Why Enter Religious Life?

[superblue]

  I have been considering a religious life off an on at least since highschool, I didn't really give a serious thought until I was laid off back in 09 and after being in the army and trying the civilian life out for awhile, I started realizing the only thing I really found true peace was at mass,  I get and still do get distracted during mass and in adoration, but the fact is, since I was baptized as a child I have always been catholic, an will always be a practicing one, no matter how my attitude fluxes, so I send out an email one day asking the diocese about a retreat for those discerning and next thing I know I am talking to a vocations director who is very kind, and trust worthy, but a major odd ball too, and I was getting a different view of the priesthood, and seminary life, I figured it was a good time to really put in an application and unfortunately I had no idea what I was doing. And I have expressed this journey in another thread, but what I learned is I do not have to be a priest or a religious to serve Christ, and more over a no at this point in time to the Priesthood did not mean a no forever, the only truth I can take from my experience is I was just not ready and it hurt a lot to be rejected, and I am still healing to a degree from it. And it wasn't even a rejection from God or Christ, I took a big step that some may never take and should, and chances are I am going to try again once I finish college and take care of some family issues here at home..  I think deep down I know I am being called to serve Christ in the Church as some kind of religious, be it a priest or brother or monk,  in this big family I just have to figure out where I fit.  And seeing how not everyone in every family gets a long or even agrees with each other all the time, that is hard to digest sometimes in the realm of the Catholic family.

 

 

And the reason, other than having this pesky notion pop up in my head periodically in my life,  Christ has done so much for me I can not begin and realizing how my guardian angel and others in heaven have heard my prayers, I started seeing how real Christ has been in my life and my relationship with Him keeps growing and I want to show that love back to Christ by serving Him, and taking the hardships and pains I have gone through and finding those who have or are going through similar and to bring Christ to them some how and help them out of the misery they are in.  I don't want to sit on the sidelines any more.

Edited July 14, 2014 by superblue

[petitpèlerin]

The part about being conformed to Christ really came together for me when I was on retreat and sitting in on a class about the vows. The priest teaching the class concluded it with "the vows are not there to free us but to conform us more closely to Christ"(he said it better but that was the general gist of it) That was a lightbulb moment for me. Because the whole argument that the vows leave one more free to love just never sounded right to me. (But it may make sense to some. Fot it clicked because one could say the same thing about marriage vows. I guess it made sense in my physic minded brain because in the science world an explanation has to work for both the general and the specific case.

 

It makes sense to my math brain, too. Explain to me how transformation works or show me the dynamics of it and I get it, mind blown. Tell me that Jesus loves me, well, that alone never did much for me.

[Credo in Deum]

 

Why Enter Religious Life?

 

 

To do God's will in all things, if it be God's will that I enter!

 

 

 

"All for Jesus!" --St. Mother Theresa.

 

[marigold]

It makes sense to my math brain, too. Explain to me how transformation works or show me the dynamics of it and I get it, mind blown. Tell me that Jesus loves me, well, that alone never did much for me.

Same here.

For me, it's the best, shortest, most joyous way to salvation. A big part of that includes the radicality of it, especially in the ways it brings you out of yourself and into the love of others.

[maximillion]

You all have such amazing insights pre-entry.

 

I didn't have any of this! I was sooo immature!

[TheresaThoma]

I think the other part for me is currently I am living in a community setting (not religious life) and I have found that a I have been given that grace to live in community and b communal life helps me to grow.

[1054]

Love this thread!  Such amazing responses -- it might have been the wrong one to read when out of props.  Kept forgetting and had that pesky message pop up telling I couldn't give any...

[incarnatewordsister]

I just wanted to give my whole life to God...and serve Him and His people alongside others who had done the same.

Edited July 16, 2014 by incarnatewordsister

[brandelynmarie]

Same here.

For me, it's the best, shortest, most joyous way to salvation. A big part of that includes the radicality of it, especially in the ways it brings you out of yourself and into the love of others.

