petitpèlerin Posted December 29, 2012 Posted December 29, 2012 Beautiful posts, Barbara. Off the topic of consecrated single life for a moment, I just wanted to comment that I know a young man who has Bipolar and he manages it beautifully. He's married to a wonderful girl (who has a physical handicap that she doesn't allow to prevent her from living her life, either) and they have a beautiful young family. He's one of the best people I know, and more self-aware than most people are (and we all know that self-knowledge is the path to wisdom and to God).
BarbTherese Posted December 29, 2012 Posted December 29, 2012 (edited) Beautiful posts, Barbara. Off the topic of consecrated single life for a moment, I just wanted to comment that I know a young man who has Bipolar and he manages it beautifully. He's married to a wonderful girl (who has a physical handicap that she doesn't allow to prevent her from living her life, either) and they have a beautiful young family. He's one of the best people I know, and more self-aware than most people are (and we all know that self-knowledge is the path to wisdom and to God). Wonderful to read indeed, petitpelerin (I had to get Google to translate to English for me and a beautiful username). It sounds, petitpelerin, like a wonderful marriage between two wonderful human beings who have had to overcome adversity in life. Deo Gratius! And thank you for sharing and may The Good Lord continue to bless richly them both, their marriage and their children - and you. I would put my money on it that they have some very important stories to share and that he has a wonderful gift in your friendship. God bless you for sharing some of their story - and with such a happy outcome despite adversity. Very often it is the path of adversity that can also be at once a path of many blessings, as with your friend and his wife. Most often, our saints have travelled difficult paths for varying periods in their lifetimes. Hence adversity in life can be in excellent company, the very best on earth. I think children can see a very important part of life and experience it first hand as parents grapple with difficulty and their love continues all through the battle regardless of all things - such is indeed a reflection of and witness to the unconditional Love of God for us all and one of the important functions of marraige in our society. _________________________ Forgive me, please, for this rave on - but I try to grab out at any opportunity I can get. Many mental illnesses can be controlled with medication and following what the doctor says - while some still are able to go off medication and without psychiatric treatment. It all depends on what The Lord has in mind and how The Father's Glory is best served, including where sufferers are still battling with their severe illnesses. Those who do suffer mental illness and are able to keep things in control either alone or with medication and medical people can be a wonderful 'advertisement' for sufferers, breaking down stereotypes and stigma. It also is an encouragement to those still battling with their illnesses - and a very severe, and much maligned battle with much suffering on many levels involved for the sufferer. It is not easy for those around a sufferer either who go through their own unique difficulties and sufferings. It is a pure delight to me to be in the company of sufferers and sharing their unique bond and real sense of fraternal community in the very best and truest Catholic understanding of "community". They are a community bonded by active love of each other, with at times the usual squabbles of brothers and sisters always resolved. By and large they always strike me as outstanding human beings no matter where they may be in their particular journey with mental illness. The focus of all with much love, care and concern is always on the weakest and suffering most. I belonged for a while to mental health rehabilitation club. When the new building was to be named, sufferers (titled by staff as "the consumers" - oh YUKKETY YUK! so politcally correct, barren and deprived of personality) decided on "The Acorn Club" (the nut's club - LOL) with that pervasive sense of humour and the funny, the absurd, sufferers often do have about their illnesses and social attitudes. Staff however were shocked and insisted on a quite polite and nondescript sort of quite politically neutral, deprived of personality and any creative imagination whatsoever name for the club. Thank you very much once again, petitpelerin. I think it important that stories of sufferers of mental illness, both negative and positive stories, are able to be shared and freely at all times and in all places, within reason, and without someone or someones trying to shut them up because of the challenge they can present. I took our Aust. Catholic Bishops to task over a book they published "Good News Stories" and the stories of sufferers of mental illness. I had been asked to contribute. Sadly and alarmingly they only wanted good news stories. When I queried why only good news stories and not the abounding not at all good stories, a representative on the ACBC for sufferers of disabilities said that it was felt that the not so good stories would not be an encouragement to parishes. And of course maybe not, but it would be a clear challenge to parishes and in the light of The Gospel of Jesus, especially if an Introduction pointed this out clearly, which is of course a witness to The Gospel and its consistent challenges. A unique opportunity went down the drain insofar as the ACBC and mental health was concerned - in my book, and sufferers who had not so good stories were rejected outright. Unwanted stories (thus sufferers) - too discouraging to the parishes. Our head of psychiatry in public mental health some years ago was murdered (shot) by a jealous colleague of hers. In her eulogy in our Catholic Cathedral, her brother said that sufferers of mental illness are the most marginalized, abandoned, maligned, neglected and sigmatized group in our communities. My own fictional not-at-all-good