Which Might Be The Hardest Vow?

[tinytherese]

obedience for me

[littlesister]

Depends on the individual.

[alicemary]

Obedience all the way! It would be very hard not to control the course of my life. Of course, most communities today give the sisters their chance to input in their work etc. Very interesting question and I anticipate reading some of the replies!

[EWIE]

most communities today give the sisters their chance to input in their work etc.


Obedience. But not for the above reason. This question would be very difficult for someone to answer who has not lived the life, because the difficulty is the little things and life is in the details. Most communities are quite open now, to sharing their rythmn of life with everyone, however there still remains those very small details that we discover only when we are discerning to be part of the 'family'.
It is not a question of simply performing a work that is not of ones own choosing, or going to another convent or monastery. The challenges of the vow of Obedience are not in the big or obvious things. In many ways there is a glamour about 'obeying contrary to ones own wishes. But the difficulty as always, in the small hidden actions.
An example; a well intentioned Superior asks that we do a job in the manner that she would prefer. We happen to be more informed and educated in that area and suggest a more efficient and ecnomically more profitable way to do it. The Superior is grateful for the suggestion and then insists it be done the way SHE suggested. Obedience will not only do it "her way", but will do it with a joyful heart, without any under the breath mutterings, let alone any vocal objections.
And if there exists a natural personality conflict with this particular person, obeying her/him is a thorn in the flesh for as long as the relationship continues.

[tinytherese]

I'm just a rebelious teenager still who lacks humility. I need to get over these even if I don't end up in a religious community.

[Domine ut Videam]

for myself it would probably be obedience seeing as I can be very hard-headed. Kind of like a brick wall. I need to learn to have some give...

[puellapaschalis]

I'm with EWIE on this. I have a very particular way of folding my tea towels, and heaven help ANYONE who tries to do it differently. The idea of being told to fold them up in some other way gives me the heebie-jeebies.

[tinytherese]

Anyone want to comment on poverty or chastity? They've been pretty much ignored.

[Lilllabettt]

As far as poverty goes ...

* Truly poor people accept whatever is offered to them. They never decline a donation, even if they have no use for it and end up giving it to some other poor person. They never refuse a person's generosity.

*Truly poor people accept whatever God provides. If God provides a steak, they eat the steak. If God provides hard tack, they eat hard tack. Both with a grateful heart.

Poverty means staying detached from whatever little we have. That can be tough. I know a Sister who found herself getting attached to a certain kind of sponge she used to do the dishes. That was her favorite sponge, and even when it started falling apart, she didn't want to let go. She knew it was ridiculous. She thought it was interesting how attachment can weasel into even the smallest of things.

Of course the biggest poverty is being divested of self-will. Which is of course, where obedience comes in.

Obedience sort of contains the other two vows.

[she_who_is_not]

All right. I'm going to say. I think I would struggle with chastity. Not in an physical sense but emotionally. I'm the kind of girl who gets crushes easily and starts planning the wedding before I have introduced myself. I realize this is immature, and I am far too old to do this but I convince myself that fantasies are harmless. There is no way that religious life would magically erase this tendency. I believe that one of the beauties of chastity is the ability to live in the moment. I tend to get starry eyed a bit too easily.

[RosaMystica]

For me, I think the hardest would be obedience since it does the most to kill the will.

[TeresaBenedicta]

Well. At first, poverty will be an issue. It would be extremely difficult for me to not keep all my books and to have no attachment to them.

Second. Obedience. My biggest fear is if I ever enter a convent, that I will be ordered to stop biting my finger nails... and I can't do it! It's soooo engrained in me. It's beyond habit. It would just be horrible.

[Saint Therese]

chastitiy

Then obedience

[Maggyie]

I read somewhere there was a survey and most male religious said the hardest vow was chastity, while most female religious said the hardest vow was obedience. Interesting.

[Saint Therese]

I think enclosure would be a difficult vow, as well as "whole hearted and free service to the poorest of the poor".