Going To Be A Sister :)

[Johanna]

Hi,

I have been a lurker at vocation station for quite some time now, and to me it seems I know some of you really well already. Now it is the first time I found the courage to post something in here myself . So let me introduce myself:

I am a university student from Germany and in the process of finishing my studies (which will take me another one and a half years, but it's already the beginning of examination time now). I have discerned for about two years, until now. In the beginning I had just a kind of feeling that God wants me to change something in my life. First, I thought about giving up my studies and do something else, but I recognized very soon that this wasn't the right thing to do. Then I talked to our student's chaplain, and he told me something like "Everybody comes to the point of thinking about vocation sooner or later ...". I was a bit surprised then ("Me? A nun? But I will marry my boyfriend and have twelve children!!"), but I thought about everything and prayed a lot, went to the WYD, prayed again, talked to brothers and sisters, went on a retreat and then found out that it was probably the way - my way: Entering a religious community. Then I had to get seperated from my boyfriend first, which hurt us both a lot, but him more than me as he is an agnostic and did not at all understand why I preferred entering a monastery to being together with him. After that I began looking for the "right" community, and I almost drove our student's chaplain mad (who actually then wasn't our student's chaplain any more, but relocated to the next city and now is my spiritual director), as I was very impatient and wanted to know everything at once and asked him about different communities just to say: No, they aren't the right ones. But some day I was just surfing on the Internet and there it was: "my" monastery, "my" community. I just needed to read their homepage to know: If it is not them, then there is no community for me. They are some eight hours away from me, so I went there to visit them for two weeks even for the first time. And everything fit. Now, after some more visits, I must say "almost everything", but the things that I don't like aren't so important that they could get me away from that amazing community of sisters. So now, a week ago, I talked to the novice mistress about entering after my examinations. She just asked how long we will have to wait ... I'm really happy now, singing and dancing every time I am alone, but still very impatient. One and a half years to go ... And I can talk to almost nobody here, because I live in the middle of diaspora. I could really use some prayers.

Excuse me for all my language mistakes, please! And thank you for reading my post.

[Jennifer]

. Welcome Johanna You will be in my prayers as you continue your discernment.

[SaviorsChild]

Welcome to phatmass, Johanna!

There are quite a few from Germany here (including myself) - where do you come from? And where is your monastery? Will it be an active or a contemplative community?

Time flies - 1 1/2 years seams to be quite long, but wait and see... it will be over before you know what happens...
("Wie du warst vor aller Zeit, so bleibst du in Ewigkeit" - Gotteslob 257

Wenn du einfach mal reden willst, über alles, was so anliegt (kenne das Problem mit der Diaspora, weil bin selbst so aufgewachsen), dann schreib mal ne PN...)

See you later!

[img]http://www.broca.de/images/wink.gif[/img]

[cathoholic_anonymous]

Welcome aboard! I know what you mean about the impatience - during the first year of my discernment I wanted to know everything immediately and thought that it should all happen at once. God can be a slowcoach at times, and He certainly likes the scenic route, but at least you get a fabulous view along the way.

Which Order are you planning to enter? For some reason I am detecting a faint Benedictine vibe...

[stlmom]

Welcome Johanna, may God bless your generosity of heart!

[alicemary]

Johanna,
Welcome! What a wonderful time in your life, enjoy every second.
This is not a time of waiting, but a time for living. A time to get to know your intended. What better way to prepare to enter religiious life, then to spend time developing and deepening a relationship with Jesus. Do not look upon it as a negative, but always a positive.
Your education is very important, learn all you can. Have lots of friends and enjoy them. Always though, with the knowledge that you are aiming for a deeper union with Jesus.
Please post more and even if you don't want to disclose the particular order of sisters, at least tell us a bit about them if you can..
Alicemary

[philosophette]

Welcome! It is always good to have another discerner here.

I know what it is like to have to wait because of school, but like others have said, the time will REALLY fly by quickly. It gives you an opportunity to be like Mary, "for Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19).

I think Alicemary made some great points about treasuring your time with your friends, family, and in school. Two years ago I thought I would NEVER make it the convent, but now I have FIVE DAYS left! It came upon me like a thief in the night!

God bless you!

[Desire]

Hallo Johanna,

welcome to the phorum.
I'm from Austria and I was searching very long for a community, too.

In your posting I can find my story of vocation. My monastery is 8 hours away from my town, too

I will enter now in November the 1th.

(Wenn Du magst können wir uns gern über Pn oder Mail austauschen)

God bless you and your way

In Christ

Desire

[Johanna]

Hallo again,

God bless you very much for your warm welcome. I would prefer not to tell the name of the community yet (maybe in a year or so). I can just tell you that they are neither purely contemplative nor purely active, but they connect both in a way that fills my heart with joy. they have elements of missionary life, which is very important to me. Until now I found no comparable other community for women.

