Thursday, July 7, 2011

“Old-Fashioned” Sisters – And Glad of It!

What a sense of humor God must have! This is, of course, to speak about God in only a human way. Yet we talk of God’s kindness, love, mercy, and justice; things that are really meaningful to us because we are aware of them in other human beings. Why not then talk of God’s “sense of humor,” or of what must be the divine equivalent for it? If all that is best in man – his immortality, his reason, his capacity for love and joy – are but reflections of his perfect Creator, how fitting it is that man’s sense of humor should be rooted in the eternal Wisdom, in whose image and likeness man is made, the Wisdom that sees with an infinite understanding the incongruities, the follies, and the fads of everyday human life.

This divine sense of humor, which is nothing other than a sense of proportion in dealing with reality, must have been in St. Paul’s mind to some extent, when he wrote to the Church at Corinth: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men…but the foolish things of the world has God chosen to put to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world has God chosen to put to shame the strong.” (I Cor. 1:25, 27) And so has God dealt with the human race in all times and places. He delights to choose the little things, and from a human standpoint, the most unlikely people to accomplish His greatest works, to astonish the chic intelligentsia of modernity, and to confound the wispy “wisdom” that happens to be in fashion at any given moment. So fragile a thing as a wafer of bread becomes the true Body of Christ in the Holy Mass; and unknown Hebrew virgin becomes the Mother of the Son of God; a handful of rough fishermen become the first bishops of the Roman Catholic Church; a thin little beggar called Francis of Assisi launches a new springtime into the jaded heart of medieval Europe; a dutiful husband and father named Thomas More gives his life as the conscience of a whole nation drifting into schism and heresy.

Little things and ordinary people seem always to be God’s preferred instruments, emerging in age after rolling age as glowing witnesses to His truth and glory. It is as true in today’s world as it ever has been. It is as true in contemporary Catholicism as it ever has been. Yet, untold numbers of Catholics, both young and old, in the Church today have the feeling that instead of being the blessed legatees and continuators of a rich and noble past, they have inherited a religious whirlwind. The bold, sometimes startling, changes brought about in the external aspects of the Church by Vatican Council II are partly, though not entirely, responsible for this feeling. It seems that the chief cause of the inner anguish, the aching doubt, the agonizing crises of faith that are sweeping through the ranks of the Church’s faithful today can be found in an ever-growing group of heavily publicized men and women, allegedly within the Church, who ar not satisfied with being humble, “ordinary” instruments of God’s work; but, as self-appointed experts on the interpreters of the “spirit of Vatican II,” they appear to have discovered their real forte, if not their true vocation in tactics of incredibly vulgar sensationalism designed to weaken and eventually to obliterate the faith of others. This pernicious crowd – including “avant-garde” priests, “go-go” sisters, and “questioning” laymen – have several characteristics in common. First, not being at peace with God and the faith themselves, they are adamantly determined that no one else shall be; they have substituted grimness and griping for our rightful legacy of joy. Second, they have an insatiable appetite to strut before the world as wounded heroes against the antiquated tyranny of Rome (an appetite that must be quite remunerative, if one peruse their unending litany of sob stories appearing in popular magazines). Third, they harbor an obsessive hatred for any and all practices of the Church, especially in the liturgy and the religious life, that are usually called “traditional” and have not been percolated in the mind of one of the “name-brand” members of the “new breed”.

In the long history of Christianity, the Church has weathered many storms. Schisms and heresies, armies of dictators and king, barbarian invasions and civilized cynicism have all been faced by the Church. She has never accommodated herself to them, groveled before them, or compromised her divine authority by expedient appeasement policies. She confronted them with the unflinching courage and charity of her Founder. They have passed away like the grass of the field; the Church remains. Whatever tempests threaten the Church today, with their modern addition of vulgarity, will likewise be endured, even though with pain, by the People of God, and as always the Church will emerge stronger and more beautiful. But knowing this, having this confidence, is not enough. It must be a motive for positive action.

