Health And Cloistered Life

[InHisLove726]

Thank you all for your answers. I think I have a lot to think about and work on before I enter Carmel (if I do). I am a bit of a hypochondriac, but I've gotten better now that I don't have anxiety anymore. I just really do not like being on antidepressants (though I would rather take them than be depressed) because I just didn't feel like myself on them. Now that I am doing well without them, I hope that my general health is getting better. I've even lost weight this past year and feel even better about myself.

For general information and interest, Buffalo is a 1990s Carmel (confirmed by my conversation with Mother yesterday) and is pretty strict in their observance of the rule. I don't have any complaints though because I would be going in voluntarily, not against my will. I think if I gave it all up because of the rigidity and didn't enter, I would always be thinking, "What if I had?" I have to at least try it.

Right now, I'm reading the autobiography of St. Teresa. I haven't gotten very far, so I don't know that much about her past her early life in the cloister.



P.S.--I like to think that St. Therese is the model of how life in Carmel truly is. I think hers was a life that was not all befuddled with love and light, but periods of intense spiritual darkness. It shows me that while Carmel is demanding, the sacrifices are all worth it in the end.

[Nunsense]

[quote name='InHisLove726' date='03 October 2009 - 04:39 AM' timestamp='1254501581' post='1976261']


Right now, I'm reading the autobiography of St. Teresa. I haven't gotten very far, so I don't know that much about her past her early life in the cloister.



P.S.--I like to think that St. Therese is the model of how life in Carmel truly is. I think hers was a life that was not all befuddled with love and light, but periods of intense spiritual darkness. It shows me that while Carmel is demanding, the sacrifices are all worth it in the end.
[/quote]

"...not all befuddled with love and light..." I just needed to comment here because this idea of suffering is one of the things that sometimes gets unbalanced attention in Carmel and why I made that comment about Carmelites needing a little more of the joy of the Franciscans. Suffering in and of itself is worthless. It is the goal of transforming union that makes the suffering have any meaning at all, when we unite our suffering to that of Christ on the Cross in order to experience with Him the glory of His Resurrection and Ascension. The Cross itself would be meaningless unless Jesus had risen from the dead and been glorified.

It is St Therese's cries of "Oh how I love Him!" that enable her suffering to make any sense. Her life was full of great physical suffering and periods of spiritual darkness, but it was also full of great peace and trust in God's goodness (that's why she felt safe to fall asleep in meditation!). God only leads through darkness, those whom He holds very close.

So while we accept the Cross and suffering, we don't seek them for their own sake and we certainly don't see them as any kind of goal. The ultimate goal is perfect union with the Triune God, and that union brings with it an interior joy and peace beyond all comprehension -- hence St John's LF of L and St Teresa's Interior Castle (7th Mansion). Let's just keep the goal in mind here as well as the sacrifices

I just had to edit to add this point -- who can look at Father Cantalamessa's shining face and not say that God is "love and light"? Even St Teresa said she wanted to be saved from sad faced saints! If St Therese hadn't been full of love and light herself, then who would be attracted to her?

Edited October 2, 2009 by nunsense

[InHisLove726]

[quote name='nunsense' date='02 October 2009 - 01:00 PM' timestamp='1254502825' post='1976269']
"...not all befuddled with love and light..." I just needed to comment here because this idea of suffering is one of the things that sometimes gets unbalanced attention in Carmel and why I made that comment about Carmelites needing a little more of the joy of the Franciscans. Suffering in and of itself is worthless. It is the goal of transforming union that makes the suffering have any meaning at all, when we unite our suffering to that of Christ on the Cross in order to experience with Him the glory of His Resurrection and Ascension. The Cross itself would be meaningless unless Jesus had risen from the dead and been glorified.

It is St Therese's cries of "Oh how I love Him!" that enable her suffering to make any sense. Her life was full of great physical suffering and periods of spiritual darkness, but it was also full of great peace and trust in God's goodness (that's why she felt safe to fall asleep in meditation!). God only leads through darkness, those whom He holds very close.

So while we accept the Cross and suffering, we don't seek them for their own sake and we certainly don't see them as any kind of goal. The ultimate goal is perfect union with the Triune God, and that union brings with it an interior joy and peace beyond all comprehension -- hence St John's LF of L and St Teresa's Interior Castle (7th Mansion). Let's just keep the goal in mind here as well as the sacrifices

I just had to edit to add this point -- who can look at Father Cantalamessa's shining face and not say that God is "love and light"? Even St Teresa said she wanted to be saved from sad faced saints! If St Therese hadn't been full of love and light herself, then who would be attracted to her?
[/quote]

Oh, I agree. I don't think that Carmel is all about sacrifices, but is very beautiful too. I read St. Teresa's book, "The Interior Castle," and it helped me to understand that the spiritual trials are balanced well with God's graces and love. I believe my favorite mysteries are the Sacred Heart and the Divine Mercy because they both show us how much God loves us that He sent His only Son (John 3:16) that we might have life and have it in abundance. (John 10:10b) I believe Carmel to be a place where love and trial live together, and that if someone truly has a vocation to Carmel, they will experience both.

I agree that St. Therese's story can be too romanticized. I read that several excerpts of her book were left out by editing, and I read some of the edited parts. She was so trusting in the Lord, that although she had suicidal thoughts in her last months, she kept hanging on because she loved God so much and knew this was a loving sacrifice that she could make to Our Lord to show Him her love.

[InHisLove726]

I had to post these inspiring quotes here:

"A Carmelite is a soul who has gazed on the Crucified One: who has seen Him offering Himself as a Victim to His Father for souls and, recollecting herself in this great vision of the charity of Christ, has understood the passionate love of His soul, and has wanted to give herself as He did."--Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity

"Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing."--St. Therese

"A heart given to God loses none of its natural tenderness. On the contrary, the more pure and divine it becomes, the more such tenderness increases."--St. Therese

[Indwelling Trinity]

This particular saying of Blessed Elizabeth has been the forming focus of my own spirituality as a Carmelite since I began my journey in Carmel almsot 25 years ago. Immediatly after reading this I knew I had found my home in Carmel. Carmel in its mystical yet deeply Incarnational focus has become my source of life, my way to Jesus. To follow Him from the manger of Bethlehem to the cross on Calvary has become the leit motif of my life! I cannot look left or right at other communities because I know That I have found my home . I am speaking not so much of the physical Carmel but the Carmelite hermitage I continually carry in my heart .

Thank you for posting this saying.

Tenderly,

Indwelling Trinity

Edited October 2, 2009 by Indwelling Trinity