Where Are You In Your Religious Discernment?

[Anselm]

Well, quite! I will have to wear the tunic and scapular (without the peculiar English detachable hood) during postulancy, so even then it won't really matter what I wear underneath.

[Benedictus]

Yes, it makes things easier. In terms of the Cowl some communities only let those in solemn vows wear it, but this isn't the case with English Benedictines. I think it comes at novitiate, although I could well be mistaken.

[Anselm]

No, at Simple Profession I believe - the hood at clothing.

[MithLuin]

Many of the women's orders are very specific about exactly what style and type of clothing to bring.  For instance, the stockings etc that will be worn under the habit.  

Not all, of course - some orders are less concerned about such things.  

 

Thanks for the link, MM - I've passed it along to my sister!

[marigold]

That's great news Mithluin. All responses to vocation are great news!

 

 

I was surprised when I first joined Phatmass and heard just how much some people have to take with them to their communities; as far as I know I think I just need some lay clothes to work in, washing things, socks etc and shorts to wear under the tunic during postulancy. That's it!

 

You're a boy...

[Anselm]

Yes Marigold, I know! I just wondered why female communities are sometimes so much more prescriptive.

[Benedictus]

Yes Marigold, I know! I just wondered why female communities are sometimes so much more prescriptive.

 

It fills the anxious gap for all those not taking makeup, hair and beauty products :smile4: OK, I'm only kidding :giveup2:

[Anselm]

A dangerous statement, Benedictus ;)

[marigold]

Yes Marigold, I know! I just wondered why female communities are sometimes so much more prescriptive.

  

It fills the anxious gap for all those not taking makeup, hair and beauty products :smile4: OK, I'm only kidding :giveup2:

I sometimes wonder if there isn't something in that, though... Not from women monastics individually but collectively? The idea that we need more stuff. In the beginning, women were living together in town houses, dedicated to prayer and good works, even before the desert movement got going (St. Anthony left his sister with a household of virgins in town before he went out and became the father of monasticism). And plenty of women did go out into the desert but they were held up as heroic examples, out of the ordinary. Sarah, Syncletica etc. they were described as 'like men' because they refused the relative comforts of having stuff in town.

And hasn't that tension continued down the ages? Clare of Assisi is the obvious one, refusing the security often given to houses of nuns to live completely on alms, not even owning a building. And this Sunday in the Orthodox Church is St. Mary of Egypt, who towers above them all, seventeen years naked in the desert.

Wow, I'm overthinking this. Maybe the simple answer is that women have more stuff in the world, so even when we renounce it all to follow Christ we still have more stuff than just socks and shorts or whatever it is Anselm will need :)

[Anselm]

Oops, I meant shirts, not shorts! The perils of predictive text.

[Luigi]

Oops, I meant shirts, not shorts! The perils of predictive text.

 

I wondered about that...

[Egeria]

  
I sometimes wonder if there isn't something in that, though... Not from women monastics individually but collectively? The idea that we need more stuff. In the beginning, women were living together in town houses, dedicated to prayer and good works, even before the desert movement got going (St. Anthony left his sister with a household of virgins in town before he went out and became the father of monasticism). And plenty of women did go out into the desert but they were held up as heroic examples, out of the ordinary. Sarah, Syncletica etc. they were described as 'like men' because they refused the relative comforts of having stuff in town.

And hasn't that tension continued down the ages? Clare of Assisi is the obvious one, refusing the security often given to houses of nuns to live completely on alms, not even owning a building. And this Sunday in the Orthodox Church is St. Mary of Egypt, who towers above them all, seventeen years naked in the desert.

Wow, I'm overthinking this. Maybe the simple answer is that women have more stuff in the world, so even when we renounce it all to follow Christ we still have more stuff than just socks and shorts or whatever it is Anselm will need :)

I'm not sure that it's so much just having more stuff (I've known male religious with plenty of stuff) as that women tend to focus on the minutiae. And having whole communities of only women - especially when they're enclosed with limited contact with the outside world - can just magnify this. It's something that I know that I am not alone in having struggled with in community because it can lead a certain closed-mindedness and obsession with little things to the exclusion of the big picture. I once discussed it with an anthropologist and she traced it back to hunter gatherer societies where the women were the gatherers and so had to develop their skills for seeing what was directly in front of them, whereas the men (the hunters) focused on more distant things. FWIW!

[chrysostom]

I decided I was unnecessarily putting it off, so just I went ahead and e-mailed the head of the community I'm interested in.  AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

OK I still have over 2 years before being able to join as a postulant, assuming they let me.  But still.  AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

I know it isn't extremely momentous, but it's still an actual step forward.  :blush:

Edited April 6, 2014 by chrysostom

[Benedictus]

I've been discerning with both the Franciscans and Benedictines. Making visits to communities I feel interested in. At the minute it seems likely I'll be applying to join a community of Benedictines next year :pray: Unless God throws up any surprises in the meantime!

Edited April 7, 2014 by Benedictus

[Feankie]

I received the formal acceptance letter for the Order of Malta yesterday!  My Investiture will be in Washington, D.C. in October with Cardinal Wuerhl (sp?) presiding.  I sent off the order for my cape today - they are made by a company in Montreal.  I am beyond excited!!!!!