Yes. :) This^^^. Over the years, I have watched all the sacrifices that my friends & family have made as moms & dads. It has then turned into, "How may I serve? How may I serve God & others with my life?" There will be sacrifices & sufferings in every state of life...mine, God willing that I enter, will just be a little different. ;) Edited July 16, 2014 by brandelynmarie

[Sister Marie]

Sorry it has taken me a while to answer any of these responses on this thread!  It's a great read!  I was hoping for some food for thought for myself as well and I think I have certainly found it.  Thanks for responding everyone.  I'll try to respond to some of the posts but it might take me a few days!  I was surprised when I saw three and then four pages here, haha.  

 

can i ask,

 

1) today, many women are well educated with many many skills. some are great at accounting. some are great at computers. some are good at maths. some are good at engineering. exceptionally good. and they love what they do. but most convents are either contemplative, OR active but with manual work like pottery, or nursing or teaching children only. so dont they feel their skills are wated?

 

2) what if the candidate is well educated, intelligent and loves reading and studying? dont they get frustrated and bored of not being able to do anything intellectual?

 

3) what if the convent becomes abusive toward the nun. she has nothing and so practuicaly cannot leave uinless she has a large wealthy family to get her out

 

4) what if the nuns promise you things like "if you want to do active work you can, if you want more contemplation then we can arrange that" so they give you e.g. the active work you seek until final profession. but then they make you be completely contemplative and you hate it and they lied. what happens?

 

5)what if the priest dies and a new priest comes, and the new priest is very modesrnist and makes the liturgy very jazzy and irreverent and the other nuns dont care. or what if the nuns decide to change their liturgy or office substantially, for example, discarding their habits and using an inclusive language breviary and enneagram. that might not be what you went in there for. what happens then?

 

1. I think you would be surprised by how many skills are used on a daily basis in religious life.  In community and ministry we are called to give all of ourselves and God has provided each of us with specific gifts with which to do this.  The sister who is wonderful at accounting might be asked to do the books, order the food, manage the money, buy new supplies, and plan for improvements for the convent.  The sister who is great at computers is often called upon for help from the others.  She might manage the community website or school website or parish website...  I don't think I would call nursing or teaching (I'm a teacher) manual labor. They require high levels of education and state certification and highly specialized skill sets.  I don't think I've ever met a sister who felt her skills were wasted because our days are constantly filled with the use of whatever God has given us.  Religious life has only served to stretch me into realizing skills I never thought I had.

 

2. Why do you think they don't get to do anything intellectual?  Spiritual reading, study of the Church documents, study of academic works of their area of concentration (education or nursing journals), news... the opportunities for study and personal academic pursuits are encouraged.  Even without material to read, growth in the spiritual life has an intellectual facet as well.  

 

3. You don't have to pay for someone to leave the convent and I don't know any convents who would want to keep someone they don't like.  (Even with this logic, abuse is a strong word to use and while I'm sure some emotional abuse certainly could and does occur, it is rare.  I also do not believe it is intentional but the result of lack of knowledge.)

 

4. This just doesn't happen.  You discern the community you want to join.  The community will have a corporate understanding of the place of ministry in their life and, in general, all sisters will live a similar balance of community, prayer, and ministry with the exception being those sisters who are ill or elderly.  You may be asked to do a ministry that isn't what you want - but you won't go from working 8 hours in ministry to working 0.

 

5. First, individual priests have no authority over the life of the religious.  They don't have a right to make any statements or decision over what the religious wears, how she prays, or how the community lives.  A diocesan community is under the authority of the bishop.  A pontifical community is under the authority of the Church.  I can only speak from the perspective of an active religious but because we are active, we live where we need to in order to minister to the people in that area.  If we don't like the way the priest says Mass we don't leave the people we are serving because of it.  Second, all communities change over time even if none of the changes are earth-shattering.  You can either fear those changes or trust that the members of the congregation to which God has called you will listen to the Holy Spirit, discern according to the proper law of their constitutions, and make decisions that you may or may not like but can accept in obedience and trust.  God is the only one in control here and we have to trust that God sent us where we were meant to be for the time we are meant to be there.

 

I'll try to respond to more posts later... thanks everyone.  SM

[chrysostom]

You all have such amazing insights pre-entry.

 

I didn't have any of this! I was sooo immature!

 

Maximillion, you didn't have phatmass back then. ;) Thanks for being so helpful to young 'uns like me.

[maximillion]

Ooooh! Out of props, but thank you for saying so.

