What is/are your spiritual family/spirituality ? Poll and questions

[NadaTeTurbe]

It's a simple poll, but I'm adding questions  You can give multiple answer ! 

For each spiritual family you're voting for, please tell us : 
a) In wich religious congregation do you, personally, find this spirituality. 
b) Describe in a short sentence the "heart" of this spirituality
c) The Saints that best embody this spirituality. 
d) A particular movie, book, etc... that can help us to learn more about it ! 
e) Does this spirituality was usefull at a particular moment in your life, and not anymore ? 

I'm beginning. I voted for "St Francis de Sales", "St Vincent de Paul", "Blessed Charles de Foucauld", "Cistercian" and "charismatic." Yes, it's a lot  

St Francis de Sales : 
a) Well, the Sisters of the Visitation, of course ! 
b) Living your daily live with love, humility, and gentleness. You can become a Saint in whatever is your state of life. 
c) St Francis de Sales, and also, Ste Thérèse de Lisieux. 
d) St Francis de Sales - Introduction to the Devout Life 
e) The introduction to the devout life was very usefull when I was leaving my sinfull life. It gave me stability in my spiritual life. Now, I'm not "into it" as I used to, but St Francis de Sales was a great help to become a "good catholic" 

St Vincent de Paul 
a) Daughters of Charity 
b) In the poors, you meet Jesus Christ himself, serve them with love and humility. 
c) St Vincent de Paul, and Blessed Frédéric Ozanam 
d) Any biography of Saint Vincent 
e) It's a very good spirituality when you're involved in ministry with the poors, and you want it to be a spiritual thing, and not a material thing. As an historian, the life of St Vincent fascinates me. 

Blessed Charles de Foucauld/nazareth 
a) The little sisters of Jesus 
b) To live an hidden life, where you are living, in the heart of Jesus. 
c) Blessed Charles de Foucauld, Little Sister Madeleine of Jesus, René Voillaume 
d) the biography of Charles de Foucauld by René Bazin, the "green carnet" (carnet vert) by little sister Madeleine 
e) I'm still learning about it. I don't know if it's mine, but I'm learning a lot from the little sisters. 

Cistercian 
a) The cistercian, specially a monastery close to my city. 
b) Searching for God, in a hidden life, by prayer, lectio divina, the contemplation of the creation and the Creator. 
c) Bernard de Clairvaux, Blessed Marie-Joseph Cassant, Martyrs of Tibhirine. 
d) Anything wirtten by Bernard de Clairvaux, specially his homilies. 
e) It's kind of new for me, so I can't say. Maybe it's a temporary thing, right now I find it the best for my spiritual life. 

Charismatic 
a) Emmanuel Community, Chemin Neuf
b) Sing a lot  
c) Pierre Goursat, founder of the Emmanuel 
d) Honestly, I don't know 
e) I used to be close to a charismatic movement, but then bad thing happened (this movement was not healthy, and I rejected them entirely. However, now, I realize it influenced me. 

[DominicanHeart]

I think of myself as a little bit Dominican, a little bit Carmelite and totally Marian. That's why I also chose other

[WhoamI]

I voted Augustinian.  The religious community with which I am associated (and which will remain nameless for the moment) follows the Rule of Augustine. Of course, many, many communities do, but we seem to place more emphasis on it, despite not being specifically Augustinian. There is study of the Rule in Formation, and it is read regularly, along with our Constitutions, by the community.

We are also, of course, thoroughly Eucharistic and Marian.

[DominicanHeart]

Oh of course I can't forget Eucharistic! And Mass in the Extraordinary Form. If I could start a community with all of this, I totally would 

[nikita92]

This simular question was asked a few years ago. (or so it seems) 

 

[Antigonos]

3 hours ago, nikita92 said:

This simular question was asked a few years ago. (or so it seems) 

 

As with threads about habits, and wedding dresses, and a few other topics, this subject surfaces occasionally.  New phatmassers might be unaware of this, and might have some interesting views, IMO.

[Benedictus]

a) Society of Jesus and FCJ Sisters
b) Finding God in all Things
c) St Ignatius Loyola and a recent Saint being Alberto Hurtado
d) The Spiritual Exercises (doing them as a retreat is even better)
e) I apply it all the time in terms of bible reading, examen, contemplation and prayer [retreat vrs. action].

[Gabriela]

On 5/8/2016, 4:08:09, WhoamI said:

I voted Augustinian.  The religious community with which I am associated (and which will remain nameless for the moment) follows the Rule of Augustine. Of course, many, many communities do, but we seem to place more emphasis on it, despite not being specifically Augustinian. There is study of the Rule in Formation, and it is read regularly, along with our Constitutions, by the community.

We are also, of course, thoroughly Eucharistic and Marian.

Welcome, WhoamI!  

[WhoamI]

23 minutes ago, Gabriela said:

Welcome, WhoamI!  

