Carmelite Solemn Profession And Veiling

[AnneLine]

Then the photos of your daughter, impressed on your heart, will enable us to recognize her when we all meet in the Eucharist and in Heaven. Blessings on her, you and all your family and friends, and on her sisters, of course!

[emmaberry]

[quote name='Aineiora' timestamp='1337005140' post='2430470']
+ Praise be Jesus Christ+
Please pray for my daughter (and all who are traveling to witness the event) as she prepares to make her Solemn Profession on Ascension Thursday. Also, could you add in some additional prayers for her grandmother who can no longer attend as she suffered a heart attack and open heart surgery last week.
Thank you and God Bless!
[/quote]

How beautiful! What a saint you are--I am wanting to enter the cloister, and my parents are not as supportive as you seem to be! I wish you could speak with my mom. We need more parents like you in the Church who are supportive of God's Will in the form of vocations to religious life.

[Aineiora]

[quote name='emmaberry' timestamp='1338101250' post='2435681']


How beautiful! What a saint you are--I am wanting to enter the cloister, and my parents are not as supportive as you seem to be! I wish you could speak with my mom. We need more parents like you in the Church who are supportive of God's Will in the form of vocations to religious life.
[/quote]

Thank you for your kind words, but I am no saint! (But I hope to be counted among the saints in Heaven one day.). Don't be too discouraged about your mom. It took a long time for my husband and I to make peace about our only daughter entering a cloistered community. She was very wise during her discernment and took us on baby steps so that we could accept and appreciate her vocation. Ultimately, it took a phone call from Reverend Mother, who gently insisted that we make the journey to visit the community. We did that and the visit was very fruitful. What we found was a joy-filled, loving and laughing group of religious women who, although they shared the same spiritual vocation, all of their own personalities shown through. Even though we did not fully articulate it to ourselves, as parents we probably thought that cloistered contemplative Sisters were something like the "Stepford Wives" - clearly not the case! And the Sisters do consider themselves part of your family, so we have lots of daughters now! Also, this community has had an explosion of vocations in the past 5 years and they don't even have a website, so you know that something very good is happening there.

All that being said, having your daughter in a cloister is hard, very hard. Depending on the community, this may mean that occasionally the family is able to touch or hug or speak without a grille between them. Unfortunately, this is not the case for us. The last time on this earth that I was able to hug my daughter was 5 years ago, moments before she entered the cloister. So, every visit is bittersweet for us. That is our little cross to bear in this life. But the trade-off is seeing how happy she is and how much she has grown in her faith. And that she and her Sisters are praying for us all the time - that is a huge blessing! Tell your mom that the graces God pours out on the parents are the salve that heals the wounds in our hearts. God bless you and I'll be glad to be of any help that I can.

Aineiora

[Queen'sDaughter]

Many prayers for you, Aineiora. From my experience with my own mother, I know that it is terribly hard for parents to see there children become cloistered. By the way, what order is your daughter a member of? It sounds so beautiful.

[Aineiora]

[quote name='Queen'sDaughter' timestamp='1338163876' post='2435965']
Many prayers for you, Aineiora. From my experience with my own mother, I know that it is terribly hard for parents to see there children become cloistered. By the way, what order is your daughter a member of? It sounds so beautiful.
[/quote]

It is a beautiful order. But can't you tell from my picture? ;-) That is my daughter in her habit with that gloriously beautiful handmade Rosary adorning her habit. I'm a bit confused by your statement above though, was it you or your mother that was cloistered?

[emmaberry]

[quote name='Aineiora' timestamp='1338135711' post='2435769']
Thank you for your kind words, but I am no saint! (But I hope to be counted among the saints in Heaven one day.). Don't be too discouraged about your mom. It took a long time for my husband and I to make peace about our only daughter entering a cloistered community. She was very wise during her discernment and took us on baby steps so that we could accept and appreciate her vocation. Ultimately, it took a phone call from Reverend Mother, who gently insisted that we make the journey to visit the community. We did that and the visit was very fruitful. What we found was a joy-filled, loving and laughing group of religious women who, although they shared the same spiritual vocation, all of their own personalities shown through. Even though we did not fully articulate it to ourselves, as parents we probably thought that cloistered contemplative Sisters were something like the "Stepford Wives" - clearly not the case! And the Sisters do consider themselves part of your family, so we have lots of daughters now! Also, this community has had an explosion of vocations in the past 5 years and they don't even have a website, so you know that something very good is happening there.