There is a group of Sisters in the United States that is dedicated to the principle that nothing is too much to ask or to give to bear living witness to the value of a healthy traditionalism in American Catholicism. These Sisters are known as the Daughters of the Immaculate heart of Mary. Significantly, they are a small community; they work in a small diocese that is engaged in a great deal of grassroots missionary activity, and like the diocese itself, they are not embarrassed or hesitant about performing their work of service, mainly educational, under the auspices of the Virgin Mother of God (a sign that would be considered by some latter-day luminaries as a slowly dying vestige of pre-Vatican II naivete). The Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary are “traditionalists” in the most meaningful sense of the term. They realize that the only way in which the great goals envisioned by Vatican II can be achieved for the benefit of all God’s children lies in preserving and cherishing the roots of our Catholic life: in an unswerving loyalty to the See of Rome; in a respect and a love for the hallowed spiritual practices of time-tested worth, such as a fervent devotion to the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, a recognition of the crucial place of Our Lady in a truly Christian life, an oddly un-modern concept of obedience and penance as virtues that enable one to grow in love of God and man; and in living the liturgy in a life of sacrificial service. They also hold, incidentally, that a Sister is supposed to be “different” in the sight of God and of the World, and believe that their traditional type habit of blue, enhanced with our Lady’s Rosary, is an invaluable outward sign to themselves and to all men of their full commitment to the Lord’s vineyard.

The Catholic Church has often been compared to a large garden in which many kinds of flowers (and weeds) can grow. Only time will tell whether many of the novel ideas in the Church today will prove to be of value for the furtherance of Christ’s redemptive work. “By their fruits you shall know them” (Matt. 7:16). In this widespread garden of Mother Church there certainly is a pressing need for someone to bear the kind of witness that the Daughters are consecrated to, the kind of witness that even Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Protestant minister and one of the idols of the “new breed”, called for in a sermon delivered during World War II in which he chastised modern society for allowing its young to be torn from their roots. For as long as the good God pleases to use them for His work, the Daughters, “ordinary” people sharing in the divine sense of humor, offer themselves in a spirit of sacrifice and joy.

(Author: Sister Maria, I.H.M., 1967, Steubenville, Ohio)

What do you mean by cloistered, semi-cloistered and active religious communities?

A cloistered order (for example, the Carmelites) cuts themselves off as much as possible from the world. Their members never or seldom leave their house. In some communities when visitors come the nun will receive them from behind a grill or heavy veil that covers her face. These orders are the strictest and hardest but because they have cut themselves off from the world they can concentrate more on God and prayer. Their life is one of manual labor and prayer.

The semi-cloistered community separates themselves partially from the world, in that their members do not go out into the world to work, but bring those in need into their houses. They will have schools or orphanages, etc. but inside their communities. Whatever apostate they have takes place inside their community with the people coming to them and leaving. An example of this type of community would be the Dominicans, the Visitations, etc.

An active religious community goes out into the world to accomplish their apostolate. Nursing sisters, religious who teach in parishes, social workers visiting the poor or caring for elderly in their own homes or in a public institution are members of active religious communities. The Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of St. Joseph, etc. are examples of this type of religious. My own community is as well.

In the early ages of the church most all communities were monastic and therefore strictly cloistered. About the time of the protestant reformation semi-cloistered communities began because the need for education and that was something that could be done inside a religious house.

About the time of the French Revolution active communities began. St. Vincent de Paul saw the need for religious to go about and help the poor and needy. His sister, “the angels of the battlefield” cared for the wounded and dying, started hospitals, and went anywhere that they needed. Other religious orders followed each with its own apostolate: orphanages, hospitals, home visitation, education, parochial schools, social service, etc. Today the majority of religious communities are active lay religious institutes.

What is the difference between a solemn vow and a simple vow?

A solemn vow is one that the Church recognizes as solemn, otherwise it is simple. Temporary vows are always simple. Solemn vows are always permanent. However permanent vows can be either solemn or simple depending upon the religious community. All monastic and mendicant orders take solemn vows. These are strictly cloistered communities and most semi-cloistered communities. Active communities of religious orders take simple vows. The difference between the vows is in how much it bind the bearer. Those under solemn vows can only be released by the pope, while those under simple vows can be released from them by the bishop.