I will try and use my time well. In the beginning I thought, God was very unfair to let me wait so long, but now I am convinced that He has His reasons. Either I have to learn something important before I enter, or He has a task for me to complete before, or both. However, I know by now that He accompanies me - even although I sometimes doubt it and feel quite alone. But I keep reminding myself that He is there and everything turned out to be good until now - after it was over. So I try and lead a good life in the spirit of Christ till my time here will be over. I try to be His mouth, His hands, His arms, His heart, His ears. It is really necessary in this area, as there are very few Christians and you really feel the people's thirst for God's love.

[Totus Tuus]

Welcome!! I LOVE your name! Absolutely beautiful

I'm Lauren. Welcome to our family

God bless and Mary keep you close.

[be_thou_my_vision]

Welcome!!!!!

[Johanna]

*sigh*

Yesterday in the evening I phoned my sister. She is the only one in the family I can more or less talk to, as my parents are always sad when I talk about the monatsery and my brother seems not at all interested. It was the first time I mentioned the rule of not being visited during the two years of canonical novitiate. My sister asked: "Are you sure you want to do this?" She referred to my mother who will have real problems with that, will be homesick for me and feel lonely etc. This is the one real problem I feel: Leaving my family and especially my mother behind, sad and missing me. I don't know how to explain my mother the canonical novitiate thing ...

[Chiquitunga]

Hey Johanna! Thank you for sharing your story! Hang in there! Here's a recent thread that may be of interest to you - [url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?showtopic=69407"]Parental Opposition to a Special Vocation[/url]

I will keep you in prayer! Gott segne Dich! ( Ich spreche [i]ein bisschen[/i] Deutsch :j )

[Totus Tuus]

[quote name='Johanna' post='1344295' date='Jul 30 2007, 03:08 AM']*sigh*

Yesterday in the evening I phoned my sister. She is the only one in the family I can more or less talk to, as my parents are always sad when I talk about the monatsery and my brother seems not at all interested. It was the first time I mentioned the rule of not being visited during the two years of canonical novitiate. My sister asked: "Are you sure you want to do this?" She referred to my mother who will have real problems with that, will be homesick for me and feel lonely etc. This is the one real problem I feel: Leaving my family and especially my mother behind, sad and missing me. I don't know how to explain my mother the canonical novitiate thing ...[/quote]

I had to leave my close-knit family behind to enter a monastery as well. God really gives you the grace. It [i]is[/i] hard, but I know tons of sisters who have done it even with great parental opposition (one sister's father even threatened to divorce her mother if sister entered! Thankfully he never did : )

So just [b]trust[/b]. "Jesus I trust in You" is something to repeat often. We can't wrap our limited intellects around the mystery of a religious vocation, but we can trust that God's will is always meant for our happiness and the good of our families.

[VeniteAdoremus]

I've been away for a while, so a very late WELCOME to a fellow European

I must say you've made me (and others, I'd guess) very curious but don't tell where you are entering yet, we all love surprises! (I get a Carmelites DCJ feeling. But maybe that's just me.)

I wish you much grace on your journey... feels a lot alike to mine, although you're further along.

[Carmelitess]

May God bless you on your journey, Johanna! I will pray that your family accepts your vocation and that everything works out perfectly with the sisters you are discerning with. By the way, your English is excellent!

[Johanna]

It's me again. First of all, thank you very much for your kind comments. They were really helpful during those days.
During the last weeks, I was sometimes very confused, as after a year of being completely sure that I want to be part of this community, I suddenly worried whether it is the right thing to do. I thought, maybe I am just imagining this whole vocation thing and maybe I just want to prove my parents that I can do it. But I talked to my SD and he told me that whenever God is calling somebody as loudly and explicitely, HE won't let them down ... I should just go on with my studies (after all, it is still one and a half years) and pray and go on holiday some time.
Now, going on holiday is not that easy. I have a really important examination on monday, which is already part of the final examinations (it will count 10% of my grade), and I am so nervous ... Actually, at this very moment I feel quite sick. Afterwards I have to do an internship for some weeks. So I have to wait another five weeks, but I doubt that I will relax, as I will be thinking of the next examination and when to learn and what to learn etc. I just hope that they keep praying for me in "my" monastery.

[Jennifer]

Good luck in your exams......I'm sure that you will do well.!!

[Starets]

Godspeed with your vocation journey

[Carolyn]

Welcome to the phamily! I'll be praying for you! Pax Christi!