Talents

[savvy]

How important is it too seek out one's talents when discerning, in terms of what one has to offer a community?  Among the advice that I was given by the Jerusalem sister, was to detach from their community, and find out who I am as a person, and where I fit in.  I did not give it much consideration, because I kept reminding myself that a vocation is not a career.  Or is this a case where God might be speaking through other people, about the desires of my heart and the gifts he has given me?

 

 

Happy New Year to Everybody. I hope this year brings you lots of peace, good health, and abundant grace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nikita92]

Does one have to have a talent for a community?? I am a security officer/ xray-screener..How would a community utilize my talent?? Lol Guess I could be the one dealing with people on the outside...

[petitpèlerin]

I'm good at repairing bicycles, fixing stuff around the house, and driving. I happen to have developed unusual skills for a woman, and I think those would be valuable to a community of women, but I don't think that's the sort of talent that's important to vocation.

 

More broadly, in the last year or so I've learned a lot about myself, or at least come to understand some things I already knew. The fact that I can fix bicycles is an acquired skill; the fact that I have a very mechanical mind and am driven to understand how things work is a talent. Some people are naturals at meeting new people and bringing them into a group. I'm not, but I admire that talent. To me, this is one part of self-knowledge: understanding how you work, what your function is in society; not by the skills that you've developed, but in what you do most naturally just by being yourself. Are you a sensitive person? Sensitivity is a gift. Are you a rational person? That's a gift, too. Do you have a tendency to be more concerned for others than for yourself? That's a gift, but not a sign of sanctity in itself; some people need to learn to love themselves as much as they love others; others (like myself) are more naturally selfish and need to learn to love others as much as themselves. I think it's important to think about the different talents people have, how God made them to be used for the good of others in a community, and try to recognize one's own. Right now I'm trying to recognize them in everyone around me and I'm fascinated by the diversity of gifts God gives us in our personalities. It's true that everyone has valuable talents.

 

Another good thing to know is whether you're an introvert or extrovert: are you energized being around people and feel a bit wonky when you're alone too long (extrovert), or does being around people use up your energy and you have to be alone to recharge (introvert)? Many extroverts are called to the contemplative life, and many introverts are called to the apostolic life, but it's just good to know this kind of thing about yourself. Personally, I'm extremely introverted, with strong hermitic tendencies (temperamentally speaking), and I've just assumed that meant that if I have a religious vocation it would be to a fully contemplative life. Turns out, I was wrong.

 

Beyond temperament, personality, and talents are vocation, and we have to seek the deepest desires of our hearts, but I do think that understanding those other things helps us to see ourselves and our vocations more clearly. Very much so.

Edited January 1, 2013 by petitpèlerin

[PadrePioOfPietrelcino]

Does one have to have a talent for a community?? I am a security officer/ xray-screener..How would a community utilize my talent?? Lol Guess I could be the one dealing with people on the outside...

Everyone has a talent. We often think of talent and HOBBY kind of going together, oh she is great at playing the piano, or wow he can do...Our talent can be much more than a job, it is a skill or a natural thing that comes to us something that God has blessed us with a certain ability. One of my talents is I learn very quickly and can learn almost any kind of crafting/ handiwork skill in short order at a very passable level. I have self taught myself ALOT of things from the written. I use this as an example to encourage you to look beyond just the mundane and you wil find you ARE a talented individual.

[Sister Marie]

I agree that talents are more than hobbies and have much more to do with self-knowledge than being able to "do" something.  When beginning formation in religious life its helpful have some understanding and appreciation for the gifts that God has already given so that when you meet challenges you can respond with your true self and not react.  Knowing your talents is part of being grounded as a person.  Eventually, in life and in religious formation, you are stretched to do things that you wouldn't want to do and you will discover that God has given you even more talents, more gifts than you previously imagined.  Sometimes when you are stretched you will realize something that isn't your talent, haha, and when that happens you can be at peace knowing that God has given you gifts in abundance and is asking you to grow in some other way through the difficult experience. 

 

In some situations you will be asked to do something in community that you know for sure you are not good at.  Knowing that, and knowing what talents you do have, will allow you to say "Yes, I'll do that and do my best even though I know it won't be perfect and there is someone who can probably do it better than I can."  It allows us to be open to following God's will which guides us while using our talents, our imperfections, and even what the world would consider failures for His plan.

 

As it is New Years, I was looking back on my past few years at my current mission and I am filled with awe at all the things God brought out of me, brought me out of, and blessed me with.  It is rarely easy but in hindsight I can see so many blessings that have come through this part of my journey in religious life.