What do you mean by form and type of order?

Religious institutes are divided primarily into two groups: clerical (those founded for priests and their formation only) and lay (all others). These communities are then divided again depending upon the type of vows their members take: orders (solemn vows), and religious congregations (simple vows).

For example, there are priestly orders of men who take solemn vows. They would be in a clerical order, while a man in a community that took solemn vows but whose members could be brothers or priests would be in a lay order. If the community took simple vows it would be a lay congregation.

Of course there are no clerical orders of women religious, but there are communities that take solemn vows (a religious order) and those that take simple vows (a religious congregation). Women who take solemn vows are called nuns. Women who take simple vows are called sisters.

What is the “rule”?

A rule is a set of precepts that govern a religious community. A large number of men or women can’t live together in peace without some sort of rule to govern them. The Catholic church has accepted four different rules and all religious orders use one of those rules as a basis for their own government. The rules are those of St. Benedict, St. Augustine, St. Basil, and St. Francis.

How do these rules differ?
St. Basil’s rule influenced all religious orders of eastern rite. St. Augustine’s rule is probably the most general, giving guidelines for structure and duties. St. Benedict gave very complete rule to guide his followers in monastic life. St. Francis’ rule was based on gospel passages for his mendicant order. He over time made three variations of his original rule for the three different orders he founded, but the basis is the same for all. The three different rules vary in how the community will be set up, the government of the house, the duties of the members, the prayer life, and the how this effects the work that they do.

There are so many different types of religious out there, how can I know the difference?

The Catholic Church has three types of religious institutes and societies: Religious institute, Secular institute, and Societies of apostolic life.

“A institute is every society, approved by legitimate ecclesiastical authority, the members of which tend to evangelical perfection, according to the laws proper to their society, by the profession of public vows, whether perpetual or temporary, the latter renewable after the lapse of a fixed time.” As you can see this is a very broad definition which covers all types of religious communities. The thing that all have in common is that they are recognized by ecclesiastical authority, they live a life in common in a community, they take vows, and practice poverty, chastity and obedience.

A secular institute has members who also take vows, try to perfect themselves in the evangelical councils, are also recognized by ecclesiastical authority, but they don’t live in community. (Hermits and anchorites, however, do not belong to this group but to religious institutes.)

A Society of apostolic life is one whose members live privately (no community life), nor do they take vows, but they do try to practice poverty, chastity and obedience more perfectly.

When one talks about religious and religious life you are usually referring to a religious institute.

What is the difference in these religious institutes?

Religious orders vary in 3 ways: rule, form, type, and apostolate. It is the mixture of these elements that make each order unique and give the church such diversity.

Monday, April 4, 2011

What obstacles can I expect to entering?

What obstacles can I expect?


Very few are the number who have entered religious life without having to overcome some obstacle. Perhaps one not so graphic as Jane Francis de Chantel's son throwing himself across the doorstep so that she would have to step over him to go to the convent, but painful difficulties arise nonetheless. The fact that a thing is difficult does not mean that it is not to be done. Once you have thought it over, prayed about it, and reached a conclusion that you ought to do it, then you should act without further hesitation or delay. You must put your faith in God, for as St. Thomas says "they who enter religion trust not to stand in their own strength but in the aid of the power of God."

What are these obstacles?

They generally fall into three categories: the world, the flesh, and the family.
The first thing you hear is usually "You're too young to know your own mind yet," "Wait a while and go to college first," or "have a little taste of the world, you don't know what you are giving up." These are only worldly temptations to avoid a better life. What is so noble and uplifting about the world and society that we should "taste" it? Do they mean partake of immorality, get drunk, take drugs? Hardly, but if they mean simply have fun then they are presupposing wrongly that there is no fun, entertainment or pleasure in the convent.

