perfectunion33 Posted September 19, 2009 Share Posted September 19, 2009 Hey, I just want to know what you guys think about the call to be homeless. For quite sometime now, I have felt a call from the Lord to be homeless for the love of Him and the sake of the Gospel. I spent a lot of time discerning with the Carmelites and their hermits, but felt like I was still cheating the call of the Lord. Although I have been blessed with the spirituality of the Carmelites I feel that the Lord is calling me to imitate His public life to the fullest. Many nights while laying down I hear the words, "foxes have dens, and birds of the air nests: but the son of man has no where to lay his head." I have a burning desire to live Christ like poverty, and to balance a contemplative life with one of preaching and teaching. For the longest time I was too scared to follow the Lord in such a radical way, but now I believe He is filling me with the trust and courage I need. What do you think I should do? I have already looked into the most primitive orders and still have not found anything that fits the radical way in which He is calling me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zunshynn Posted September 19, 2009 Share Posted September 19, 2009 Have you checked out the Franciscans of the Primitive Observance... They are hardcore... Will not take money, and only enough food for the time being. I couldn't tell you how to find out more about them though. I don't think they have a website. I would be careful though to speak about that with a good spiritual director, though. One of the prime ways that the devil can trick someone in their living religious life is to tempt them to think that they should live more radically and more austerely than others. It's very important to figure out if your motivation really is from God, and not simply a fascination with something different and exciting. Obedience is the test of true poverty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zunshynn Posted September 19, 2009 Share Posted September 19, 2009 Here's a good article about[url="http://romancatholicvocations.blogspot.com/2008/03/franciscans-of-primitive-observance_28.html"]The Franciscans of the Primitive Observance[/url] and a mailing address for more info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zunshynn Posted September 19, 2009 Share Posted September 19, 2009 Oh... and [url="http://www.littlebrothersofstfrancis.org/"]the Little Brothers of St. Francis[/url]... I can't believe I forgot them. I know one of them, Br. Joseph... I was an extern with his sister at OLAM... they're a very awesome community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VeniteAdoremus Posted September 19, 2009 Share Posted September 19, 2009 Wasn't there a mixed (more or less) Franciscan community in Italy that hitchhikes everywhere, sleeps over in people's houses and begs for everything? Also, zunshynn gave very solid advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TotusTuusMaria Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 Being homeless in America in modern times is much different then how it was in the time of Jesus, and even Jesus was living in community. Another guy on our forums answered what he thought was a call to be homeless and now he is missing. Pray about this more. There are other ways of going about this then grabbing a few clothes, leaving job, responsibility and shelter, and just roaming the streets. Being homeless does not have to mean that, and I believe the calling of the lay person can probably better be lived out with a job and shelter. A homeless person, as we usually picture them, honestly spends a lot of time alone and to themselves and they leave responsibility behind them. A person with a job and responsibilities is encountering people that need Christ almost every minute of the day and is encountering situations and is being given opportunity after opportunity to practice all virtues.. I really think most of us are called to live in community with at least one person. Job. Responsibility. Church. Family. Groups. Activities. It might not seem radical when you first look at it... it just looks like... life, but to do that and to do it all while keeping oneself in the presence of God and doing it all for Him is radical. It's difficult and it's radical. And some really awesome religious communities have been mentioned too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineM Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 There are orders that work with the homeless. I'd suggest that you volunteer some time first. There are students here who go homeless for a week to raise money for a homeless shelter, but every shelter bed they take is one that someone who has no choice but to be homeless might need. They take food at the shelter that someone else actually needs. There is a big difference between living a life of poverty or simplicity, and intentionally becoming homeless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemma Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 [quote name='perfectunion33' date='19 September 2009 - 05:20 PM' timestamp='1253391655' post='1969296'] Hey, I just want to know what you guys think about the call to be homeless. For quite sometime now, I have felt a call from the Lord to be homeless for