A Random Vocations Chat Type Of Thread

[vee]

[quote name='laetitia crucis' date='16 June 2010 - 07:16 AM' timestamp='1276690569' post='2129801']
So it appears we'd all like to go to the cloister... for a day (well, except for vee8... she'll stay locked up in her cell, busy procuring gallons of holy tears to get the rest of us into heaven ).

I find this rather interesting.

Are we all closet-contemplatives?


[/quote]

I'd be surprised if I managed to drag myself into heaven let alone anyone else.

I agree it is interesting how everyone would like to be a contemplative for a day. I guess the Summit Dominicans are cloistered too so if I had to go with an active order for a day Id try the Sisters of Life or the CFR sisters. Or even more awesome would be to spend a day as one of the Sisters who works for the pope. Why? Because I'm a fan of B16, and it would be fun to be a part of the Vatican inner workings for a day.

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='vee8' date='16 June 2010 - 12:08 PM' timestamp='1276704527' post='2129855']
I'd be surprised if I managed to drag myself into heaven let alone anyone else.

I agree it is interesting how everyone would like to be a contemplative for a day. I guess the Summit Dominicans are cloistered too so if I had to go with an active order for a day Id try the Sisters of Life or the CFR sisters. [b] Or even more awesome would be to spend a day as one of the Sisters who works for the pope. Why? Because I'm a fan of B16, and it would be fun to be a part of the Vatican inner workings for a day.[/b]
[/quote]


Oh, you hit the jackpot! I think I might have to change my answer to the bolded bit!

[TeresaBenedicta]

[quote name='laetitia crucis' date='16 June 2010 - 09:16 AM' timestamp='1276690569' post='2129801']
So it appears we'd all like to go to the cloister... for a day (well, except for vee8... she'll stay locked up in her cell, busy procuring gallons of holy tears to get the rest of us into heaven ).

I find this rather interesting.

Are we all closet-contemplatives?


[/quote]

Haha! I think we all see the beauty of cloistered life but know that we'd (or [b]I'd[/b]) probably fail miserably at it. One day would be enough to take care of quite a bit of purgatory time!!!!!!!!

[brightsadness]

I'd try the Byzantine Carmelites in Sugarloaf for a day. Just to experience what so many on VS are drawn to.

[aalpha1989]

Ooo, Byzantine Carmelites would be really interesting. I would definitely try them for a few days, if I knew of any male communities. Actually I'd rather stay with them a few years so I could really taste the mysticism.

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='TeresaBenedicta' date='16 June 2010 - 01:15 PM' timestamp='1276708542' post='2129887']
Haha! I think we all see the beauty of cloistered life but know that we'd (or [b]I'd[/b]) probably fail miserably at it. One day would be enough to take care of quite a bit of purgatory time!!!!!!!!
[/quote]

I ditto your sentiments, TB!



Or perhaps my being there would shave off [i]eons[/i] in Purgatory for my fellow nuns!

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='TeresaBenedicta' date='16 June 2010 - 12:15 PM' timestamp='1276708542' post='2129887']
Haha! I think we all see the beauty of cloistered life but know that we'd (or [b]I'd[/b]) probably fail miserably at it. One day would be enough to take care of quite a bit of purgatory time!!!!!!!!
[/quote]

I fear I'm the same. I continue to be fascinated by the religious life, but the practical side of me KNOWS that, after a relatively short time, the professed nuns would suggest, nicely of course, that I am probably called to a different way of life. Either that, or if the nuns were too kind-hearted to turn me out into the cold (or, more likely, because they realized that monastery library and achives had never been better organized, or accumulated such a good collection of books at low cost), new postulants would wonder why Sister Dewey Decimal of the Late Rising had remained a novice for SO many years! [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/cool.gif[/img]

But, one day of experiencing it would be interesting--and probably would cure my fascination with the religious life!

Strangely, I don't find the thought of cloistered life that intimidating--in many ways it sounds very attractive. I don't mean the cloistered life of the Carmelites, where you might never touch another friend or family member again, but Orders where the nuns are cloistered, but have a little more direct contact with visitors, and might leave the cloister for religious meetings, etc.

For example, I saw a picture from the Web site of the Eastern Province of "my" Sisters when they attended a meeting of local novice mistresses of various Orders. (I think that's what the meeting was for--but don't hold me to it.) In the picture of about 20 Sisters/nuns, all in different habits, I recognized Sister Mary Catherine, the novice Mistress of the Summit Dominicans, a cloistered Order. (I looked it up on a map, and the Eastern province of "my" Sisters" and the Summit Dominicans are physcially very close to one another.) But, I suspect I may be a little too ADD to be able to keep my attention on prayer quite as much as the usual contemplative Order does. But, all that singing would be wonderful. Maybe I'd have to take lessons and learn to play the organ, so I would have something to do during prayers.

If there were any Orders whose charism was the care of animals, I think I might have found "my place." (I don't mean goats, sheep, etc, but caring for injured or homeless animals.)

Edited June 16, 2010 by IgnatiusofLoyola

[vee]

[quote name='laetitia crucis' date='16 June 2010 - 01:22 PM' timestamp='1276712536' post='2129940']


Or perhaps my being there would shave off [i]eons[/i] in Purgatory for my fellow nuns!
[/quote]

Wow this reminds me of something I wrote in my thank you letter to the nuns. I wrote basically the following "Out of six billion people in the world I'm sorry you got me to talk to for a week so I pray God will grant you greater glory in heaven in return for putting up with me!"

[krissylou]

Oh goodness, I'm like the rest of you, quite certain my vocation is to the active life but craving short bursts of the contemplative life.

Hmmm ... maybe as I consider various oblate/tertiary relationships I should be considering the Lay Associates of the Cistercian (Trappistine) nuns an hour away? This could be a clue.