What an offering to give God the leavings when there is not much left of our life but a decrepit frame, yet that is all that worldly people feel is fit for God and that they are doing Him a favor besides. Can you suppose that God would choose out of all the world the homeliest, the dullest. the most unfit to be His bride? He would be a poor Judge to take for the holiest service the castoffs of the world. Certainly a girl should take ample time to decide, but ample time does not mean to wait until there is no other prospect but to be an old maid.

If God is calling you to the religious life follow that voice as soon as you are certain of the calling. Do not delay. The very fact that God calls you now means that He wants you now. If He wanted you later on the call would come then and not now. We might rather pity those who are not called to religious life, for though the world may grant them pleasures and honors it cannot keep them from sorrow, affliction, and loss. Those in convents are saved much of the suffering that the world doles out to its followers.

The second obstacle can be the candidate's own pride, vanity, love of ease, or lack of piety. Those who enter the convent are no different from other mortals. They have just surrendered themselves to His love. True it will be difficult, but then He is there with us urging "Learn of Me for I am Meek and Humble of Heart." "The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away."

The truth remains that God selects enough souls to carry on His work; unfortunately lack of piety makes them deaf to the voice of God, and love of finery and pleasure renders them blind. If you would see the world with eyes twenty years older, you would see misery and unhappiness in places where now you see but bliss.

The major obstacle to most candidates, however, is their family. It is most natural to want our parents' blessing, and many parents, unfortunately, work on the sensitive natures of their children, appealing to their goodness and filial piety to keep them home. If a girl is drawn to the love of Christ and prefers it to the love of man, is it a kindness to thwart it? Rather is it not ignorance or selfishness, or perhaps a mistaken idea of the girl's happiness?

To such a girl I would give this advice: if you are not yet old enough to leave your parent's custody then pray and wait until you are of age. If you are of age, then, recall the words of Christ: "A man's enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." Make up your mind whether you will obey God or man!

Since this is a most important and difficult decision. I will call to your attention the advice of other competent and holy people, St. Teresa of Avila, who was no weakling, confessed that at the moment of leaving her parents she suffered so much she felt only death could be worse, and vet she left. The holy doctors of the church unanimously teach that a parent's permission is not necessary to follow a religious vocation. Our Lord gave us His own example by remaining in the Temple without Joseph and Mary's permission. Finally. here are the words of St. Jerome to Heliodorus on this very subject:

"I invite you: make hast. You have made light of my entreaties, perhaps you will listen to my reproaches. Effeminate soldier! what are you doing under the paternal roof? Even though your nephew entwine his arms around your neck: even were your mother, with streaming hair, to show you, through her rent garments, the breast that nurtured you: even though your father were to throw himself across the threshold of your house, step over the obstacle and with unquivering eye, rush to take your place beneath the standard of the Cross. Lo, your sister presses you in her arms: your attendants, your grandmother, your tutor exclaim: 'Wait a while until we are dead. bury us before you go’: love of God and fear of hell easily break all chains. Oh soldier, all spangled with the flowers of Jesus Christ! Blessed retreat where one enjoys familiarity with God! Brother dear, what are you doing in the world which is so far less than you? Do you fear hardship? What athlete was ever crowned without a struggle? It is my love for you, Oh brother, that has urged me to say these things to the end that on judgement day you may share the glory of those who now live amid the rigors of penance.

If you enter aren't you committed to stay?

But if you enter aren’t you committed to it?


Do not ever think that upon entering you have taken an irrevocable step, and that the doors will be locked behind you and you will be forced to stay. There is a saying in the convent that it is as good to get rid of a bad candidate as to receive a good one.

The candidate will go through a long period (about six years) of testing, rather like a long engagement before marriage. But unlike marriage she has a chance to live and try every facet of her future life to see if she measures up or wishes to remain in it forever. The doors are open to her at any time. If her Superiors feel in that period that she does not have a vocation (and they often do) to their community or religious life, they will tell her so, and send her back to the world.

If however, she makes her way through these periods of postulancy, novitiate, and temporary vows and is allowed by her Superiors and the Church authorities to profess her final vows, then there can no longer be any question. She has, indeed, a vocation.