the love of Him and the sake of the Gospel. I spent a lot of time discerning with the Carmelites and their hermits, but felt like I was still cheating the call of the Lord. Although I have been blessed with the spirituality of the Carmelites I feel that the Lord is calling me to imitate His public life to the fullest. Many nights while laying down I hear the words, "foxes have dens, and birds of the air nests: but the son of man has no where to lay his head." I have a burning desire to live Christ like poverty, and to balance a contemplative life with one of preaching and teaching. For the longest time I was too scared to follow the Lord in such a radical way, but now I believe He is filling me with the trust and courage I need. What do you think I should do? I have already looked into the most primitive orders and still have not found anything that fits the radical way in which He is calling me. [/quote] There's also a Franco-Carmelite charism in Italy. They wear a small brown scapular attached to their larger light brown one. They don't touch money, and hitchhike everywhere. Their pix are on one of the pix threads here on PM. Blessings, Gemma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InHisLove726 Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 (edited) I think it's wonderful to be open to the Lord's call, even if others don't understand it. But, if I may add my two cents, discern carefully. If you feel the call to be homeless, it could be that you are called to a community that you have not discovered yet. I do not believe that the Lord wants to burden us, and I'm sure He will provide in His own time. Right now, keep praying about it, get yourself a spiritual director (if you don't already have one), and keep searching. In my own discernment, especially as of late, I've learned that you can't listen to everyone. Ultimately, you need to do what you feel the Lord is calling you to. Just make sure that you know what that is. Only you and God know if He is calling you to something so radical as being homeless. God bless and be with you. Edited September 20, 2009 by InHisLove726 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perfectunion33 Posted September 20, 2009 Author Share Posted September 20, 2009 [quote name='InHisLove726' date='19 September 2009 - 07:38 PM' timestamp='1253410695' post='1969474'] I think it's wonderful to be open to the Lord's call, even if others don't understand it. But, if I may add my two cents, discern carefully. If you feel the call to be homeless, it could be that you are called to a community that you have not discovered yet. I do not believe that the Lord wants to burden us, and I'm sure He will provide in His own time. Right now, keep praying about it, get yourself a spiritual director (if you don't already have one), and keep searching. In my own discernment, especially as of late, I've learned that you can't listen to everyone. Ultimately, you need to do what you feel the Lord is calling you to. Just make sure that you know what that is. God bless and be with you. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/D.gif[/img] [/quote] Thank you for your concern and support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InHisLove726 Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 [quote name='perfectunion33' date='19 September 2009 - 09:41 PM' timestamp='1253410867' post='1969475'] Thank you for your concern and support. [/quote] You're welcome, brother. God be praised! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perfectunion33 Posted September 20, 2009 Author Share Posted September 20, 2009 [quote name='InHisLove726' date='19 September 2009 - 07:42 PM' timestamp='1253410944' post='1969478'] You're welcome, brother. God be praised! [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/saint.gif[/img] [/quote] AMEN! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juchu Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 (edited) [quote name='perfectunion33' date='19 September 2009 - 04:20 PM' timestamp='1253391655' post='1969296'] Hey, I just want to know what you guys think about the call to be homeless. For quite sometime now, I have felt a call from the Lord to be homeless for the love of Him and the sake of the Gospel. I spent a lot of time discerning with the Carmelites and their hermits, but felt like I was still cheating the call of the Lord. Although I have been blessed with the spirituality of the Carmelites I feel that the Lord is calling me to imitate His public life to the fullest. Many nights while laying down I hear the words, "foxes have dens, and birds of the air nests: but the son of man has no where to lay his head." I have a burning desire to live Christ like poverty, and to balance a contemplative life with one of preaching and teaching. For the longest time I was too scared to follow the Lord in such a radical way, but now I believe He is filling me with the trust and courage I need. What do you think I should do? I have already looked into the most primitive orders and still have not found anything that fits the radical way in which He is calling me. [/quote] Dear perfectunion, a big part in my discernment is also about union and about how to live solidarily with all people. I do not want to live "for" the poor, but "with" them. I have come across the community