short story submitted anyway (drawn from many experiences of sufferers wound into one character) was published by the ACBC on the internet in their newsletter, but not in the book subsequently published. I was amazed that it was published at all, amazed and grateful for that much. Big goals hopefully attained through very small steps, some futile, some successful and the goal perhaps far ahead of one's own lifetime. My letter on the stigma of mental illness in The Church was published by our South Australian Catholic newspaper and got Letter of The Month and a prize - a book "Walking The Way of The Cross with Jesus". And at an assembly here in Adelaide ("Women's Role in The Church"), I spoke for half an hour by invitation and as a woman with a then still active mental illness although I had not warned them of how I was going to tackle my address. I had to submit a written copy of the address - and on the way to the assembly (one hour bus trip) was madly editing, adding and deleting. It was pretty well useless to me by the time my time arrived. The assembly and all speakers were videotaped and I, li'l ol mentally ill me, had a predella and a real live honest to goodness microphone with real live honest to goodness live fellow Catholics in the audience, including a panel with all sorts of confusing letters after their names. Our Archbishop during a break prior to my address said to me very kindly "Dont be afraid will you, Barbara?" "No Your Grace, I am not afraid, but I need a smoke" "Smoko then!" "Thank you, Your Grace". At the conclusion there was absolute silence in the auditorium. I immediately hightailed it for a quick smoke and the nearest bus stop and bus to where I then lived. A book was subsequently published about Women's Role in The Church based on the various assemblies around Australia. I received an invitation to attend the official launch in Canberra. I wrote back that since my airline return ticket together with accommodation and necessary expenses, including meals, while in Canbera had been overlooked, I would not be able to attend. :saint: I have never been able to afford to buy the book, way down on my toget books priorities. I may be off topic, and yet not. Sufferers of mental illness also have a vocation building on their Baptismal consecration and vows in the single/celibate state, some a call to the Sacrament of Marriage, some who have proven track record of stability may be able to enter religious orders. Not one of us is abandoned, by The Lord anyway. to 'float in theological spaces between words' as it were. As yet, an understanding of vocation and call to sufferers of MI is still journeying to a major turning point. It is very saddening and disheartening( if one permits it) to read threads on religious life when people who are sufferers query why they are rejected from religious life - and the responses that they often get. Sometimes the best they can get is a response or responses patronizingly and sometimes condescendingly worded. This is not at all deliberate to my mind most often, rather a reflection of social attitudes especially the fashionable, in vogue, very careful 'tender footed political correctness'. The Gospel will most always put us in a position of challenging social attitudes if not in direct conflilct, if we are to be truly leaven or salt in the mix, in society and in our communities and this may mean taking risks with no guarantee of a good outcome as we see things. And what happens if the salt looses its' taste? - " [13] You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more ......." Our battle or confrontation is not with society really, it is a battle with evil great or small - in all and any form it may care to take and wherever it has found a foothold or worse. Not only a good can be content to take small steps to a very big goal or objective. I was truly stunned at my interview applying for voluntary work in a Catholic charity office here. I sat down and said "The first thing you must know is that I suffer Bipolar Disorder". "Oh that does not concern me at all" was the reply. I sort of piciked myself up off the floor as it were as I had anticipated having to defend something of mental stabilty with accompanying letter from my psychiatrist, which I had. My interviewer did read the letter and talk to me about my Bipolar briefly but more about my office experience - and it went back over 30 years ago!!! In fact it was only some weeks after I started that I was quietly and gently, yet adult to adult, confidentially approached and asked what was the right procedure to implement should I become ill at work. And of course, this is always at least a potential ...........always - and the way in the normal course is put me in a taxi for home and ring my doctor. Other than that, call an ambulance in extremes. All that to me, was the Gospel and Catholic Action really acting and living out The Gospel and with risk - and a cause for thanksgiving and praise to The Lord for that organization and another indication in a positive direction. Cardinal calls mentally ill 'faithful images of God'http://cathnews.acu.edu.au/602/doc/10wds2.htm "Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan told his World Day of the Sick audience in Adelaide yesterday that while the mentally ill patient "escapes classification as a normal person", he or she remains "an image of God" deserves every normal respect. (geeee thaynks cathnews, and very carefully worded indeed - brackets mine) Cardinal Barragan, who is President of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, was giving the keynote address at the 14th World Day of the Sick, which commenced yesterday and continues until tomorrow." _____________ The Cardinal's address was lengthy and rather complex initially - but in the closing he really 'socked it to 'em" in a quite nice sort of way. Here is an excerpt from what Cardinal Barragan had to say: "Therefore, once the mental illness has caused such a disorder as to take away from the mentally ill patient any responsibility for his actions, qualifying them as