It is perhaps the only state in life where a person can reach such an absolute decision. What other state offers such a chance to try it first, and so much guidance along the way by proven professionals"? What other state in life offers itself to the applicant in small steps, allowing for a chance to acclimate, knowing that the world of religious is so far different from the worldly one left behind?

How do I know if I have a vocation?

If you have the desire to be a religious does that mean that it is your vocation?


The desire is only one of the three parts of discerning a vocation. It is only natural that if God wishes a particular person to be a religious. He would also give them the necessary qualifications of mind, health. and character that are necessary to live a religious life. This is the second step to discerning a vocation, for even though the desire may be there, if the qualifications are not, then the person does not have a vocation.

By qualifications here, we are not referring to degrees in education or medicine, but things like average intelligence,emotional stability, maturity equal to age, physical well being, a sense of humor, etc.

Nor should you be afraid to apply to an order that teaches (for example) if you don't have a high schoolor college diploma. Not every member of a teaching order teaches, nor does every member of a nursing order nurse. Sisters with other talents are needed to run the convents and free the teachers and nurses for their duties. If you like a particular community, apply and let the Superior judge whether you are the type of material their religious order needs.


Who is the best judge of your vocation?


The candidate herself is the only judge as to whether she has the willingness to become a sister, but only the Superior of the order she joins is a competent judge as to her qualifications.

Can a girl be sure that she has a vocation?


Now the candidate is at the crossroads—she has the desire. and a community is willing to accept her. The first two steps to discerning her vocation are complete, there is only one thing left for her to do if she wishes to be sure she has a vocation and that is enter.

Prayer will not make her sure, nor advice from parents or confessors, nor waiting a year or two. Living the life is the only sure way.

Looking in from the outside is not the same as being inside and living it. Here she will have ample tests made of her character by her superiors. and here she will find many ways to test her willingness to serve Christ.

Is the call from God an actual voice?

Is the call from God an actual voice?


This "call" from God is not necessarily an actual voice. It appeals to the heart and not the ear. It is best described as a desire to serve Our Lord in a better way than we are serving Him now, much like the desire of the young man in the Gospel. Our Lord's call to the heart He has captivated and wants to possess varies with the facets of His own Wisdom considering each human's own unique personality. The calls are infinitely varied: some distinct and overpowering, others like a whispering breeze that must be carefully listened to to be discerned. Some hear the call from childhood and only wait until they are of age, others receive it suddenly. Some are drawn quietly, others hesitatingly. This last is attracted and repulsed also. They desire to make the sacrifice but tremble at the cost.

What is a vocation and is it wrong not to follow it?

What is a vocation?

The word "vocation" means calling. God calls us to perform a certain work for which He has fitted us. Long before the world was made, each of us existed in the Mind of God. Long before we existed in our mother's womb He knew us and already had prepared a certain work for us in life. To that end He bestowed on us the necessary gifts. Hence a vocation does not mean a career or calling that we pick out for ourselves according to our likes and dislikes, but fulfilling the vocation that God has selected for us. There is only one consideration here, and that is the Holy Will of God.


Is it wrong not to follow your vocation?

Three freedoms intervene in the salvation of a soul: the freedom of God who grants grace as He wills, the freedom of each soul which can accept or reject that grace, and the freedom of each of us to be an instrument for good as regards other souls in a greater or lesser degree according to God's will. Now suppose that someone is called by God to cultivate a particular portion of His vineyard as a religious and she failed to respond to that call. What will become of those souls who might have been saved through her work? Think then of the terrible responsibility each vocation enjoins. A specific work destined by God from eternity awaits you. If you do not do it, it will remain undone. The evil of missing your vocation lies not so much in failing to correspond with God's greater graces, but rather in refusing to help those souls that may need your assistance. That is one of the reasons for the paltry number of religious vocations. God calls as many or more than He ever did, but the prevailing selfishness of this generation makes them heedless to any Will but their own—regardless of the consequences to the world.


Sunday, April 3, 2011

Isn't it heartless to renounce your family like that?

Isn’t it heartless to renounce your family like that?

