For the times when things get hard and you want to talk to people in the same boat
Just thought I'd leave it here for your needs!

I know I was talking to ForHimAlone about this... Just so we can talk and stuff... maybe meet for coffee (ewww...) or something in the future, and have a big ol' party!

wow....great idea...i'm in

Okay!

I need to get some stuff off my chest...
My thing that has been weighing on my concious lately is my 10 year old sister... she has never really been away from me, and she hates me dad and my mom is so stressed because my dad doesn't do anything and I feel bad leaving...

can i join?

i'm in!

Angel, that is a really tough spot to be in. I think that most of us, if we do leave for the convent, will have to deal with some uneasiness and maybe even guilt about the ones we left behind. For instance, I can't help but wonder how much pain I would be causing my dad because he has problems with depression and my leaving would be a big concern of his. I will sometimes feel guilty about it and torment myself over it, but in the end, the pursuit of Christ comes first.

It is good that we shoul worry about our fellow humans, especially our family, but I think we just need to follow where the Lord is leading us and trust Him to take care of the rest. This is an extremely hard thing to do, and you are such a wonderful big sister to be so concerned for you little sister! Just know that through all these difficult times our Lord will pull you closer and closer to Himself. We somtimes must part from the ones we love so that He can be our one Love. We may feel unhappiness and discontent, but just as a parent comforts their distressed child, so will the Lord Jesus, our future Spouse, comfort you.

I hope this helps!

Wonderful idea! Count me in!

Angela,
Prayers for you dear. Trusting good God to take care of all the family stuff is SO hard. I'm in the same situation as you are with my little sis who is very close to me...I know our Beloved will provide for everything, but it is tough to leave EVERYTHING in His hands.

Thanks for the advice... I really appriciate it!

I'll see what happens when I talk to mom over break...

Good luck to all the prospective nuns, you have my utmost respect and prayers

I have the perfect 4 day weekend to go visit too! I just hope that I can go!

Pray for my mom, that she may accept my vocation and allow this trip!

I'm def here!


I think I know what you mean, Angela. It will be really hard on my 13 year old brother when I leave, not to mention my mom and dad. He'll just be starting high school then, and it's not like it really means anything for me to say 'you can always write!' because he's not much of a writer anyway, and I'd be surprised if he started to all of a sudden.

Anyway, I feel bad about leaving, but really, I feel guiltier because my excitement about leaving by far outweighs my guilt for it. By a long shot. I suppose that could change, though.

Please pray for me. I'll be visiting the cloistered Trappestine nuns at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Mississippi over Christmas break in Dubuque, Iowa. I'm so excited!! Also, please pray that my dad will come to support a vocation to the contemplative life!

Count me in!

I just wanted to let all of you know you will be in my prayers. I am currently a seminarian so in some ways I know what you are all going throught, trying to disern God's call and dealing with peoples' reactions to it, but in other ways being a seminarian is very different. But my point is I can appreciate the struggles you are going throught and will keep you in my prayers.
God Bless

could we do a paltalk "get-together" over Christmas break when everyone has some time?

what is paltalk?

I don't have paltalk...

Paltalk is similar to AIM except you can use mikes to talk...maybe just doing an AIM chatroom would be better if anyone is interested?

hmmm.....we used to have a microphone a long time ago....i wonder what happened to it

Can you do the talk feature on AIM with more than one person? My friend and I used to do that in college. I had mine set to automatically accept her talk requests, so sometimes I would hear her start saying, "Jenny! Where are you?" when I wasn't even at my computer!

And also for those of you who are talking about leaving siblings behind, I don't think I will have as hard of a time at letting go of my parents as I would for my sister. She just turned 18, and even though we are 5 years apart, we are so incredibly close. I'm growing apart from my parents because I'm almost 23. I live 3 hours away. I buy most of my clothes and food and pay for my utilities, and I'm the same age as my dad when he had me (my mom was 26). My parents are in their 40s and they are still close with their siblings, and that is how I always thought I would be with my sister. For some odd reason, though, I think if I end up in the convent, my sis will follow behind at a later date. I pray for that to happen!

Jenny

Well, that's how it worked in Story of a Soul, didn't it?

Wow! This all sounds wonderful! I pray for all of you who need prayers, and an AIM chat might work, I'll have to see if I have time I might be visiting Sisters Jan. 6-9th... but we shall see, give me a date, and I will try to be there...

I'm visiting Sisters January 13-17th!

I will try to be there, too

Please please please please please pray that I can visit the Dominican Sisters in Lousiana! I long to go there! You all are wonderful!

really... hmmm...

My Dear Sisters in Christ,
Please keep me in your prayers. I am beginning to sense that I may not be called to be a nun. I have felt so strongly for so long that I should be a nun and now I really don't know what to think of this. I just tell myself to keep it in prayer and keep listening, but I really need all the prayers I can get.
Thank you so much and God Bless each of you on your discernment!

Prayers going up for both of you!

Why does my memory have to mess everything up I can't go to visit on the days I wanted to... I want to visit for a long time too...

I might be able to visit that weekend Just need to talk it over with mom! YAY!

Thank you for sharing Andrea

::joins the support group::

Hola!

hola totus tuus!

which order(s) are you looking into?

Hola! I'm looking into the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration and the Sister Servants right now. I've spent four summers (well, a week or two out of each summer) with the Daughters of Saint Paul in Boston, but I'm definitely not called there. I am interested in visiting the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart in Massachusettes and the newly-founded order Children of Mary (which currently has one nun and one postulant ) in Ohio. But really, I think I'm mostly drawn to the PCPA's They're so incredible.

How about you? I'll dig up some archival posts and see if I an find your interests myself as I'm sure you've already posted them.

well if you don't dig it up, I have looked into the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist a lot...I've visited twice....my vocational discernment to the religious life is sort of on pause right now, but if I feel called again, I'm definately looking into the Notre Dame Sisters of Joyful Hope - they look amazing.

Andrea,
Do the ND Sisters of Joyful Hope look orthodox and faithful to you? I didn't look through their site very closely before I posted about them, so I want to make sure!

Elizabeth,
I thought they looked orthodox...it's hard to tell by just a website though....these are my reasons:

Daily Eucharistic Holy Hour
Traditional Habit
Yearly Consecration to Jesus through Mary with Daily Renewal
Their daily schedule is very similar to other orthodox orders

Those are just little reasons, but it's the best you can do from the website.

The Notre Dame Sisters of Joyful Hope website says that, "A new religious community in formation in the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana." and on the formation page it shows a sister with the Bishop. So I think they are approved as a new community by the bishop.


Another good new community that DOES have the full approval of their bishop and is growing is the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Still River. MA.
wwww.saintbenedict.com. They are a great bunch of sisters!

Oh, Who's excited for NATIONAL VOCATIONS AWARENESS WEEK next week??? Oh yeah!!!