separation from the divine will —as a sin— the mental patient cannot separate from God. In other words, the image of God in him cannot be distorted. In this case his knowledge or his volitive option are no longer sufficient to motivate any human action that separates him from God. His bodily and psychic conditions do not allow him to commit a grave sin, given that in his state of disequilibrium he does not have that full knowledge and ability of assent required to sin. If we approach the argument from this point of view, whereby the mentally ill patient does not have the knowledge or the faculty of full consent required to commit a mortal sin, his is not a deformed image of God, since that image can only be deformed by sin. Certainly, it is the suffering image of God, but not a deformed image. He is a reflection of the mystery of the victorious Cross of the Lord. Inspired by the image of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh (Isaiah 53, 1-7) we are drawn to a conscious act of faith in the suffering Christ."................"This is not comprehensible to a secularized mentality; it is only understood within the context of Christian optimism, which stems from a reasoned faith that tells us how in such circumstances our obligations towards a mentally ill person, on one hand satisfy our duty to see the suffering Christ in the poor and less protected; and on the other hand the idea of seeing in the patient the love of God who has indicated him as his chosen one, in the sense that he shall not be separated from Him." Onya, Cardina B! Edited December 29, 2012 by BarbaraTherese
BarbTherese Posted December 29, 2012 Posted December 29, 2012 (edited) We are not going to change the world without Jesus and His Gospel and applying The Gospel in all cirumstances and all of it in context - we just might appear to do so, but it is only the mask of goodness and Goodness indeed knows that evil and the embodiment of evil can wear the mask of goodness in order to create a completely false sense of security and false convictions and concepts (as in a "secularized mentality") and in order to deceive .......................down the track and in a quite major way with the initial evil objective and goal attained. Edited December 29, 2012 by BarbaraTherese
BarbTherese Posted December 31, 2012 Posted December 31, 2012 (edited) I have just finished my private prayer time and something has struck me, after prayer as I made coffee and tried to rustle up motivation to water the garden, and I don't want to 'verge heretical' or anything like that. It seems to me that the first thing that The Second Person of The Blessed Trinity does in His Incarnation is to set aside all His Glory and His Rights as God - He sets them about as far away as they can be. Then He takes up His Human Life as a lay person in His Jewish Faith Profession to walk among us in poverty, chastity and obedience and as one who serves, a servant. I can see a connection here though the most remote and palest of connections, a witness that a lay person gives in setting aside Joyfully and happily, eagerly all the rights and celebrations etc. that come with the consecrated state (and celebration and trappings are rightly so is very obvious since The Church has not spoken against such) The dedicated lay person sets aside any rights remotely connected to any sort of wordly type of 'glory' whatsoever. And if we receive negative criticisms and put downs, etc. then it can be a sharing in an aspect of the life of Jesus. And whether we like it or not, Pope John Paul II does give us an ever so brief (and I thank you for this sincerely) mention in Vita Consecrata - and as "a special consecration" using this precise term. It appears under the subheading "Thanksgiving for The Consecrated Life" Perhaps he was tired at the time and entirely possible and slipped up :) and should have used "a special dedication" in a subheading "Thanksgiving for the Dedicated Life" ................. although this is entirely unlikely. I guess this is something for the theologically educated to ponder about Vita Consecrata (The Consecrated Life) since words used are quite special to them and seem to have particular meanings enclosing 'airtight' quite restrictred definitions which exclude all others. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_25031996_vita-consecrata_en.html We are all aware of the treasure which the gift of the consecrated life in the variety of its charisms and institutions represents for the ecclesial community. Together let us thank God for the Religious Orders and Institutes devoted to contemplation or the works of the apostolate, for Societies of Apostolic Life, for Secular Institutes and for other groups of consecrated persons, as well as for all those individuals who, in their inmost hearts, dedicate themselves to God by a special consecration. At the time of making my private vows and still at the time when I made them perpetually, there was no written information whatsoever available to me (I had no computer back then). All I knew was word of mouth from those whom I considered "in the know" about theology etc. and I moved in a spirit of trusting what they said and trustful confidence moreso that The Lord would not allow me to be lead astray radically and permanently since I had absolutely no desire for such. I had never ever heard of private vows until my priest theologian director confessor titled what I was mumbling and stumbling about most hesitantly "private vows to the evangelical counsels". I was advised to always mention prior to making my Confession that I had made private vows to the evangelical counsels. One priest snarled at me "That has nothing whatsoever to do with The Church" I felt like saying "But Father, everything I think say and do is to do with The Church and anyway my Confession is to Jesus, not to The Church" :eek: But I held my piece and bit my tongue. Another priest quite alarmed said "What on earth did you do that for!" so we had a rather lengthy discussion in the Confessional. His parting shot to me was "Well, you seem all together