It isn't considered heartless when a girl does it to marry. Some people think that those who renounce the world and family are heartless, but, on the contrary, it is because they have such a great heart that they go to the convent. So for the love of Christ these specially chosen maidens leave their families only to find that in Christ they can love them more than before and the parents in turn find that of all their children the ones in Religion are the only ones that will ever be truly theirs forever. They leave the world only to find that from morning to night they spend their lives in preparation or service to it, and the world becomes richer and nobler for their presence. They leave their riches to find that all their needs are met and untold spiritual wealth pours out before them. They leave their own will behind to find a sure knowledge of the Will of God and a secure Guide unknown to seculars. They leave the promise of marriage and children to find the ecstasy of Christ's love from a pierced Heart, secure in the knowledge that the servant is not greater than the Master, and in Him they rejoice to find that "many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband."

Isn’t this a special type of girl then?

St. Teresa of Jesus said "If the love of God takes hold of a woman's heart who can tell what a great saint she will become?" These girls who enter are no different than their peers. They also love life, liberty, and luxury, but their love of Christ is stronger still, for a love that does not include service and suffering is not real. She hears the voice of her beloved saying to the young man "what doth it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul." And to her own heart, "If thou wilt be my disciple, deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me." The vast majority of those in the convent have much in common with that Gospel youth. Like him they have had their moments of weakness, guilt, even mortal sins, but they have soon surrendered to the solicitations of His Love.

Considering the Samaritan woman after her conversion Abbe Landrieux said "A woman is worth twelve apostles preaching from the housetops." Through one woman's zeal a whole town came to rejoice Christ's Heart, but He was saddened also. He saw that there would be few apostles to continue the Samaritan woman's missionary work. Hence those words with the haunting note of sorrow for those who can hear it: "The harvest indeed is great but the laborers are few." For the religious Christ is the only reality, the constant Companion who makes all things possible. He is her Friend, her Beloved, her Spouse. He will not be outdone in generosity, nor will He wait until He clasps His spouse to His Sacred Heart in Heaven to give her sweet tokens of His acceptance. All lives are short, but the life of a religious is full. Can you say your life has been a fruitful harvest or just a meaningless gesture?


Why do women go to the convent?

Don’t women go to the convent for other reasons too?

A woman should not go to the convent: for security, because of an unhappy romance, because she is over thirty and unmarried, because she prefers to pray than to work, because she is worn-out or melancholy, or because she has some physical or mental handicap and her parents want her settled in life. True, convents offer a stable and secure life. True, an unhappy romance may lead to a vocation by pointing out the Will of God. Yes, it is good if the candidate likes. to pray, but be warned that it is no place for the lazy, for the work is hard and abundant. True, many convents take handicapped people (usually depending upon the type and degree) but there is no room for the melancholy.


Then, why does a woman go to the convent?


For one reason and only one reason—the love of God. We are not talking here of a general attitude, but of something very special and intimate. Her love for Christ is as profound, and passionate as the love of any woman who has been tenderly courted and wed. She is so consumed by a love stronger than human love that the thought of marriage to any other besides Christ becomes impossible. It is a love totally disinterested to the point that to be His bride she will make any sacrifice: her possessions, her will, her parents, sisters, and brothers. This love must be there to make all the trials and sacrifices of religious life bearable.

Why take a vow of Chastity?

Why take a vow of Chastity?

"These are they who were not defiled with women: for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These we purchased from among men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb." Chastity also offers its share of thorny roses. It is a hard thing for a woman to know that she will never be a mother, never have children of her own blood. More than that she is obliged to cut herself off from all familiarity and practice a detachment even from her own family and sisters in religion. Why? The one and only reason she entered religious life—the love of God. A love that has taken a dimension unknown to seculars, an intimacy more profound than the happiest of newlyweds. Christ wooed her and won her heart. She gave him her virginity. her body, her goods, her will at her reception day. He is to her now as her own Spouse. She now practices His words literally to love God with her whole heart, soul. mind and strength. Love is sacrifice. She is the holocaust and poverty, chastity, and obedience the fires that consume her and separate the pure precious gold from the dross; that burn the incense that releases to God the pure odor of sanctity. "Blessed is he who understands what it is to love Jesus, and to despise himself for the sake of Jesus. We must leave what is beloved for the sake of the Beloved, for Jesus will be loved alone and above all things. Sooner or later you must be separated from all, whether you will or no. The nature of your Beloved is such that He will not admit of a rival, but He will have thy heart for Himself alone." (A' Kempis)


Why the vow of Obedience?