All that being said, having your daughter in a cloister is hard, very hard. Depending on the community, this may mean that occasionally the family is able to touch or hug or speak without a grille between them. Unfortunately, this is not the case for us. The last time on this earth that I was able to hug my daughter was 5 years ago, moments before she entered the cloister. So, every visit is bittersweet for us. That is our little cross to bear in this life. But the trade-off is seeing how happy she is and how much she has grown in her faith. And that she and her Sisters are praying for us all the time - that is a huge blessing! Tell your mom that the graces God pours out on the parents are the salve that heals the wounds in our hearts. God bless you and I'll be glad to be of any help that I can.

Aineiora
[/quote]

Thank you! I can't imagine how hard it is to give your daughter up to the cloister, but you seem so joyful too. I am going to pass on your words about gaining many more daughters to my mom. I think that she has the same impression you had--that nuns are lonely robots. It will be good for them to hear about the family environment fostered both for the new Sister and the parents. Praying for your daughter!

Edited May 28, 2012 by emmaberry

[Queen'sDaughter]

[quote name='Aineiora' timestamp='1338216365' post='2436330']
It is a beautiful order. But can't you tell from my picture? ;-) That is my daughter in her habit with that gloriously beautiful handmade Rosary adorning her habit. I'm a bit confused by your statement above though, was it you or your mother that was cloistered?
[/quote]


I am entering a monastic order. It is not under papal enclosure, but it is fully contemplative, and my mom has struggled with accepting my decision.

[Aineiora]

I think that every mom struggles with it. As parents, we have dreams, even if we don't articulate them, for our children. And we need the space and time to mourn those dreams. I wanted my daughter to get married and produce a bunch of grandbabies for me to enjoy. Then, when she first started talking about a possible vocation to religious life, I wanted her to be a missionary or a teacher, because she is wicked-smart. And that way, she could come home for visits and truth be told, I could parade her around a bit in the community so everybody could see MY accomplishment. I had to let those selfish dreams die. In the end, her vocation was to be a cloistered, contemplative Bride of Christ, hidden away from the world. And you know what? She is happy - beyond the happiness we experience here in the world. Her joy is pure and holy. God wants us to be happy holy and now that is my only dream for my daughter now.

Queen's Daughter, you and Emmaberry need to be so gentle with your mothers. The vocation to a contemplative religious life is so very hard for parents. But there is joy to be found there. God bless you both on your journey.

Aineiora

[emmaberry]

Oh, wow! So much of that post identifies with not only what my mom is probably feeling, but me as well! I have definitely had to struggle with not being in an active order and parading MYSELF around in a habit for devout Catholics to adore and I know my mom has a tinge of this as well. Thankfully, I have a really godly mother who only wants her children to follow God completely, but she is still human and experiences the sadness and fear of sacrifice you describe.

Aineiora: I talked to my mom about you and the other moms of nuns on this phorum, and she said she would love to speak with you! I understand that you are probably busy, but it would mean so much to her to talk with someone she can identify with! We are in the Bible belt, so everyone a) doesn't understand and says, "a nun!? Those really exist???!" or b) thinks Catholicism is evil and nuns are unbiblical, and tells my mom so. If you would be open to speaking with her through phone, email, or phatmass chat, please let me know.

Thanks and God Bless!
Emma Berry (I would've sent you a PM but I didn't see the option on your profile)

[Aineiora]

Hey Emmaberry,

I think (no guarantees, since I'm not very tech-savvy and these interwebz can be a mystery to me), I fixed the PM problem.