to me" At which point, I wanted to say "Oh and Father I suffer Bipolar Disorder" but I took his words graciously rather than have another lengthy discussion. Hence, I have defined my vocation in some areas as it unfolded with me. More and more (and certainly since with discomfort reading some threads and posts) these words of St Paul speak to me in an intimate sort of way: " Philippians Ch2 [2] Fulfill ye my joy, that you may be of one mind, having the same charity, being of one accord, agreeing in sentiment. [3] Let nothing be done through contention, neither by vain glory: but in humility, let each esteem others better than themselves: [4] Each one not considering the things that are his own, but those that are other men's. [5] For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: [6] Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: [7] But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. [Philippians 2:7] [Latin] [8] He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. Perhaps it is meant to be the intrinsic nature and the task of a vocation to private vows to the evangelical counsels in the lay state to remain theologically last as it were, last and insignificant in wordly terms anyway(a privileged place in The Lord's Kingdom if not in the terms of a secular mindsset) - except that it is perhaps meant to give something of a very pale and remote witness to an Act of Love and Humility of God so overwhelmingly profound it defies all logic and reason and only the Gift of Faith has access. And Faith knows that nothing whatsoever is more a witness to Profound Love and Profound Humility. After all, what IS in a noun. A noun can neither create nor destroy a reality it can only 'tag' a reality. And perhaps the reality of it all we will only know in Heaven. Am I single, consecrated, dedicated or speailmiaticated - and does it really matter? It probably does to the theologically minded - pedantic keeps occuring to me and I keep editing it out and then putting it back in and several times! :sos: The essence of it all seems to me to be not the noun or tag attached on to me for whatever reason with whatever definition, but the manner in which I am living and the interior motivation for living the way I am living. The essence of it all is a complete shift of all focus on to The Lord. Out to water the garden. It is quite hot here in Adelaide, Sth Aussie. Edited December 31, 2012 by BarbaraTherese
BarbTherese Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 (edited) I can see how people leading the single life might come to feel bitter, as it's often treated as a third-class vocation by other Catholics - even by those who hotly disclaim otherwise. For a long time I saw it as dull and dreary and not worth my attention, I admit it. Nothing visible marks you out as consecrated. This life doesn't have the same romance and mystique as religious life. The result is that women living this life are often overlooked and their contributions discounted. You need all the patience and kindness of Christ to deal with the sensation of being unappreciated (and even unwanted) that can accompany this vocation. I don't wonder that sometimes it leads to people turning sour. I pray that if this cross ever comes to me, I will carry it with love. Due to various discussions in threads here on Phatmass, I seem to be insighting my own vocation and its particular charism in a deeper manner. I think if one is in private vows it is very important to overcome bitterness if it exists. I think quite possibly that the charism of private vows may well be to set aside absolutely anything that may seems a sort of 'glory' humanly and to always welcome The Cross and no matter which form it may take. This reflects in a very pale remote manner the Incarnation and The Cross of Jesus through which we are redeemed. In the interests of justice and truth, perhaps one may need to speak up and about private vows and how they are lived out. This is also the order of Charity and care and concern for those living with private vows. My thoughts are that perhaps private vows are intrinsically intended by The Lord to have nothing visible about the person vowed - no romance nor mystique at least overtly in appearance. There is very real romance and mystique and tangibly so in one's actual interior relationship with Jesus - absolutely. But nothing to appearances. This means that those in private vows need to develop a lively and intimate friendship with Jesus and this is where spiritual direction can be pure gold. There may, of course, be other expressions of living in private vows to the evangelical counsels. Reading Christifedeles Laici is a real eye opener with many clarifications and inspirations. I seem to be reading it with 'new eyes' and this can happen especially (but not only) with Scripture and also Church documents and texts of all kinds, I find. My experiences with 30 years living in a suburb that was extremely poor and beset by every imaginable social problem is that the poor and social outcasts do find their self esteem and self respect through real friendship, This means that one must put aside any sense at all of 'helper of the less fortunate' (which does 'curdle' something inside of me - it repulses me) and the poor will 'sniff one out' if one does not put it aside. "Helper of the less fortunate" does have 'the air' of being "a fortunate" and 'above'. One needs to find oneself, one's ver real and actual existential place, as very much one of them (and Bipolar gifted this to me). Another thing I noticed about the very poor and socially outcast - they are very astute and insightful! VERY ! Generally too, I found them outspoken and very honest both about themselves and their opinion of others. In fact, open and honest, outspoken, about anything whatsoever. There is no holding back whatsoever about self nor others nor subjects. Living in this suburb was a real learning curve for me and I came to truly love each and every one of them without any exceptions whatsoever, no matter their social place, social standing, social offences - whatever! It was not easy at all to leave and I nearly dropped the phone and went into shock when the Housing Authority rang me and said I was to be shifted mandatorily. I am not going to go on and on as usual - duty calls. But my own sense of vocation and call and its particular charism seems to be journeying very quickly to a point of new clarity. Sr Laurel made comment somewhere that the only charism, or she may have said requirement, under Canon 603 is solitude - or similar wording. Boy, has that comment taken me on a journey very quickly and I dont really know why since I no way identify myself as any sort of hermit. It was one of those words from somewhere or other that stays in the head like the chorus of song that wont leave one alone. It was that word "charism" that kept popping into my very often busy Bipolar head. I began researching including reading once more Christifideles Laici (Pope John Paul II Apostolic Exhortation on the Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in The Church and The World) and making my own notes with a new sense of insight - one hopes it is insight! In studying Modern History (French and Russion Revolutions) we had a whole term on "Researching" alone and related matters as a subject and this has been of immense help to me not only in my studies (now concluded) but in my Catholicism also. And my career in the past as a private secretary and a relatively fast and accurate typist who 'thinks on her feet' can make me quite a pain to readers. My skills on the computer too are increasing, thanks to Google and my sons consistent advice to any question of mine "Google it, Mum!" (see "spoiler" below) The Lord is never wasteful - everything in one's journey has a reason. That reason may not become apparent for many years, or perhaps never until Heaven. FAITH TRUST CONFIDENCE IN HIM (what I tend to do is pray a quick prayer for guidence and then very often 'go in like a bull at a gate' as if my prayer is answered. I believe that it is while outcome is always in The Lord's Hands (Psalm Divine Office: "Lord give succes to the work of our hands")who not only works towards one's own salvation and sanctification but very mysteriously at the one and the same time all is in the interests of the whole universe - He is not wasteful!) Faith Trust Confidence in Him. Christifedeles Laici has much to say about "charism" incidentally. [spoiler] HAPPY 2013 IN EVERY WAY on THE SOLEMNITY OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD. :dance:[/spoiler] Edited January 1, 2013 by BarbaraTherese
Sister_Laurel Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 Sr, Lauren had a beautiful expression offering some hope for the future for those who may be isolated and marginalized re the consecrated life. She called it a transfiguration of isolation and marginalization into true solitude or similar wording. And I think of this as the alone with The Alone – but never lonely. Whether ever embraced by The Church as a new form of consecrated state of life, one can always aspire to transfiguration of negative factors in life into some aspect of Truth initiating Peace and Joy. Spiritual direction and reading, prayerful trust and confidence, can certainly help in this journey. Someone in this thread spoke about “embracing one’s faults†rather than rejecting them. Certainly, self knowledge is the foundation of humility – and humility is the foundation of all the virtues. Striving ardently against faults can be a rejection of oneself, like demanding discourteously that an unwanted stranger please leave the premises. This embracing of faults, it seemed to me, is a journey of transfiguration of something negative into a greater good in the interests of The Kingdom. The relevant post was worth the read and I will try to link to that post also at a later point. I think it was nunsense who pointed out well too that we can leave with great confidence the work to God, to The Holy Spirit, if we will only trust Him – and another excellent post. My own comment had to do with eremitical life, whether lay or consecrated. Eremitical life involves the transfiguration of isolation and marginalization into genuine solitude. Too often people believe they are hermits or part time hermits because they are isolated physically or personally marginalized. But eremitical solitude is different than even if it begins with this. Thus, I tend to speak of eremitical solitude rather than simply solitude. I understand this not as living alone, but as living alone with God and for others. As you can guess, the distinction between the two is vast. When physical isolation or solitude is transformed in this way the result is "the silence of solitude" --- the environment, goal, and charism of Christian eremitical life. all my best, Sister Laurel M O'Neal, er Dio Stillsong Hermitage Diocese of Oakland http://notesfromstillsong.blogspot.com
BarbTherese Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 (edited) My own comment had to do with eremitical life, whether lay or consecrated. Eremitical life involves the transfiguration of isolation and marginalization into genuine solitude. Too often people believe they are hermits or part time hermits because they are isolated physically or personally marginalized. But eremitical solitude is different than even if it begins with this. Thus, I tend to speak of eremitical solitude rather than simply solitude. I understand this not as living alone, but as living alone with God and for others. As you can guess, the distinction between the two is vast. When physical isolation or solitude is transformed in this way the result is "the silence of solitude" --- the environment, goal, and charism of Christian eremitical life. all my best, Sister Laurel M O'Neal, er Dio Stillsong Hermitage Diocese of Oakland http://notesfromstillsong.blogspot.com Thank you - I did realize, Sister, that at the time you were speaking of eremitical solitude - but I feel those that are isolated and living alone with God's Grace can transform their solitude into isolation and perhaps loneliness into embracing