Why the vow of Obedience?

"I came down from Heaven, not to do My own Will, but the Will of Him that sent Me." Obedience is probably the earthly purgatory of most religious, yet their comfort as well. Most humans do not know when they perform any act whether they are doing the Will of God or their own will, but not the religious. Her superior is God's representative and that superior's legitimate commands are indeed the Will of God for her. She has the satisfaction of knowing she does God's Will at all times. Ah, but the purgatory or martyrdom lies in the constant self-annihilation it requires: to do something repugnant to nature, to have your opinions disregarded, to be no longer the master of your own life. The servant is not above the Master, and just as Christ's obedience to His Father's Will led Him to the Cross, so too the religious takes up these crosses to follow Him. By the practice of this virtue she gains the most merit since it extends over all her actions and ennobles and sanctifies them. "Let a man be divested of self-will and there shall be, for him. neither sin nor Hell." (St. Bernard).


What is meant by the vow of Poverty?

What is meant by the vow of Poverty?

"By the vow of Poverty the religious sacrifices all exterior gift of earthly riches, by the vow of Chastity, all personal gifts of the body, by the vow of Obedience, all intimate gifts of the soul. Thus he surrenders all that he has and all that he is." Poverty is the perpetual holocaust of man's right to dispose freely of his property. "Go sell all you have and come follow Me." This was Our Lord's invitation to a life of poverty. Poverty as practiced in the religious state means that the religious possesses nothing of her own. Everything she has, including the clothes on her back are the common property of all her sisters, and their property hers. St. Bernard says the religious must treat the possessions of the house as sacred vessels. In effect this means that she must make the best use of what she is given to use. Especially since her vow gives it the value of a prayer. She must expect to be called to account for her stewardship, and likewise to ask permission for the use of everything beyond her charge. Nor can she dispose of or accept anything outside the house without permission. It is very humbling to ask for or accept charity. It is even more difficult to see something you have grown attached to (a piece of furniture, picture, book. etc.). no matter how trifling, appropriated for another's use. Although this may appear harsh. consider that it also relieves the religious from anxiety over the management of her affairs, as well as for providing for her own material needs which are amply supplied by her Institute. It also frees her from many temptations to selfishness or covetousness. and being detached from the things of earth she may cling tighter to those of heaven. "A religious Order can be recognized as long as it bears the stamp of poverty: people honor it with their confidence and God is glorified. But let this stamp disappear and only the semblance of an Order can be seen; people shun it and the name of God is blasphemed. States lay down wealth as the foundation of their prosperity; but for you. Religious, understand it well. the necessary foundation of your perfection. the safeguard of your Order, is poverty." (Venerable. Bede) "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."


Why do religious take vows and what is a vow?

Why do religious take vows?

Since Religious Life is the highest state it follows then that it is also the hardest, and the reason is the means it employs to achieve its goal of perfection in Charity. The Gospel precepts are common to all three states. but the common life, and the vows of Poverty. Chastity, and Obedience are not. It is these three vows that make the common life workable and it is the common life that gives these councils their fruitfulness in Charity. Religious life would not be Religious Life without them.


What is a vow?

A vow, according to canon law, is a free and deliberate promise made to God of a greater good with the intention that it binds under pain of sin. When the Church becomes the witness for a vow it assumes the role and responsibility of guarantor. Thus she imposes a rule upon the religious orders to help them attain most effectively their Institute's proper end. Because a vow is an act of religion everything done by vow has the merit of a religious act: a meal, recreation, even sleep at night, if directed by obedience becomes as good as a prayer. Now let us examine the vows themselves.


What are the means the religious state uses?

