glasses and religious life

[MarysLittleFlower]

Maybe this is kind of a funny question but let's say you wear glasses. If you become a nun do you just bring your glasses with you and keep them, despite the vow of poverty? I'm only asking that cause I might be getting glasses and I got curious

[vee]

the short answer is yes you bring your own glasses and no you dont have to share them or anything. 

Even though things are held in common some items are designated to be for a specific Sister's use even though its not technically hers.  For example clothing will have an identifying name or number etc on it for that person's use.  Some cups and saucers in the refectory may also have the same name, number etc that indicates its for a particular Sister's use and her place is set with those standard items.  Same goes for eye glasses, they arent technically yours but they are for your use.  I hope this sort of makes sense. 

[nikita92]

Speaking of glasses...ever notice that the majority of Nuns/sisters wear spectacles?!

Every religious community (websites) I have visited that shows photos..more often than not do they seem to be wearing them! (Even their founders from back in the day)

I can imagine that a women having to wear them, would even be a issue where "Poverty" is concerned. In my perspective, Logic dictates.. That if a person needs them...who is going to go against one's Opthamologist and say one cant have eye glasses in the Monastery/Convent?!

 

[Julie]

1 hour ago, nikita92 said:

Speaking of glasses...ever notice that the majority of Nuns/sisters wear spectacles?!

Every religious community (websites) I have visited that shows photos..more often than not do they seem to be wearing them! (Even their founders from back in the day)

I can imagine that a women having to wear them, would even be a issue where "Poverty" is concerned. In my perspective, Logic dictates.. That if a person needs them...who is going to go against one's Opthamologist and say one cant have eye glasses in the Monastery/Convent?!

 

I've also noticed that. I think it's because sisters do a lot of reading...  Also, I think most people who need corrective lenses wear contacts, so the sisters' glasses might just be more visible.

[vee]

18 minutes ago, Julie said:

I  Also, I think most people who need corrective lenses wear contacts, so the sisters' glasses might just be more visible.

I was thinking the same thing

[Antigonos]

6% of people over the age of 40 who never wore glasses before need them because of a condition called presbyopia [literally, old eyeballs].  The lens of the eye becomes less flexible [it becomes more or less convex with distance to focus] and the person finds she needs to crochet with her toes since she can no longer see stuff up close.  So in a community of older sisters, one would expect a fair number of spectacle wearers.

Any place where there is a lot of reading, you are going to find people who need spectacles/corrective lenses.  It's not really because of eyestrain, it's because the person's far vision is OK, and she doesn't do much close work.  But nuns do read a lot.  No point in using a prayerbook if one can't see what's written in it.  And of course, this is not a case of "one size fits all" so a Sister's glasses, of necessity, would be for her use only.  In, at time of entry, one wears glasses, I would advise bringing a spare pair as well...just in case.

[NadaTeTurbe]

I hope you don't have to share glasses, because in my case, it would be complicated  (I'm very short-sighted, and I'm astigmatic. My eyesight decrease every year and I have to change my glasses nearly every six month). 

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

I've never heard of having to share glasses. There are some people (usually over 40-50) with very good vision who can get by with simple cheap reading glasses, like the kind you buy at the drugstore. So, I guess those could be shared. But prescription glasses--never!

Virtually anyone who wears glasses has a very distinctive prescription that usually changes every couple of years. I've never bothered with contacts, because my distance vision has always been good, and I mostly wear glasses for reading. But, my glasses prescription would never work for anyone else--for example, each of my eyes has a completely different prescription. (No contacts for me because I can't stand the thought of sticking a finger in my eye! I realize other people get over that and wear contacts with no problem. But, until quite recently, my vision has been good enough that I could see pretty well without glasses for pictures or events where I didn't want to wear glasses. Now I don't care.)

MLF--If you need glasses at as young an age as you are, chances are your prescription will be very unique, and wearing someone else's prescription might not help your vision, but could even hurt it. Also, people who have to read small print (including nuns/Religious Sisters) find that they need glasses sooner than someone who never reads. When I was in my early 20's, the eye doctor told me that I wouldn't need glasses if I drove a truck on a construction site. Instead, I spent most of my career reading the tiny print in the Congressional Record and Federal Register, so while my distance vision still isn't bad, my reading prescription just gets stronger and stronger.

Okay, you've used up your quota of small worries for today. Give up worrying until tomorrow, when you get your "worry of the day." I realize that what I just typed sounds silly, but it works. I used to lie in bed worrying, until I finally convinced myself that it was useless worrying about things in bed because there is nothing I can do about them at 2 am. I told myself that my job at 2 am was to sleep, and I would worry about whatever it was later. I can't say the change happened immediately or that it always works, but it helps a lot.

