Domine ut Videam Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 (edited) [quote name='Domine ut Videam' post='962103' date='Apr 26 2006, 05:41 PM'] I have a question. Say you are a writer, or you have lots of spritual journals, or poems, or just things that you have written throughout the years; that say your sd has [b]specifically[/b] instructed you to never, ever, under any circumstances to throw away, and to keep somewhere with you very safe. May you take these with you? See reading my old journals i find helpful to my spiritual life becuase it helps me to see where i have failed and where i have triumphed, etc... Anyways, would we be allowed to bring these types of things with us? -Yours in Christ Lauren [/quote] still curious....................... Thanks... Edited April 30, 2006 by Domine ut Videam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piccoli Fiori JMJ Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 I believe that the library of the Poor Clares out here is quite extensive, so I am hoping to leave a good number of books for my family, especially my little sister. Other things will be donated to my youth ministry (CDs and some books and such) Hopefully I can give things to friends or family, or sell/donate to charity. Sounds like a lot. If I can only bring one rosary, I am fine with that. There is much to be given up, but it is all material accumulations. The less of this there is for us to be attached to, the more freedom we have to attach ourselves totally to God and rely on Him always to provide for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnificat Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 I think that it would depend on the community. I could see how some might let your family bring it to you perhaps after you had finished postualancy or novitiate, but I don't know for sure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortnun Posted April 30, 2006 Share Posted April 30, 2006 [quote name='Domine ut Videam' post='966031' date='Apr 30 2006, 02:09 PM'] still curious....................... Thanks... [/quote] Domine, in the case where your spiritual director has requested that you not throw away any of your writings, I think maybe he/she could say something specifically with the VD/novice mistress of a community about how your writings should be kept. And, as Magnificat said, perhaps there would be a way for you to get them back after you're done with postulancy or novitiate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgirl Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 [quote name='FutureNunJMJ' post='966034' date='Apr 30 2006, 02:15 PM'] I believe that the library of the Poor Clares out here is quite extensive, so I am hoping to leave a good number of books for my family, especially my little sister. Other things will be donated to my youth ministry (CDs and some books and such) Hopefully I can give things to friends or family, or sell/donate to charity. Sounds like a lot. If I can only bring one rosary, I am fine with that. There is much to be given up, but it is all material accumulations. The less of this there is for us to be attached to, the more freedom we have to attach ourselves totally to God and rely on Him always to provide for you. [/quote] You really only need one rosary anyway. You can only pray on one at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandelynmarie Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 FutureNunJMJ I would end up giving most of my monetary stuff to my little sister once perpetual vows are made... The material stuff I am hoping to slim down immensly before entering, but keeping a few essential and things of the like... Even though I am not entering anytime soon...I have been trying to simplify my belongings anyway...& it's funny because the main items I "collect" are books, candles, icons & statues & rosaries... : & what's funny is that I burned all my journals awhile ago! I only saved a poetry journal that I've had since I was 12(& wrote in sporadically for 10 years)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemma Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 [quote name='brandelynmarie' post='966422' date='Apr 30 2006, 11:00 PM'] FutureNunJMJ I would end up giving most of my monetary stuff to my little sister once perpetual vows are made... The material stuff I am hoping to slim down immensly before entering, but keeping a few essential and things of the like... Even though I am not entering anytime soon...I have been trying to simplify my belongings anyway...& it's funny because the main items I "collect" are books, candles, icons & statues & rosaries... : & what's funny is that I burned all my journals awhile ago! I only saved a poetry journal that I've had since I was 12(& wrote in sporadically for 10 years)! [/quote] What anyone does with their journals is their business. However, I am of a differing opinion. Some religious communities will ask you to write your spiritual autobiography. Who knows, your novice mistress or superior may one day ask you to write the same. Would the journals not have come in handy? What if your causus were taken to Rome someday? Those journals would've been absolutely priceless to the proceedings. To watch you grow in your spiritual life would've been an encouragement to others. St. Anthony Mary Claret kept some supernatural stuff out of his autobiography due to humility, but his biographers added such back into their works. Sorry if I come across too strongly, but I really cringe when I hear about someone destroying journals. Being an historical researcher, I've come to look primarily for journals/diaries kept by people who lived during the time period being researched. Seeing certain events through someone's eyes beats speculation hands-down. For instance, I have on hand two Civil War-era diaries. One is by a Southerner; another by a Northern sympathizer who lived in a border state. The intense emotion in both is very telling. Did you write anything re: the passage of JPII? There will eventually be a writer or writers wanting people to share their emotions on that day or week. If it had been me, I would've offered to make a copy of that entry or entries to send to the writer. I will be requiring those in our SOLC Foundations to keep journals. There will be a box under their beds in which to keep them. Since these are foundations of new orders, what they write will be invaluable to others making foundations, and to the new communities themselves. Sorry if I've ticked you off. It's just that one of my pet peeves is the destruction of historical documents, and I wanted to state my case. Blessings, Gemma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domine ut Videam Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 Gemma, wow, that is amazing. You sound just like my sd. He is always telling me how i am not allowed to throw away any of my writings, and that i am to keep them in a safe spot. I journal every day and write tons of poetry. That is why i was wondering if i would be allowed to bring these things with me because my writings are a part of me; almost a bit of my soul so-to-speak. And then i think of people like Thomas Merton--he wrote. But yeah, my writing....i would die if i couldn't write. It is mostly prayers/meditations/discernment/poems/....and ramblings of my head -Yours in Christ Lauren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlterDominicus Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 [quote name='SisterAli' post='965986' date='Apr 30 2006, 01:17 PM'] And here I thought...that I was CRAZY.....having