What are the means the religious state uses?

The means that the religious life employs to achieve this end are: the common life, the practice of the Gospel precepts, and the practice of the Evangelical Councils (poverty, chastity, and obedience). The means make it indeed a "new life" separated from the world and with a new social order. Human life is governed by three prime tendencies, all forms of egotism:

  • 1) toward external goods and enrichment.

  • 2) toward the sensual goods of the body.

  • 3) toward the goods of the spirit based on personal autonomy.

In place of these the religious substitutes poverty, chastity and obedience. The social order in the world is founded on the individual while a community of brotherly love is the center of religious life. It is these two essential ingredients, the common life and the evangelical counsels that make religious life religious life. Hence both have been bound together from the beginning of the Christian era—the counsels for the interior union and the common life for exterior practice. Together the create a unique cell of the Church, and a visible community based on love. It is the complete application of the Gospel teaching even to the heights of Calvary -- penance and persecution either sent by God or envisaged by its Constitutions.



You make it sound a lot different than I have seen it on the television or read in books.

Movies and novels portray religious life with a special romance or glamour. A religious vocation is a romance between Christ and a soul. however this romance does not equivocate into a romantic story book life. As Thomas a' Kempis says: "Our merit and the advancement of our state (the religious) consists not in having many sweetnesses and consolations, but rather in bearing great afflictions and tribulations. If indeed there had been anything better, and more beneficial to man's salvation than suffering. Christ certainly would have showed it by word and example. For He manifestly exhorts both His disciples that followed Him and all that desire to follow Him to bear the cross: “If anyone will come after Me. let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.'" The aim of Religious Life is the same as all baptized persons, but God has not suited all baptized persons to the means. It requires a special interior state. or intensity of desire often referred to as a "call from God", and it also requires a certain fitness or aptitude for Religious Life, for though it is true that much good is done by those in the world, yet it is done only at times, or else along congenial lines to those in whom they are interested. The religious do good of all kinds to all classes and always. They go where they are sent and do whatever work is assigned them without reference to their own likes or dislikes, day in and day out, year after year. Natural inclination would not incline to such a life so it must be the result of a supernatural vocation.


What is Religious Life?

What is Religious Life?

In reality religious life is not a "new" life but an intensification and perfection of what we already are by Baptism. A thing is perfect when it has attained its proper end, developing all the potentials with which it was endowed by God. Now, God has destined all men for the same end—Himself, and it is Charity alone which unites us with God. There is no difference between charity toward God and charity
toward neighbor. They are one and the same.

A Religious, then, is a baptized man or woman who because of her yearning that Christ's promises to her might be fulfilled, interprets those baptismal vows most strictly. She publicly and interiorly undertakes to tend toward the evangelical perfection of Charity.


Then what makes the religious state different from the married or single state?


It is the means the Religious Life brings into operation. Of the three states the religious life is the highest state since it is the perfect proof of love. "Greater love than this no man has than that he lay down his life." This is in essence what the girl who enters religion does--she lays down her ego-centric life and assumes another—a common religious life. The exterior change is emphasized by the habit but the interior change is not immediately apparent even to the religious herself, but is an on-going process brought about by the means religious life employs, and a personal, continuous effort on her own part to achieve perfection.

No religious is perfect, only obliged to constantly work toward it.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog on Convent Life. I have been a religious sister, a member of the Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for over 40 years. In that time I have answered many questions about what convent life is like, why girls enter, and religious life in general. Some of the answers were funny, such as the little girl in the grocery store who points to me and asks her mom, "Mommy, what's that?" In the course of this blog I will try to answer all those questions including what "that" is, lol. If you should read this blog and have questions of your own, you have only to email me at ihmdaughters@hotmail.com and I will try to answer them for you. To begin with I will try to answer the most frequently asked questions about religious life in general, why girls go to the convent, and how to know you have a vocation to this type of life. Should you be more interested you can go to the convent website: http://www.ihmdaughters.org/ There in future you will find links to download in pdf format all the questions and answers you find here. Thank you again for your interest. Sister Mary John, I.H.M.