isolation and living alone, even marginalization, into "living alone with God for others". What at this point does occur to me is that if such a Grace is fruitful and the person once isolated and lonely, marginalized, finds at some point that this negative experience has indeed been embraced and transfigured into an active and positive "living alone with God for others" with Peace and Joy, would there then be some eligibility for Canon 603 if they should discern such a call. And my advice always is with spiritual direction which I would hope the dioceses would state as mandatory in relation to any application for Canon 603. I do feel that experiences of quite negative isolation, loneliness and marginalization can be presented as potential for positive experiences and with God's Grace as potential for transformation into quite positive experiences whether any eligibility for Canon 603 exists or not. Reflecting on my own experience, I feel that initially such a marginalized, isolated and lonely person will need to initially embrace this negative expience as having real value and for the sake of The Kingdom and such embracing of negativity is indeed in truth fruitful solitude if not any sort of eligibility for Canon 603. It does present to the isolated etc. person the concept that the negativity they do experience has the potential for real value even transformation or transfiguration. I feel that such a concept needs to be actively presented to the marginalized etc.without necessarily any sort of inference in relation to Canon 603 necessarily. There is real and true value outside of Canon 603. In discerning any sort of call to any of the consecrated states including Canon 603, it needs to be discerned whether it is an actual call and vocation or some sort of desire for 'recognition' in The Church - and this sort of discernment will probably become apparent with spiritual direction in the discerning process. It certainly needs to considered by the spiritual direction (that is, motivation) Hence I agree with your statement as potential "Too often people believe they are hermits or part time hermits because they are isolated physically or personally marginalized." My thinking and concepts in this thread are completely outside of Canon 603. In my own case, my times of solitude are indeed a "living alone with God for others" - and others on a few levels including a real attraction to an active desire to pray for The Church and our leadership on all levels and for the salvation of mankind. Hence any solitude I experience is for the sake of The Kingdom and with Peace and Joy - happiness and fulfillment, however having investigated eremitical life, I am not aware of any call whatsoever to seek consecration under Canon 603. I value immensely all the vocational states to consecrated life and in their various existing forms, but having investigated most all I think, except CV for which I am ineligible, I have no actual attraction to any rather to the contrary. Hence I have truly embraced private vows as my call and vocation - and more and more and with deepening insight into this way of life I feel and insight that is continuing to unfold for me. I certainly do feel a call and attraction when I am not otherwise occupied in works of mercy (the other side of my life) to a life of prayer and this has been confirmed by my spiritual director and others in authority type positions in The Church who have known me very well over long periods. I no longer exeperience isolation and lonelines, and any sense marginalization too seems to be a passing with acceptance into the active life of my parish, if they are not yet aware I suffer MI. My self esteem and confidence and as a sufferer of MI seems to be growing and such is important in taking one's contributing place in society and for the sake of The Kingdom. My times of being alone are times of prayer and I really look forward to being alone most of all - again confirmed by my SD. In my own journey with mental illness I have found that what were once negative experiences are now transformed into quite positive experiences in that my life has space and aloneness for prayer and simply being alone with Him whom I love and to whom I have given my life. This asked initially that I did embrace these negative experiences and for the sake of The Kingdom and as quite negative experiences having value spiritually as negative experiences. The passing of such negativity has been a long journey (at times quite painful and difficult) deeply into negative experience embraced "for the sake of The Kingdom" - and from time to time, as with all, such negative experience can return as passing phases only. Edited January 1, 2013 by BarbaraTherese
BarbTherese Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 (edited) There is something that I should (I feel) have added to my post here http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/120356-consecrated-single-life/page-3#entry2528674 . When I was actively working as a counsellor (pre onset of Bipolar), what really stood out for me was that many of my clients possibly only needed a good friend to sit down with over a cuppa. Someone they could open up to completely and could trust to keep confidences and would not judge them whatsoever. In part, this did cause me to leave active counselling - although back then I had no notion whatsoever that I was to be 'landed' smack bang right in the middle of a poverty struck area and with every social problem in the book - a suburb where I found my counselling skills very handy although never overtly so. I was able indeed to sit down with many of all ages, problems etc. and over a cuppa and often a meal or bbq. This did lead me to take in ironing and increase my income to cover expenses. Hence hospitality which has always been important to my way of life (it goes right back to the Old Testament) became very important and a major focus. Even today socially when we gather it is very often over a meal of some kind, or an aspect of a meal in a cup of coffee or tea etc. I call my way of life "Bethany". Bethany (meaning amongst a few meanings "House of Poverty" and "House of Invalids") was a little town just outside of Jerusalem. Martha, Mary and Lazarus lived there and were brother and sisters - and great friends of Jesus. Bethany as a small town was also a place in the Old Testament, although its location today is unknown. Jerusalem must have been a place of stress and tension for Jesus and I imagine Him calling in on His friends in Bethany on the way to Jerusalem just to relax after His journey and prior to facing the stress and tension of Jerusalem as much as He loved abundantly Jerusalem (and cried over it) - and also after He left it, just to unwind. The story of Martha and Mary ( lay women) as imaging the contemplative and active lives or life for us today also became very important to me. The whole story around Bethany and the brother and sisters that lived there - and Jesus who visited - came to have rich meaning for my own way of life as it was unfolding. I did thoroughly research Bethany as a town in the Old and New Testaments but all the research is on an old computer and though still retained, it has never been transferred to this computer and a new laptop. Lazarus, I imagine, as a real close mate, perhaps even confidant, of Jesus, since Jesus wept when Lazarus died. Back when I called my way of living "Bethany, also the name of any residence I occupy, I had no idea just how much meaning it would all come to have for me. I recall making a retreat at our Carmelite Monastery years ago in their guest house. One of the extern sisters asked me "What passage of Scripture is most important to you" and quite spontaneously without any sort of hesitation, I replied "My delight is to be with the children of men". Sister looked at me with a frown and on returning to my retreat solitude, I too was frowning as to why I had replied with that passage and reflection followed. I had asked a priest I knew very well and v v to call if he could to hear my General Confession. I was up in the mezzanine overlooking The Blessed Sacrament in the Chapel reading a book. Next thing I heard Father's voice "I knew I would find you here and came straight here". He is character! On calling in on him one day in his own residence. He walked through a door and before I could walk thru it, he slammed the door in my face. I started laughing and said "You are no longer in the seminary, Father!" I have heard he was quite a character too in the Seminary prone to practical jokes. I love that man and priest and he has risen quite high in our diocese nowadays I have heard. His beautiful spirituality is not at all overt and he is just a very ordinary quite Aussie type of male and probably quite surprising to many that he is also a Catholic priest. (I read somewhere "walk lightly on the edge of eternity" and that has come to really speak to me too - although I dont think it is from a Catholic nor spiritual text, cant remember) I was in town one afternoon, turned a corner in our main shopping district street and ran right into him. He grabbed me and said "What are you doing here!" I replied "Nahhh, first, what are YOU doing here!" Another time, another place, another priest I know very well - I knocked on the parish house door and Father answered, and then grabbed me by the arm and pulled me inside and said "What are you doing here!" Why do priests want to know what I am doing and with an element of violence in grabbing me - LOL....... :locked: Edited January 2, 2013 by BarbaraTherese
BarbTherese Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 .Iam reading Salvifici Doloris(Christian meaning of Human Suffering) HERE when I can and something else has occured to me as I read and for those who may experience isolation, loneliness and marginalization. If The Lord is willing, they can lift themselves out of possible bitterness and resentment (or any other negative reaction to their condition) and find in their negative experience a positive spiritual benefit - this will contribute to their mental good health emotionally and psychologically I am sure and partially coming about because their attitude has changed into a positive reaction rather than an entirely negative one. When we do experience negative emotions like bitterness, resentment, anger etc. it is the person experiencing who does the suffering and especially if one clings to the negative attitude even investing in same and thus 'feeding' it. Pope John Paul in Salvifici Doloris does quote St Paul, Second Letter to the Corinthians "For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so though Christ, we share abundantly in comfort too" and this comfort and consolation on the spiritual level comes about through embracing negative factors as the honour and priveledge of sharing in the Sufferings of Jesus in some way, small or great. One may still experience all the negative factors, but bearing them with a different sort of attitude and without 'feeding' them can, given time as The Lord may will, begin to transform or transfigure the negative experience into a positive experience. It is entirely possible, Grace prevailing, to have real spiritual Joy and Peace in suffering that may come along in the journey of life - while I suspect it is probably a real miracle of Grace. This does not mean passivity because suffering is not a good, rather a form of evil - and we are called to engage in the struggle against evil in any form it cares to take. It can mean great spiritual Peace and Joy in what we need to accept, and accept simply because there is no other way of dealing with some forms and types of suffering. I am thinking about starting a blog perhaps if I have the time and on the dedicated life with private vows to the evangelical counsels in the lay state, as well as on mental illness specifically and journeying as a Catholic with this illness. If I do get round to starting such a blog, I will be including the link into my signature. I am now and then conscious that the Vocations Forum is only supposed to be about religious and priestly vocations according to Phatmass Rules.