[Sister Marie]

As someone applying to enter religious life, I have been thinking a lot about this lately. When people ask me why I want to enter a convent, it's sometimes hard to express myself and my feelings adequately - not because I don't know why, but because I can't completely describe it; because it's something I just feel deep within myself, and I can't always put a clear name to it. Though thinking about it now, I do believe it comes back to that realisation, as others have already mentioned, that I've fallen in love. I've felt a love so incredible, so unexpected; a love that needs to be responded to and that can't be turned away from; a love that exudes from me a restlessness, a joy, and a whispered "Fiat". It comes from the recognition that Jesus has given me Himself, completely and unreservedly, and I feel within myself the desire to give all that I am and all that I have back to Him, not just for my own sake but for the sake of others who are, as the Decade prayer says, "in most need of Thy mercy."

 

I love this Spem!  Even now when I look back on my own entrance, I realize that I'm only beginning to understand what my desire was as I discover the answer to it more and more in my community.  I think that this depth will continue to increase with each new experience.  The term "love" covers everything but the description of that love is definitely not easy to give to someone else.  

[Sister Marie]

<going back on topic>

 

I used to think I was called to a secular institute or the CV vocation. now I am not sure. I went in the convent and there was such a wonderful sense of self-giving. of, in particular, free will and of time. every minute is ordered around prayer of some sort. even the work was in a cell with the Blessedsacrament, and there was a bell for the angelus and office. also, the absence of distractions away from God helped to feel as theough every minute of the day was for God. For example, there was not the visiaul auditory or speech noise of everyday life. even just walking down a road has so many distractions - all the different things you see, looking both ways to cross the road, noticing advertising. all that was not there. there was no unnecessary speaking. the silence, rather than being an absence was actually a magnification of the sense of the presence of God. even what you wear points to God. What you eat (obedience).

 

for me, that was kind of what made me conseider religious life a lot more.

 

if someone is vaguely thinking they MIGHT be called, I suggest them to find the nearest orthodox convent and try it for a weekend. do not worry about the specifics of the charism. just to try the general 'religious life'.

 

It really is a gift to live under the same roof as the Blessed Sacrament - to be able to make frequent visits, to say good morning and good night, and to gather with the sisters as one body before Jesus' Body.  I'm in an active community so I wouldn't say our life is without distractions because we are working in the world.  Also, something you find once you are actually living the life instead of visiting it is that there are many distractions in the convent as well.  Very soon you start to be distracted by someone leaving something dirty or making an odd noise or even hurting your feelings for some perceived slight.  However, these are not really "distractions" because they are the substance of giving one's life to God.  They are the means through which we are able to grow closer to God.  This is why, for me, community is such a gift in growth both humanly and in the spiritual life.

[Sister Marie]

One may feel called to religious life generally but, as you say, Nunsuch, serious discernment includes an understanding of one's spirituality and particular charism. If one is attracted to cloistered life, it is probably because one feels called to a life of silence and solitude and prayer in community. If one is attracted to active life, there is often an affinity for a particular type of apostolate, such as teaching or nursing or mission work. I came to understand my own vocation through spiritual direction when my SD told me that he thought I was a contemplative. That got me thinking and in time it became clear to me too that prayer was my charism.

 

The important thing in oremus' post was the emphasis on 'self-giving. of, in particular, free will and of time'. [sic]  I liked that statement.

 

I agree with everything you wrote here, nunsense!  It's always good to "see" you here.

 

I was thinking about this discernment of charism and spirituality and how difficult it really is to authentically discern this.  While God works with attraction, there is a temptation to believe that the charism and spirituality we are called to is the one that matches our checklist of important things.  It would be easy to say, "I am called to a community that has A, B, C, and D.  I found a community that has A, B, C, and D and so that is where I am called."  I know no one makes decisions that simplistically but to illustrate the idea I thought it best to keep it simple.  However, when I think about my own relationship with the charism of my community it would not have had all or many of the checklist items I would have had.  Rather, the charism and spirituality is almost an antidote to my own human failings.  The areas in myself that need God's grace are touched, healed, and redeemed by the practice of the charism.  That is how I know that that charism is for me and in me.  It also gives me great joy and makes me a better person as I strive to live it out.

 

I think this is why spiritual direction is so important because we often need someone who is able to help us navigate through the clouds about ourselves into the truth of ourselves so we can make decisions based on who we truly are.