Private Vows in The Laity/Spirituality

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[Guest]

Just did another quick view count over the last 3 days.  The number of views daily is definitely around 80 per day and stabilizing around the 80's.  This is an indication for me that there is interest in this thread that has doubled since I posted the thread first in January 2014 - and therefore worth continuing to post.

The thread is specific to lay people since it is my own chosen state of life and an important state of life in The Church, which Vatican II and the post VII years has been at great pains to underscore.

I have made private vows to the evangelical counsels - I felt a strong call to do so affirmed by spiritual direction.  My Archbishop gave his permission for me to have a Home Mass to renew life private vows.  This took place on 15th August, Solemnity of The Assumption.  My spiritual director (priest religious) celebrated The Mass.

 Vatican Council II
Lumen gentium 31-33

LAITY

Witnesses because of the gifts they have received

 

The laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven. They are called there by God that by exercising their proper function and led by the spirit of the Gospel, they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven. In this way they may make Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity. Therefore, since they are tightly bound up in all types of temporal affairs it is their special task to order and to throw light upon these affairs in such a way that they may come into being and then continually increase according to Christ to the praise of the Creator and the Redeemer…

The lay apostolate… is a participation in the salvific mission of the Church itself. Through their baptism and confirmation all are commissioned to that apostolate by the Lord himself. Moreover, by the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, that charity toward God and man which is the soul of the apostolate is communicated and nourished. Now the laity are called in a special way to make the Church present and operative in those places and circumstances where only through them can it become the salt of the earth. Thus every layman, in virtue of the very gifts bestowed upon him, is at the same time a witness and a living instrument of the mission of the Church itself, "according to the measure of Christ's bestowal" (Eph 4:7)…

Upon all the laity, therefore, rests the noble duty of working to extend the divine plan of salvation to all men of each epoch and in every land. Consequently, may every opportunity be given them so that, according to their abilities and the needs of the times, they may zealously participate in the saving work of the Church.   http://dailygospel.org/M/AM/ 

___________________

My way of life is no different from any other person in the Laity, except that I have a Rule of Life (approved) to which I am privately bound by vow of obedience.  This Rule of Life spells out how I am to live out Poverty, Chastity and Obedience within the Laity as defined by The Church (or the evangelical counsels).  It is a mark of this way of life that there is nothing identifiable to isolate me from any other person in the Laity.

At the moment, I have no spiritual director, since my director and I seem to have arrived at a point where we cannot agree.  I will be seeking out a new director and hopefully a religious sister.  I have now, in my probably over 35 years of living under private vows, been directed by priests and one religious sister.  I seem to be better 'attuned' to a religious sister.  Thankfully, the Home Mass to renew life private vows has taken place and nothing can take that from me.  I did not undertake being directed by a priest religious in order to have the Home Mass - that was incidental since my director at the time was a priest and he approached The Archbishop at his own decision, although I had raised the subject with him of possibly having a Home Mass for the purpose of renewing life vows.

But just now, everything is on hold until after surgery.

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Edited September 3, 2017 by BarbaraTherese

[Guest]

As something of a PS, my disagreement with my spiritual director was over a teaching of The Church - it was not a disagreement over something minor or unimportant in the whole picture.

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Important Documents related to Church Teaching on the Laity - from USCCB website

 

[Guest]

From "Called and Gifted for the Third Millenium"

http://www.usccb.org/about/laity/called-and-gifted-for-the-third-millennium.cfm

Excerpt   "Because the laity's call to holiness is a vocation in every sense of the word, it makes demands and poses challenges. Many challenges are embedded in the call to holiness on this eve of a new era, but we have raised up three as particularly apt for our time: (1) to make an explicit connection between holiness and active service, especially to the poor and vulnerable; (2) to recognize that human suffering—so much a part of the laity's life—can be the catalyst for them to carry forth the Church's healing ministry in diverse ways; (3) to reappropriate the Church's tradition of a simple lifestyle in light of the pressing need for justice, as well as preserving the earth for ourselves and for generations to come.

The laity's call to holiness is a gift from the Holy Spirit. Their response is a gift to the Church and to the world."