Edited December 29, 2015 by IgnatiusofLoyola

[MarysLittleFlower]

Thanks for the replies! haha I agree about worries (I get worries a lot) but thankfully this time I wasn't really worried, just curious I didn't suppose Sisters shared glasses but I did wonder (maybe it was silly) if the glasses have to come from the monastery so they're not like a possession. My near vision is good but my distance vision is getting blurry when I'm reading signs etc. I wouldn't wear contacts cause I also can't imagine putting something in my eye. I don't need reading glasses though yet I don't know how distance vision is important in a more contemplative monastery, lol! Unless the Sister is driving or has to do something that involves looking more in the distance. 

[Julie]

39 minutes ago, MarysLittleFlower said:

Thanks for the replies! haha I agree about worries (I get worries a lot) but thankfully this time I wasn't really worried, just curious I didn't suppose Sisters shared glasses but I did wonder (maybe it was silly) if the glasses have to come from the monastery so they're not like a possession. My near vision is good but my distance vision is getting blurry when I'm reading signs etc. I wouldn't wear contacts cause I also can't imagine putting something in my eye. I don't need reading glasses though yet I don't know how distance vision is important in a more contemplative monastery, lol! Unless the Sister is driving or has to do something that involves looking more in the distance. 

As for how important distance vision is in a contemplative monastery- I have moderately bad "distance" vision, and that distance is anything more than a foot or two from my face! 

Glasses are pretty handy for recognizing who is walking towards me (and I imagine would be indispensable it they were all wearing habits!) and for doing little things like seeing hands on clocks or the corpus on a crucifix (or the altar at Mass! Or the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance!)

 

 

 

[MarysLittleFlower]

40 minutes ago, Julie said:

As for how important distance vision is in a contemplative monastery- I have moderately bad "distance" vision, and that distance is anything more than a foot or two from my face! 

Glasses are pretty handy for recognizing who is walking towards me (and I imagine would be indispensable it they were all wearing habits!) and for doing little things like seeing hands on clocks or the corpus on a crucifix (or the altar at Mass! Or the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance!)

 

 

 

Oh good ideas! I haven't thought of that. I can't really see the Host well during Adoration at our parish and I'd like to. I'm also known to not recognize people till they are kind of close to me ;) 

[hotpink]

Glasses for myopia (the most common need in people under 40) are a medical necessity and not part of the usual vow of poverty.  Saying that a sister would have to go without would be like denying an elderly sister a hearing aid because it couldn't be shared.  I know brothers and priests who wear glasses and they would be legally blind without them.  Now, the religious priests often are unable to get the most stylish frames and sometimes the discounted frames can look quite out of place for their faces, but this is one of those medical needs things.

Noting that, however, I think most monasteries, convents and even the dioceses would prefer a postulant to have purchased any needed glasses beforehand, plus maybe a spare.

[DominicanHeart]

I see a lot of nuns wearing glasses

[Sister Leticia]

The essence of the vows is inner freedom - freeing us from attachments in order to free us for God. The essence of the vows is not to do stupid things which might endanger someone's health and their and everyone else's safety. Yes, some orders have strict rules about holding as much as possible in common, but there's a big difference between sharing pencils (an asceticism) and sharing prescription medicine (dangerous stupidity) or glasses (likely to worsen eyesight and/or cause accidents)

Yes, there are some orders which live extremely radical poverty, but this needs to be within the bounds of common sense. Food, clothing and heating need to be sufficient to ensure members' health and ability to carry out the mission. So if someone enters wearing glasses then of course they keep them! And if they need to change their prescription then of course they get a new pair! The poverty might be in having cheap frames, or someone who wears contact lenses being told that once they've used up the supply they entered with they'll have to switch to glasses - but it isn't about putting those glasses in a general cupboard and never wearing them again!

Incidentally, I wear glasses: I don't know if my prescription is expensive or not, it seems a lot, but I haven't asked other people how much their glasses cost, so I have nothing to measure it against. And it doesn't bother me - the vow of poverty challenges me on several levels, but the cost of my medical needs isn't one of them.

And MLF - I second Iggy's advice: sufficient unto the day are the worries thereof.

There's a prayer by John O'Donohue which ends with

"May I...waste my heart on fear no more."

Try not to waste your heart on fear, anxieties and worries about things which will probably never happen.

[Charbel]

I was once talking with a certain Mother Prioress, and we were discussing what would be on the list of things to bring for entrance. Since I wear glasses (mind you, since I was 11 years old... I was a book worm even then you know! ) she mentioned that some past sisters before entrance asked if they could bring their glasses/glasses case since it was not on the list. She said to them, "Of course you can! We just didn't put it on the list because that's obviously something you will need" I thought "Well it's a good thing because otherwise Sisters would be bumping into walls and each other more often than not!"