Chiquitunga Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 (edited) Barbara, I believe that includes Consecrated Life, with it's many forms, CVs, Hermits, Secular Institutes, which I have since read have semi-public vows and remain in the lay state/could be called consecrated laity - http://doihaveavocation.com/blog/archives/363 & http://sponsa-christi.blogspot.com/2010/06/various-forms-of-consecrated-life.html And your own private vows would fall under that "special consecration" JPII spoke of .. so I wouldn't think discussing this state/private vows would be inappropriate on VS. That's my interpretation at least :like: Btw, I recently learned St. Gemma Galgani took private vows of all three evangelical counsels too, http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2009/01/life-of-st-gemma-galgani.html Edited January 2, 2013 by Chiquitunga
BarbTherese Posted January 2, 2013 Posted January 2, 2013 Barbara, I believe that includes Consecrated Life, with it's many forms, CVs, Hermits, Secular Institutes, which I have since read have semi-public vows and remain in the lay state/could be called consecrated laity - http://doihaveavocation.com/blog/archives/363 & http://sponsa-christi.blogspot.com/2010/06/various-forms-of-consecrated-life.html And your own private vows would fall under that "special consecration" JPII spoke of .. so I wouldn't think discussing this state/private vows would be inappropriate on VS. That's my interpretation at least :like: Btw, I recently learned St. Gemma Galgani took private vows of all three evangelical counsels too, http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2009/01/life-of-st-gemma-galgani.html Thank you very much for the above - it eases my often tender conscience. :like3: I was much comforted by JPII calling the dedicated life a "special consecration" and mentioning it under "Thanksgiving for The Consecrated Life" although I dont want to have to argue this point, if I dont have to with any sort of moderation on Phatmass. I am rather hoping that more may be said about private vows to the evangelical counsels by Rome - but I am not holding my breath :smile3: It is only a passing reference as it were in Vita Consecrata, but since it comes under "Thanksgiving for The Consecrated LIfe", it does rather 'stick out' to my mind. Ah well, it will all be sorted out one way or t'other in The Lord's good time I daresay. It seems to me that more are attracted to the lay state often with private vows to the evangelical counsels. Just seems to pop up more on discussion sites. I daresay too that all that JPII has written will be carefully examined with his canonization process, or has been examined, coupled with the fact it is a papal document. Yes I know a bit about St Gemma Galgani - I think she wanted to join the Passionist Order but something or things got in her way - can't quite recall at the moment. Was it ill health? She certainly wore almost a religious habit but no veil - but it was a long time ago and my preference under private vows is secular clothing for myself nowadays. I do wear a silver ring and cross on a leather thong - but I have always worn these for so long now, 'part of the furniture' or 'goes with the territory'. :)
cmaD2006 Posted January 3, 2013 Posted January 3, 2013 BarbaraTherese ... I really do appreciate your posts because it is a different perspective on vocation. It is a much needed perspective too :).
BarbTherese Posted January 3, 2013 Posted January 3, 2013 (edited) :like2: Thank you for the encouragement, CM - and in a thread that I am hoping will not become argumentative to the extreme. I might start a blog, at this point I am unsure as it seems to me to be potentially time consuming especially since I do not have the gift of being concise and to the point. I will be talking with my director this month and with a need to sort out what I can do and what I cannot. What I should give time to and what can be laid aside. I have no wish whatsoever 'to take on' those far more qualified in Church matters, since I have no qualifications at all and I would much rather speak about the vocation and call itself than get argumentative about it as a vocation and call in the first place. Certainly, The Church has placed no obstacles in the way and not to state that The Church may do so in the future and if it is in my lifetime, I will respond in obedience to The Church accordingly in whatsoever is decided. At this point in our unfolding, private vows to the evangelical counsels have something of an affirmation by The Church and I have found a few references - but links etc. are on my old computer and not transferred to this one and entirely time consuming having to try to refind them on the internet and on discussion sites where I have quoted them. Certainly Canon Law has placed no obstacles to private vows to the evangelical counsels and if memory serves this affirmation goes back to Pope Pius XII. Perhaps even further. My hope that is that at some time in the future, The Church will make things very clear beyond any sort of argument. But hope and reality or God's Will at times just do not coincide. For the moment, we can be confident about private vows to the evangelical counsels no matter what arguments are put forward by those educated in Church matters. It is nothing at all new that those educated in Church matters will argue 'how many angels can stand the head of a pin' as it were, at least to us 'mere mortals' in the pews - again, as it were. And The Lord's Will be done in all things. For us as Catholics, The Church is the sole authority to whom we turn to know what the Will of The Lord may be in broad terms anyway. At this point, there is nothing to state that private vows to the evangelical counsels are not valid as private vows, rather to the contrary - and certainly I have the affirmation of two theologians that private vows to the EC are valid as private vows and that God will indeed grant The Grace of perserance and I am now over 30 years and with great imperfection often 'down the road'. If others educated in Church matters disagree, then it is up to them to hash things out with like educated - and, it seems to me, an obligation to also point out what The Church is saying and has said on any particular subject and until any such time, if it ever occurs, that The Church changes direction re private vows to the ECs - and in order not to lead any person astray and grasping a theological disagreement point as what The Church is actually teaching. (Edit: - Woops, I have got mixed up (nothing unusual) between this thread and the other thread that is now discussing private vows to the ECs - and no matter, I will let my post here stand.) Edited January 3, 2013 by BarbaraTherese
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