(They don't have the canonical status of oblates, but who cares? Well some people may care and that's fine but the precise canonical status is not at all priority for me.)

Actually, hmmm, I feel like I can come pretty close to "be a Trappistine for a day" by going there on retreat, especially if I stay in one of the monastery guest rooms (outside the cloister but in the same building) rather than the separate guest house. Their postulants even wear street clothes (simple longish skirts, etc. but still street clothes) so I could mimic that without a problem.

(Sorry about you Carmelite-for-a-days or Poor Clare-for-a-days whose beloved communities don't have guest quarters!)

What I really want to do (not that it would be terribly feasible due to work, etc.) is essentially do a "live-in." Join in the whole day -- including work rather than just the offices and private prayer, and be there long enough that I could sink into the rhythms in ways that you can't really do over a weekend or a week. Much like an aspirancy -- maybe two to three months. But without any intention whatsoever of entering permanently.

Is this weird?

[Thomist-in-Training]

[quote name='krissylou' date='16 June 2010 - 04:15 PM' timestamp='1276719317' post='2130037']
What I really want to do (not that it would be terribly feasible due to work, etc.) is essentially do a "live-in." Join in the whole day -- including work rather than just the offices and private prayer, and be there long enough that I could sink into the rhythms in ways that you can't really do over a weekend or a week. Much like an aspirancy -- maybe two to three months. But without any intention whatsoever of entering permanently.

Is this weird?
[/quote]

Actually, it sounds just like the year-long "[url="http://www.abbeyofreginalaudis.com/sitelive/index.htm"]Monastic Internship[/url]" program that Regina Laudis Benedictine Abbey has. Some of the people who do it are thinking about a vocation, others are just young people who are interested in the handicrafts & unified approach to life, as it were.

[quote]The interns live in housing provided by the Abbey and are invited to share as guests in the rhythm of work and prayer that structures the life
of the community, though no religious affiliation is required. ... A shorter term introductory Monastic Practicum is also available.
[/quote]

*edit for beauty + to add quote

Edited June 16, 2010 by Thomist-in-Training

[krissylou]

Looking at Regina Laudis, MY GOODNESS their pictures have a lot of white veils.

Interesting.

Edited June 16, 2010 by krissylou

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='krissylou' date='16 June 2010 - 05:01 PM' timestamp='1276725684' post='2130097']
Looking at Regina Laudis, MY GOODNESS their pictures have a lot of white veils.

[/quote]

Personally, I like communities where everyone (or, sometimes only certain Sisters, such as nursing sisters) wear white veils. I understand the significance of the black veil and find it very meaningful, but there is also something "pure" about nuns dressed all in white. (And we all know how "pure" I am--oh well.) However, although all-white habits are common in the mission field and in countries with warm climates, you don't see them often in the U.S., except for certain nursing Sisters.

I suspect that any community that decided to keep me as a penance or a challenge (or, I like to think, because their library and archives never looked better), that the professed nuns still wouldn't feel that I was ready for even temporary vows, and I would start a new custom (similar to that of perpetual deacon) of perpetual novice. At this point in my life, I could care less about being low (woman) on the totem pole. It's not as if the community would be deprived of the inestimable benefit of my opinions...I mean "wisdom." [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/cool.gif[/img]

[Thomist-in-Training]

[quote name='IgnatiusofLoyola' date='16 June 2010 - 07:40 PM' timestamp='1276731654' post='2130148']
Personally, I like communities where everyone (or, sometimes only certain Sisters, such as nursing sisters) wear white veils. I understand the significance of the black veil and find it very meaningful, but there is also something "pure" about nuns dressed all in white. (And we all know how "pure" I am--oh well.) However, although all-white habits are common in the mission field and in countries with warm climates, you don't see them often in the U.S., except for certain nursing Sisters.

I suspect that any community that decided to keep me as a penance or a challenge (or, I like to think, because their library and archives never looked better), that the professed nuns still wouldn't feel that I was ready for even temporary vows, and I would start a new custom (similar to that of perpetual deacon) of perpetual novice. At this point in my life, I could care less about being low (woman) on the totem pole. It's not as if the community would be deprived of the inestimable benefit of my opinions...I mean "wisdom." [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/cool.gif[/img]
[/quote]


BINGBINGBINGBINGBING! You just got pwned by the [url="http://sistersoflife.org/about-the-sisters-of-life/formation"]Sisters of Life[/url]!
Even the professed wear white veils!

[quote]At first profession, Sisters receive the blue band and the medal of the Madonna of the Streets along with their first apostolic mission. The white veil, however, remains to remind us that transformation in Christ is the work of a lifetime. [/quote]

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='Thomist-in-Training' date='16 June 2010 - 08:05 PM' timestamp='1276736741' post='2130177']
BINGBINGBINGBINGBING! [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/dance.gif[/img] You just got pwned by the [url="http://sistersoflife.org/about-the-sisters-of-life/formation"]Sisters of Life[/url]!
Even the professed wear white veils!
[/quote]

I LOVE the habit of the Sisters of Life--even if it isn't all white. Blue is my favorite color, and the combination of blue and white in their habits is lovely.

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='IgnatiusofLoyola' date='16 June 2010 - 09:19 PM' timestamp='1276737580' post='2130186']
I LOVE the habit of the Sisters of Life--even if it isn't all white. Blue is my favorite color, and the combination of blue and white in their habits is lovely.
[/quote]

I share the Sisters of Life habit-love.

I think it just might be my favorite "somewhat modified" habit. (Can it be categorized as such technically? I have no idea. )

When I went to see my newly-noviced friend on her first post-investiture Visiting Day I just couldn't stop gibbering about how beautiful she looked in her new habit! Really, I felt like I was speaking to a bride on her wedding day.... just couldn't help myself!