Thank you.  I was on the Phorum many years ago, under a different name. Since then I entered a community, but as God has willed it, am currently on a leave of absence due to health reasons. Thus the name - I am rearly on a journey of discovering who I am in His sight.

I am going to, for the moment, keep my community unnamed, but if people think they know me from before, of have questions, I am  willing to talk in private messages.

 

Anyway, I will derail the thread no longer. Back to the discussion of different spiritualities.

[PhuturePriest]

Is there a spirituality for those who have no clue what theirs is despite researching them for years?

For some odd reason, when I discerned religious life I always gravitated to Franciscan communities, despite having little zeal towards caring for the poor in the intense way they do, though that is of course good and admirable. I was always much more interested in evangelization than anything else, and no community I could find really satisfied that in quite the way I wanted.

Is there a resource anyone knows of with information concerning the different types of spiritualities?

[Sr Mary Catharine OP]

14 hours ago, PhuturePriest said:

Is there a spirituality for those who have no clue what theirs is despite researching them for years?

For some odd reason, when I discerned religious life I always gravitated to Franciscan communities, despite having little zeal towards caring for the poor in the intense way they do, though that is of course good and admirable. I was always much more interested in evangelization than anything else, and no community I could find really satisfied that in quite the way I wanted.

Is there a resource anyone knows of with information concerning the different types of spiritualities?

Yes, it is called being Catholic! :-)

 

[Gabriela]

3 hours ago, Sr Mary Catharine OP said:

Yes, it is called being Catholic! :-)

 

Exactly.

[AveMariaPurissima]

My heart is with the Dominicans!  

The Carmelites were also significant for me.  I mark the beginning of my discernment around the time I discovered St. Thérèse and decided (around the age of 9 or so) I wanted to be a Carmelite just like her.  For years afterwards I was convinced I was called to Carmel!  So although I don't feel as drawn to Carmel as I used to, they were important in my discernment!

[DominicanHeart]

1 hour ago, AveMariaPurissima said:

My heart is with the Dominicans!  

The Carmelites were also significant for me.  I mark the beginning of my discernment around the time I discovered St. Thérèse and decided (around the age of 9 or so) I wanted to be a Carmelite just like her.  For years afterwards I was convinced I was called to Carmel!  So although I don't feel as drawn to Carmel as I used to, they were important in my discernment!

St. Therese just has that affect on people. We are a lot alike!

[CountrySteve937]

I've been influenced by Carmelite, Benedictine, Montfort, and the Desert Fathers.  I love how rooted the Desert Fathers were in the Scriptures. 

[beatitude]

Blessed Charles de Foucauld.

How I 'met' him: I encountered his spirituality for the first time with the Little Sisters of Jesus, and then with the secular institute Jesus Caritas.
His spirituality in one sentence: Always remain aware of the connection between Jesus' living presence with us in the Eucharist and his presence in the people he called "the least of these" - whatever you did to the least of these, my brothers...
Significant saints and members: Little Brother Charles himself, Little Sister Magdeleine, Rene Voillaume, Marguerite Poncet (Jesus Caritas founder).
A book to let you learn more: Little Sr Magdeleine's 'green book' (written for her novices - you can read the whole thing online here, it's short and beautiful. If you read nothing else, read this bit.).
The role of this spirituality in my life: I hope to make vows with the secular institute Jesus Caritas. Interestingly, at first I actually had an aversion to Br Charles's emphasis on the hidden and the 'ordinary' - if I was going to give my life to God, I wanted the trumpets to sound before me in the marketplace, the front row seats in the synagogues, and the tasseliest tassels and broadest phylacteries of anyone! This spirituality is a very good antidote to my pride and I need a daily dose. My relationship to it has changed as the years have passed, but it never ceases to be relevant - right now I am drawn to its emphasis on solitude and the desert, even while immersing yourself in ordinary life.

I am also influenced by the Carmelites. Br. Charles greatly admired Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, and there is a Carmelite undercurrent in his own thinking. I had tried my vocation with the Carmelites before I'd even heard of him, and learning about the Carmelite elements of his spirituality was another 'Aha' moment for me. He was a Trappist monk before leaving to be a hermit in the Algerian desert, so lately I have been reading more about the Trappists/Cistercians in order to learn more about this aspect of his life and how it shaped his thought.

The Catholic Worker movement has had another big influence on me, but I suppose it's not a spirituality in the strict sense that these others are.

[littlesister]

St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor, with his emphasis on charity.  We too, read his Rule start to finish in the novitiate - along with lunch almost every Saturday, to be exact!

St. John Eudes, "Jesus living in Mary,"  since St. Jeanne Jugan was a Eudist tertiary for over 20 years before she founded our Congregation.  We inherit many of his prayers and practices from her own way of life.

St. John of God, with his emphasis on Hospitality.  In the 1840's, the Provincial of his Brothers worked with St. Jeanne to meld all three strands into a coherent whole.  This was the contact that gave us our beloved vow of Hospitality, which we share with their Brothers and Sisters.