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veritasluxmea

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Spem in alium

I called! The vocation directress answered directly :shocking: I was expecting an answering machine! We had a short talk where I just introduced myself and we set up a time to speak further, she had an appointment so it was short. I'm filling out an interview form and we probably will talk in about a week or so. I'm going to be very open about where I'm at, but like MM said I think they're very good with discernment and have a focus on finding out where God wants someone to go, even if it's to marriage or another community. Which is what I want too! Yeesh, I'm getting all excited again like when I was 17. :hehe2:

This is wonderful! Congratulations on making that step and giving them a call -- it is hard. And very good that you're prepared to be open. Honesty and openness are essential. I'm so glad things are moving for you and will pray for a peaceful heart. :) 

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OnlySunshine

I called! The vocation directress answered directly :shocking: I was expecting an answering machine! We had a short talk where I just introduced myself and we set up a time to speak further, she had an appointment so it was short. I'm filling out an interview form and we probably will talk in about a week or so. I'm going to be very open about where I'm at, but like MM said I think they're very good with discernment and have a focus on finding out where God wants someone to go, even if it's to marriage or another community. Which is what I want too! Yeesh, I'm getting all excited again like when I was 17. :hehe2:

That's amesome that you reached them on the first try!  I remembered when I mailed the Initial Interview form on May 2009, after coming back from being with a Carmelite community (a different one than I mentioned before).  I thought it was the right thing to do since the CFR Sisters were visiting our diocese for a short mission conference.  Admittedly, I moved too fast since I had applied to the Carmelites and decided to rescind my application after visiting them a second time.  I didn't hear from Sr. Francis (the former VD) until October 2009 and I wasn't able to visit until January 2010.  Quite a wait!  Sr. Mary Pieta is a great VD.  I've met her before, after I stopped discerning with the CFRs and she was very nice.

Edited by MaterMisericordiae
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Definitely get in touch with the FSR sooner rather than later. Maybe you are called there and maybe you aren't, the only way to know is to get in touch. It can be hard to find peace if you still have some "open doors" in your discernment.

This is very good advice. I've had that 'open door' feeling and it has been difficult to tell whether this is just restless fidgeting caused by stress in my life (in which case the best remedy is perseverance - doubts accompany all of us sometimes, even when we're in exactly the right place!) or whether I should visit the community that's on my mind and 'close the door'. After some consideration, I have decided to go to that community on retreat - not a discernment retreat, just to spend some time alone with God, as I try to do every year. I fully expect the retreat to confirm that I am in the right place, but at least the possibility that I'm not will no longer be itching at me.

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HopefulHeart

This is an interesting thread, since I'm going through something very similar. I've attended several retreats with the Daughters of St. Paul, and really like their charism, but I also still feel some attraction to a community that I visited a couple of years ago. I had such a sense of joy when I visited this community, and I felt I should reconnect with them. So I ended up sending an email to the VD yesterday.

I think of this as the discerner's version of a love triangle. :P

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:o)Katherine:o)

I think of this as the discerner's version of a love triangle. :P

Great way of putting it Hopeful Heart! :)

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I don't want to create another thread for a near-identical topic so I will just tag on here. I hope you don't mind, Veritasluxmea. I need to choose dates for my 'closing the door' retreat. The novice mistress for the community has thrown me a curveball as she believes I might have a genuine vocation there, so the door may go wide open instead, which makes me feel a bit nervous. I hadn't expected this. I have decided to schedule the retreat for October or November, before Advent, as I want it to be an ordinary liturgical season when I go. I think that will give me a better, more down-to-earth picture of the community. Please pray for me. This is very different from anything I'd seriously thought about for myself. My deepest feeling is still that I'm in a good steady place where I am, but I know that if I don't go to visit these nuns then I will have no peace from the 'what ifs'. So off I go.

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I don't want to create another thread for a near-identical topic so I will just tag on here. I hope you don't mind, Veritasluxmea. I need to choose dates for my 'closing the door' retreat. The novice mistress for the community has thrown me a curveball as she believes I might have a genuine vocation there, so the door may go wide open instead, which makes me feel a bit nervous. I hadn't expected this. I have decided to schedule the retreat for October or November, before Advent, as I want it to be an ordinary liturgical season when I go. I think that will give me a better, more down-to-earth picture of the community. Please pray for me. This is very different from anything I'd seriously thought about for myself. My deepest feeling is still that I'm in a good steady place where I am, but I know that if I don't go to visit these nuns then I will have no peace from the 'what ifs'. So off I go.

Good for you! I'll be crossing my fingers for you. And my torso, I suppose ;)

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Spem in alium

I don't want to create another thread for a near-identical topic so I will just tag on here. I hope you don't mind, Veritasluxmea. I need to choose dates for my 'closing the door' retreat. The novice mistress for the community has thrown me a curveball as she believes I might have a genuine vocation there, so the door may go wide open instead, which makes me feel a bit nervous. I hadn't expected this. I have decided to schedule the retreat for October or November, before Advent, as I want it to be an ordinary liturgical season when I go. I think that will give me a better, more down-to-earth picture of the community. Please pray for me. This is very different from anything I'd seriously thought about for myself. My deepest feeling is still that I'm in a good steady place where I am, but I know that if I don't go to visit these nuns then I will have no peace from the 'what ifs'. So off I go.

Praying for you through St Joseph's intercession. God bless you.

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I too hope no one minds me adding this here since its at least on the topic of a discerner's version of a love triangle.  Id been torn between two loves in the past but thought it had been settled.  Just recently though the flame I thought had been settled sparked up again and has left me a bit confused. :topsy:

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I too hope no one minds me adding this here since its at least on the topic of a discerner's version of a love triangle.  Id been torn between two loves in the past but thought it had been settled.  Just recently though the flame I thought had been settled sparked up again and has left me a bit confused. :topsy:

So what's the plan of action? :)

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So what's the plan of action? :)

The first thing I did was to sleep on it, the second thing Im going to do is pray about it and see if the Holy Spirit cant give me a little light into this.  Ill read some stuff by St Ignatius of Loyola because he always keeps me grounded as well.  :)

I will also discuss with my best friend who isnt short on opinions or pieces of her mind! :P

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IgnatiusofLoyola

The first thing I did was to sleep on it, the second thing Im going to do is pray about it and see if the Holy Spirit cant give me a little light into this.  Ill read some stuff by St Ignatius of Loyola because he always keeps me grounded as well.  :)

I will also discuss with my best friend who isnt short on opinions or pieces of her mind! :P

You know what she'll tell you--namely that all this could be resolved if you'd just give in and become a Dominican! :smile2:

Kidding aside, I'll be praying for you.

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veritasluxmea

I don't want to create another thread for a near-identical topic so I will just tag on here. I hope you don't mind, Veritasluxmea.

I don't mind at all. :) I like reading about other people's experiences and thoughts- it's what attracted me to phatmass in the first place. 

 

Edited by veritasluxmea
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