[savvy]

Thank you for sharing your insights with me.  I am not the captain of a ship, or the life of a party. I do not go around organizing things. I am a single-task person. I can focus my attention for hours on a given project, or person, I am detail-oriented, and quite and reflective.

 

I like to study and am drawn towards beauty, either natural or created.

 

Since many of you are familiar with different spiritualities. Do you have any recommendations for me?

 

 

 

Edited January 1, 2013 by savvy

[Antigonos]

One of the lists I contribute to helps new immigrants, and those planning to move to Israel, with practical advice. Finfing work here is a major question. I tell folks to make a list not only of all formal and informal education, and jobs, all the way back to high school, but also all skills and hobbies. Often something quite "frivolous" can be parlayed into a new profession entirely-- i know, for example, three rabbis who quickly realized that Israel already has enough rabbis--one became an all-round "jobnik" who does small repair and moving jobs, another opened a washing machine repair business (he'd tinkered with machines as a way of relaxing for years), and a third made a business of organizing weddings and bar mitzvahs for US families who wanted to celebrate in Israel. none of them had ever expected to do any of this prior to aliyah; they had always been in academic settings. For that reason my advice to anyone trying to choose to contnue school or enter religious life, would be to finish one's education first, and get a bit of "life experience" under one's belt first.

I'm a midwife, but I also knit and crochet, cook (and studied dietetics in nursing school--I'm sure that ageing communities have sisters with special dietary needs, and everyone appreciates tasty, even if restricted, meals). I could assist an Infirmarian; I sew, and like to garden. I've done office work; can write a fairly literate sentence, touch-type 60words a minute. Now, a good deal of this wouldn't go on a standard CV, but these "everyday skills" can be very valuable in community life, I expect.

[Sister Marie]

Thank you for sharing your insights with me.  I am not the captain of a ship, or the life of a party. I do not go around organizing things. I am a single-task person. I can focus my attention for hours on a given project, or person, I am detail-oriented, and quite and reflective.

 

I like to study and am drawn towards beauty, either natural or created.

 

Since many of you are familiar with different spiritualities. Do you have any recommendations for me?

 

 

 

 

Dear Savvy,

 

I don't have any suggestions in regards to what spirituality you should be looking at in religious life but I have a comment in general about that.  I think sometimes there is a temptation or desire to match oneself with a spirituality that suits one.  In some aspects this is appropriate but there are some other factors involved.  This is certainly not a theological treatise on this topic but just some of what I have discovered in my own life.  I think our "spirituality" picks us in a way and not because it suits us but because we need it.  Our spirituality is like the lenses from which we are able to navigate our way through a life with Christ to our end goal, life with him forever in Heaven.  In light of that I think we have to look at our gifts and talents but also our failures and what we lack.  The spirituality that bests suits us doesn't match us but upholds our gifts and calls those darker areas in ourselves to redemption. 

 

If I might give an example from my own life, one of my gifts is being very academically oriented.  I love to study and learn.  The darker side of me that is connected to this gift is that I can sometimes overlook people in search of truth.  I can become rigid because I am a perfectionist and I lose sight of the purpose of the search for truth, which is the search for love.  The spirituality my community follows is that of St. Alphonsus and the Redemptorist congregation.  Saint Alphonsus was brilliant and wrote over a hundred works on the spiritual life but always his focus was on bringing others to God.  Even though he was extremely well educated he realized that love of God was paramount and he worked his whole life to bring that redeeming love to the people who were often neglected by the Church.  I find that in this way (and many others not relevant to this discussion) this lens from which I've come to view my journey with Christ both upholds my gifts but also aids in redeeming the things in me that don't uphold God's kingdom.  In short the spirituality both sustains me and challenges me at the same time. 

 

I think too that it is rare to be able to research and decide what spirituality speaks most to you in that way.  It has to be lived and experienced and examined to see if it is the lens from which you can most clearly see God and the goal of eternal life with Him. 

 

I hope that helped more than complicated.  Prayers for you as you discern!

[savvy]

Sister Marie,

 

Thanks for your response. The reason why I am asking this question, is because this is what the community I am discerning with, told me to do. They have a concern that their way of life, might be a bit fast for me, even though they are a monastic community. They live centre-city, and have part-time jobs. I love them, but they have this concern.  They want me to find a community whose rythym I can work with, so I do not feel the need to rush, because that would not be monastic.

 

 

 

[emmaberry101]

SAVVY QUOTE:
<br />
Thank you for sharing your insights with me. I am not the captain of a ship, or the life of a party. I do not go around organizing things. I am a single-task person. I can focus my attention for hours on a given project, or person, I am detail-oriented, and quite and reflective.<br />
<br />
I like to study and am drawn towards beauty, either natural or created.<br />
<br />
Since many of you are familiar with different spiritualities. Do you have any recommendations for me?