of the little sisters, founded by souer magdalene with the Carisma of Charles de Foucould. http://www.jesuscaritas.info/jcd/fr/lsj/ I do not quite get if you are male or female but there are also brothers. The little brothers of Jesus. http://www.jesuscaritas.info/jcd/fr/lbj I had the chance to visit a community of Little sisters for some days. They live in neighbourhoods that are the poorest in normal appartments. They sleep with 3-4 sisters in one room! They own very little personal belongings. They work in normal jobs, that do not require training (e.g. cleaning offices, working in a super market, a laundry....). I really did like their prayer life. According to different work schedules, sometimes they have to pray lauds/vespers/compline by themselves, but always when possible in comunion. They have a very eucharistic spirituality. Each one makes sure he/she goes to mass according to his/her work schedule. Each one also has one hour of adoration. (they have little chapels in their appartements) each day. They are really trying to live how the poorest of the poor are living. That, of course, varies from culture to culture. E.g. poor people in South America live differently than poor people in Europe or the states. There are even somes sisters "living" with homeless people. There have been sisters "living" in a prison. There are sisters living in a circus! I do not know so much about the brothers though... But from what I heard they are very similar. Have a look. This is what it says about their carisma on the international homepage: # who are materially poor or marginalized, in order to find Jesus among his favourite friends. # To have a deep belief that the world is one family and each person equally loved by God - that we are all brothers and sisters in our search for true freedom. # To have made a clear choice to seek to live for God alone so that your whole life is rooted in contemplative prayer. Then only can your love of others be the overflowing of your relationship of love with God, # To take the Gospel as road map and Book of Life. To have one desire: to think, speak and act in and through Jesus. To accept the call to cry the Gospel with your life. # To be convinced of the relevance of an apostolate following Jesus of Nazareth immersed in ordinary everyday life: (work, neighbourhood, housing, relationships) centred on friendship, loving in a gratuitous way all those who cross your path. # To have a deep desire to unite your life to that of Jesus in the Eucharist, to make the Mass the centre of your day and daily adoration a way for you to unite your whole being with Jesus as bread that is broken and shared. # To clearly choose to live in a community of three or four, rejoicing in the variety of gifts of each member, in close contact with neighbours and friends. # To be convinced that to follow Jesus in the way of the Beatitudes, in poverty, chastity and obedience is for you a path towards greater freedom in order to open your heart ever wider to the love of God and your neighbour. # To want to live as a counter sign to the consumer society in order to witness to the joy of sharing and of solidarity. # To have a faithful love and great loyalty towards the Church and to live your call in communion with the gifts and charisms of others. # To have a great thirst for the unity of all Christians which starts at grass root level, to have a longing for peace and reconciliation. # To feel a special call to live with childlike trust and abandonment into the hands of the Father. # To live a healthy and balanced lifestyle in which you have met the challenges of earning your living and of reaching out to others in service and stable friendships. # To be under 35 years of age or young enough in heart to allow every aspect of your life be transformed by your call. Edited September 20, 2009 by juchu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indwelling Trinity Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 (edited) You desire for radicalness of the Gospel is beautiful. Many will not understand it. Yes Saint Francis was an itinerant preacher called to such radicalness. Catherine Douherty talks of those in Russia who would become geniuses for Christ living homeless in reparation for all Christ suffered. Saint Joseph Benedict Labre was also a radical liver of the Gospel of homelessness of Christ but all did it with obedience to their confessors. A friend of mine became a fool for Christ after being a religious for many years. She was not crazy but crazy for Love. She is a gifted musician and well educated. For her it was not an escape but a deeply motivated love for Christ. But she also did it in obedience by putting it before her confessor. So as the others say pray deeply if you can,i strongly suggest you find a good confessor and discern with him or her, and then the ultimate decision is between you and God. I hold you in my prayer as you discern God's call for you. It is a vocation of a very few. tenderly, Indwelling Trinity Edited September 20, 2009 by Indwelling Trinity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veritas Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 + Little Sisters of the Lamb are mendicant, aren't they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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