[Guest]

I am watching the final minutes of "The Monastery Revisited" on You Tube.  One of the Benedictine Monks says "Blessed are the cracked, for they let the light in".

That gave me a laugh rather than a giggle.  A bit of quick research says that the quote is from Groucho Marx.

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Carmelite Nuns of Christchurch - Vocation Video

The beautiful hymn in this video is one of my favourities

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Foster Son

Just got some really good news.  My foster son is back in my home state and planning to settle here permanently if all goes well I think.  He arrived last Saturday.  Both my sons are hard to predict, play things close to their chest and this means they can suddenly announce something unexpected, even something major. 

It can go a bit hard on Mum at times, who can find it difficult that they are no longer children - no longer in need of Mum's control, her advice now and then only. 

It is great to have one of my sons any way back in my home state and able to visit now and then. 

I know all the right words at times, living them out on all subjects is not so easy as the writing of them. 

[Guest]

"Life is the mystery journey between two eternities"

Examples of Living The Little Way are towards the end of the Video.

[Pax17]

We who read this thread  appreciate the spiritual "food for thought" you provide.

I loved the Carmelites from Christchurch video...I think I even saw a glimpse of the wonderful Sister Cushla...her smile and enthusiasm are contagious...:)

 

 

[Guest]

I agree about the food for thought. 

I liked the NZ video too - I thought it was a quite good video for a vocation video as well as a peek into life in Carmel.

[Pax17]

Yes, they did an excellent job on the video, very down to earth.  I especially liked the directness of the question "How long have you been behind bars?" and the frank response of the sister who's been a religious for more than 60 years.

[Guest]

It is wonderful to see nuns especially, who have been so long enclosed to have such radiant faces and obvious joy.  It must be a confusing matter for those who have no understanding of the vocation.  It is well answered indeed that God abundantly equips for the particular call and vocation.

Out here in the mess and hurly burly that secular life can be, at times I can long for the routine and quiet of a very strictly enclosed monastery............until I think rationally about it and I know beyond doubt where I am is where I belong and where, indeed, I am happy and fulfilled in all the mess and hurly burly.

It is pretty much as enclosed nuns at times might find themselves longing for marriage and children.  It passes.

Edited September 5, 2017 by BarbaraTherese

[Guest]

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Monsignor Ronald Knox has said:

  “I am not advocating world-movements or public meetings... my appeal is rather to the individual conscience than to the public ear; my hope is rather to see the emergence of a Saint, than that of an organization...

  “There is no harm in besieging heaven for the canonization of such and such holy persons now dead. But should we not do well to vary these petitions of ours by asking for more Saints to canonize?” http://www.universalis.com/today.htm

 

 

Second Reading Office of Readings 5th September 2017

http://www.universalis.com/readings.htm

The Imitation of Christ

The Truth of the Lord endures for ever

You thunder your judgements upon me, O Lord; you shake all my bones with fear and dread, and my soul becomes severely frightened. I am bewildered when I realise that even the heavens are not pure in your sight.

  If you discovered iniquity in the angels and did not spare them, what will become of me? The stars fell from heaven, and I, mere dust, what should I expect? Those whose works seemed praiseworthy fell to the depths, and I have seen those who once were fed with the bread of angels take comfort in the husks of swine.

  There is no holiness where you have withdrawn your hand, O Lord; no profitable wisdom if you cease to rule over it; no helpful strength if you cease to preserve it. If you forsake us, we sink and perish; but if you visit us, we rise up and live again. We are unstable, but you make us firm; we grow cool, but you inflame us.

  All superficial glory has been swallowed up in the depths of your judgement upon me.

  What is all flesh in your sight? Can the clay be glorified in opposition to its Maker?

  How can anyone be stirred by empty talk if his heart is subject in the truth to God?

  If a man is subject to truth, possession of the whole world cannot swell him with pride; nor will he be swayed by the flattery of his admirers, if he has established all his trust in God.

  For those who do nothing but talk amount to nothing; they fail with their din of words, but ‘the truth of the Lord endures for ever’.

[Guest]

I have received today two very real lingering consolations.  Consolations that underscore and remind me once again that I can do absolutely naught on any level at all without God.

 Deo Gratius!

Laudate Dominum

Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God —the rest will be given.

- Mother Teresa