the feeling of being free since I have begun to give away my stuff. I guess I'm doing something right ...... [/quote] I could never give up my religious music, particularly "Behold The Heritage" By the Nashville Dominicans, who AGAIN are showing up at the annual Vocations Camp in Duluth in June. I wonder who its gonna be this time, hahaha. Last summer it was Sister Anne Francis and Sister Mary Juliana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uruviel Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 [quote name='Domine ut Videam' post='967665' date='May 1 2006, 07:47 PM'] Gemma, wow, that is amazing. You sound just like my sd. He is always telling me how i am not allowed to throw away any of my writings, and that i am to keep them in a safe spot. I journal every day and write tons of poetry. That is why i was wondering if i would be allowed to bring these things with me because my writings are a part of me; almost a bit of my soul so-to-speak. And then i think of people like Thomas Merton--he wrote. But yeah, my writing....i would die if i couldn't write. It is mostly prayers/meditations/discernment/poems/....and ramblings of my head -Yours in Christ Lauren [/quote] Ah Lauren you're so right. I seriously don't know what I would do if I couldn't write. I think I would.. well I dont know. My writting are a part of me, and I really hope they will let me take my writtings, and a journal. I don't write in a journal everyday, I try to do it frequently, but I do love writting poetry, rambling, spilling my thoughts on paper, it's such a good feeling yet at the same time does nothing. Ok I'm rambling. God Bless, -Lori Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemma Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 [quote name='hugheyforlife' post='961578' date='Apr 26 2006, 11:01 AM'] Please excuse my ignorance but what happens to the material things when a man or woman enters the monastery or convent? I know that priests are allowed wordly possessions but those taking the vows of poverty are not. (Duh) Do they give it away? Do family members keep it? What happens? In Sister Lauren's case (as well as Sister Marjorie's), she was young and probably had few things which an older person might have. Even still, what do you do? [/quote] I don't know why I didn't answer this earlier. I was scheduled for a vocation retreat with the Toledo Visitation after graduating college. Because I believed I was going to go straight into the monastery, I started giving stuff away in the last months of my senior year. After the retreat, I was more or less forced into secular life, just to prove to everyone that I could manage a household of one. That put me into further debt because of how much it cost to set up housekeeping. I also had educational debts to pay off, and the Laboure Society was known only to God at that time, as far as I know. The internet certainly wasn't around. When my parents sold their house in my hometown, I told them they could sell my possessions as well, and keep the proceeds. That was my way of "giving to the poor." (You had to be poor to attend the college I went to). Blessings, Gemma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandelynmarie Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 What anyone does with their journals is their business. However, I am of a differing opinion. Some religious communities will ask you to write your spiritual autobiography. Who knows, your novice mistress or superior may one day ask you to write the same. Would the journals not have come in handy? Sorry if I come across too strongly, but I really cringe when I hear about someone destroying journals. Being an historical researcher, I've come to look primarily for journals/diaries kept by people who lived during the time period being researched. Sorry if I've ticked you off. It's just that one of my pet peeves is the destruction of historical documents, and I wanted to state my case. Gemma, Let me clarify specifically what journals I am talking about...Most of them are from a time of great darkness in my life & from when I was involved with the New Age...I do not feel they would have helped anybody except to lead them away from our God of Truth & Light & Love...I do hope to write an autobiography anyway someday in order to sing of the Divine Mercy of Jesus...It was a way for me to "burn" that bridge so to speak..no pun intended! : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemma Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 [quote name='brandelynmarie' post='971402' date='May 4 2006, 05:30 PM'] What anyone does with their journals is their business. However, I am of a differing opinion. Some religious communities will ask you to write your spiritual autobiography. Who knows, your novice mistress or superior may one day ask you to write the same. Would the journals not have come in handy? Sorry if I come across too strongly, but I really cringe when I hear about someone destroying journals. Being an historical researcher, I've come to look primarily for journals/diaries kept by people who lived during the time period being researched. Sorry if I've ticked you off. It's just that one of my pet peeves is the destruction of historical documents, and I wanted to state my case. Gemma, Let me clarify specifically what journals I am talking about...Most of them are from a time of great darkness in my life & from when I was involved with the New Age...I do not feel they would have helped anybody except to lead them away from our God of Truth & Light & Love...I do hope to write an autobiography anyway someday in order to sing of the Divine Mercy of Jesus...It was a way for me to "burn" that bridge so to speak..no pun intended! : [/quote] I certainly hope that you put something in your autobio about your "years of darkness." Such a section can be written ABOUT it, without GIVING it away--leading ppl astray that is. Blessings, Gemma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srmarymichael Posted May 6, 2006 Share Posted May 6, 2006 [quote name='OLAM Dad' post='961681' date='Apr 26 2006, 11:21 AM'] It would be interesting to hear what Sr. Mary Michael as a VD has to say. I'm sure this is a commom question. [/quote] In my case, I lived nearby the convent I was entering. I was convinced that this is where God wanted me to be, so I purposely gave away all of my clothes, jewelry, etc. I had permission to bring with me some books and some practical things. After being here a couple of years, I donated my car to the convent and we're still driving it after 13 years. I had permission to keep some money in an investment that I had (as a Junior professed), but as soon as it was ready, it was also donated to the convent. They were educating me, so I felt it was good for me to do this. If someone comes from far away, they would be encouraged to sell their house, but they could give some stuff to family to keep. In most convents, if there is money brought with them, it is recorded. In the case of them not making vows, then the money is returned to them. It's kind of a case by case and convent by convent basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandelynmarie Posted May 7, 2006 Share Posted May 7, 2006 [quote name='Gemma' post='972475' date='May 5 2006, 02:14 PM'] I certainly hope that you put something in your autobio about your "years of darkness." Such a section can be written ABOUT it, without GIVING it away--leading ppl astray that is. Blessings, Gemma [/quote] Absolutely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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