Dear savvy,

Franciscans. It seems that I am a lot like you (I used almost all your key words on my cloister application), and I am joining the Poor Clares. I fear though that you have already considered the Franciscans and discerned they were not for you. If you have not done so, definitely check them out! Your love of beauty and goodness (Pax et bonum!) will be satisfied with a profound appreciation for nature, music, drama, poetry, etc. I identify with you being able to focus on one task for hours (for me, usually until it is finished!) a cloister bell might be decidedly hazardous for both of us-stopping our work then and there at the bell. St Therese was so adept at this that, if she were writing, she would not finish the word she was on at the chime of the bell.

Sister Marie is so right though about your spirituality really finding you and being what you need, rather than what traditionally fits or what you might want. I know when I was researching the Poor Clares there was almost zero attraction.. Then I visited (only because my friend planned to visit too) and bam the grace of the Holy Spirit fell. Your spirituality, and furthermore, your community find you. In my Ian experience, and I suspect many others' as well, my Sisters' charism has led me to further self knowledge, given me things I was lacking in that I didn't even realize were deficit before, and given me great peace and inner joy.

I am sorry about your community counseling you to discern with others, that is tough but it is often a clear indicator of God's voice.

Blessed New Year, savvy!

[savvy]

Emmaberry,

 

Thanks for your response. I do not have cloistered Franciscans close to where I live or even in another city. I always thought of them as the green people, or that someone might have to like animals a lot. 

 

The ones on my list are the cloistered Carmelites, who I plan on spending a few days with, and the other are the cloistered Dominicans. They are all the down in Vancouver, but I am willing to consider them, because of their work with monastic arts, baking, and the natural beauty they are surrounded by. it also helps that they have an intellectual tradition, But, as Sister Marie, says, you never know until you actually visit a community. I am so glad that you have found the right one for you.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 1, 2013 by savvy

[Sister Marie]

Dear Savvy,

 

I'm sorry this is such a hard time for you but the searching in and of itself is going to bring you closer to finding who you are in the spiritual tradition of the Church and the religious life of a congregation.  You already have some clues because of your interaction with the community about your talents, needs, and desires.  They gave you some more pieces of evidence with which to work towards finding God's will for you and that is a good thing albeit a difficult one right now. 

 

If I might ask, what really attracted you to this community?  That could be another clue as to where God is leading you. 

[savvy]

Emmaberry,

 

 

P.S. I did find Franciscan sisters in Canada!  Do you think I should write to a community, and let them know this aspect of my personality before I visit, to see what they recommend?

 

 

 

[petitpèlerin]

Franciscan is a good one. But I'm biased because I'm a Franciscan. What I love about Franciscans is their simplicity, their childlike trust in God, and their radical living of the gospel. I knew I was one when I got to know my priest, who is my spiritual father, and realized that his approach to life is like mine, except that he knew it and lived it better. It was like coming home. I love Dominicans, but for me the path to God is Franciscan simplicity, not Dominican truth. I love Carmelites, too, but I recently read something on a Carmelite website about the essence of the spirit of Carmel and felt affirmed that it wasn't exactly me.

 

Another one worth looking into is the Community of St John (I know I mentioned it before: I'm sort of biased because I'm studying with them right now and love them.) They study a lot of philosophy and theology (always for the sake of going deeper into the truth and ultimately contemplation), have a sense of beauty (and a high value of art and artisans, which their members are encouraged to pursue if they're so inclined), and they're all about just remaining close to the hearts of Jesus and Mary, like St John was. (This community is full of intellectuals and artists, leaders and followers, do-ers and be-ers, every kind of person.) I also find they have a liveable schedule, especially the contemplative sisters who don't have any apostolate outside of prayer. You asked in another thread about their e-mail address. They don't have any listed but their American website is www.communityofstjohn.com. You can find their contact information there, or link to their international website. And you mentioned you're in northern Canada? I don't know how old you are but they have a 10-day summer institute in Alaska this summer for young adults (18 to 35) that will be led by brothers and sisters of the community.

Edited January 1, 2013 by petitpèlerin

[savvy]

If I might ask, what really attracted you to this community?  That could be another clue as to where God is leading you. 

 

Sister Marie. Yes, this is hard. I can't figure out where God is leading me. What attracted me to them was their liturgy, their unique charism, of being monks in the city. They are very French, which was different for me, but I felt right at home. They also have desert days, where they go away from the city. I loved being out in a hermitage, but equally at home with the community in the city.

 

Edited January 1, 2013 by savvy