Blessings on your new experience. May it please God that you find peace and consolation in this Carmel; whatever happens - may it bring you even closer to Our Divine Savior! I have had some family issues, hence my absence here. I am almost certain you posted a while ago that you have closed comments and pm's - otherwise I would send this privately. As Holy Mother St. Teresa would say, "All things are passing..." I have sadly - firsthand & through others - encountered some very strange things on the Internet, which has greatly influenced my decision to keep personal details so private. I'm afraid the subject of religious life has the tendency of bringing out some very bizarre behavior in some people. I'm not sure why. From "play-acting" nun groups to men who find stories of nuns and their clothing to be inappropriately stimulating, I am often aghast. I recommend that you cease all contact with this person and put the list straight into the shredder! I have no doubt the Reverend Prioress, Novice Mistress and cmunity will come up with their own list for you to work on! Your life is for God alone; you have made that clear! We all struggle and we all stumble. It is most worthy to support in charity...a good reminder is to pull the plank out of our own eye, first! Let your heart be free, your step unfettered, your arms open! Do not let the enemy - in whatever means he appears - take your eye off your Beloved! I enjoy your writing, I wish the best for you, and praise God you have the courage of Christ Himself - to try again, again, again AND again! Please pray for us... Pax, TradMom [/quote] Dear TradMom - thank you so much for your response. It means so much to me, especially coming from you. I shut down comments and PMs but left the email link open for anyone because I figured that at least that way I would see the sender's email address and feel a bit safer about replying. I don't mind that you posted here because I did ask for advice and help. Unfortunately I shared information with this person before I realized that she has some serious issues and seems to be obsessed with me and my vocation for some reason. She contacted me out of the blue and we wrote for awhile then she got angry at me about two years ago and stopped emailing but when I came back to Australia this time she started communicating with me again and I didn't want to hurt her feelings so once again I shared things with her that I shouldn't have but I got scared when she started talking about contacting my SD, not because of anything she might say, he is smart enough to figure out how to deal with that, but just because I had revealed too much information about myself and she knew his name, which meant that I was violating his privacy! I have always felt safe on phatmass but I realize now that personal information should stay personal. I even closed down my Facebook for that reason too and now I am almost a little paranoid about privacy. I am going to do what you said and just throw everything she writes into the email trash. I will also see if I can find a way to block her from my email account. I have never done this before to anyone but I think there is a feature that will automatically move things into the trash for me without reading. This is already a very intense time for me as I approach what might be my last opportunity to discern with a Carmelite Monastery and I want my heart and mind to be free for Jesus. It is hard enough to face all my faults without someone who obviously dislikes me trying to shake my confidence. Once again, thank you so much. I also appreciate what you said about my writing. I don't know if you meant here or if you read the book I wrote and posted online, but it is now with Ignatius Press being reviewed! Even if it gets published though, I have used a pseudonym, so no one will (hopefully) know that it is me except those few who read it online. I would love to be able to write something in the service of the Lord, but I am also perfectly happy to give that up for Him too. I enjoyed writing the book, but I love God more! [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif[/img] Must get back to my mending and packing. Who knew I could accumulate so much stuff in just nine months, since I left the last Carmel! What a pack rat! And will you pray for me too please? I remember phatmassers all the time in my prayers and appreciate so much when others remember me. Edited May 25, 2010 by nunsense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie-Therese Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 Nunsense, I think TradMom is right. This person obviously has some pain in her heart and has directed it toward you in what is blatantly inappropriate ways. While learning to accept the criticisms of others is a gift of charity, we are in no wise obliged to take every criticism from every person as valid. The Scripture admonishes us to test the spirits, and I think this includes also the spirit in which advice or criticism is given. As TradMom said, if you enter this community, part of your growth (as you know) will be to learn from your superiors what you should work on. I think the best thing you can do is offer sincere prayers for this person, offer an act of reparation for any unintended offense you might have caused her, and then commit her to the loving kindness of Jesus. You know that you have my prayers. May God make His will manifest in you. <3 MT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccountDeleted Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 [quote name='Marie-Therese' date='25 May 2010 - 05:22 PM' timestamp='1274772170' post='2117135'] Nunsense, I think TradMom is right. This person obviously has some pain in her heart and has directed it toward you in what is blatantly inappropriate ways. While learning to accept the criticisms of others is a gift of charity, we are in no wise obliged to take every criticism from every person as valid. The Scripture admonishes us to test the spirits, and I think this includes also the spirit in which advice or criticism is given. As TradMom said, if you enter this community, part of your growth (as you know) will be to learn from your superiors what you should work on. I think the best thing you can do is offer sincere prayers for this person, offer an act of reparation for any unintended offense you might have caused her, and then commit her to the loving kindness of Jesus. You know that you have my prayers. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/blowkiss.gif[/img] May God make His will manifest in you. <3 MT [/quote] Thank you Marie-Therese. Yes, I am aware that I have obviously hurt her, but I did think at the time that we were discussing theological issues via email and she took offence at my difference of opinion and closed all contact. So to hear back from her again in such a negative way and commenting on what she thought would make me fail in my discernment was just a bit disturbing since it had nothing to do with our theological difference of opinion and was an attack on me personally. But you are right in that I need to maker reparation to God for the unintended offence. It is such a good example of needing to 'put love where there is no love' and I have never been really good at that. My lessons are starting before I even get into the convent! I can see that God has a lot of work to do on me in so many ways, so once again I am grateful for this opportunity. thank you for your thoughtful reponse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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