If you feel like you’re being called to be a sister/brother/priests/etc., what do you do when the orders thwart your calling? Does that mean it wasn’t a real calling to being with? Were you just imagining things?
Every order that I am interested in requires “good physical health,” even the Carmelites, which I think is sort of ironic, given their legacy (i.e., St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese). But no matter.
Any suggestions?
Comment by Joel
June 3, 2007 @ 2:46 am
There is a lot you can do if you feel called but keep running into obsticles in professing religious vows. First and foremost keep up your present calling as a layman, which is to make the world a better place through any secular function you fulfill, even if it is just being present where ever you find yourself from day to day. I read a book named “A Monk in the World” about a college professor who considers himself a monk even though he has no religious association with any of the orders, but he has a life devoted to prayer and social action. I will send a few up for you and would be interested in starting a little dialog and finding out what is happening in you religious life.
Blessings upon blessings,
Joel
Comment by R Wenner
July 7, 2007 @ 10:41 pm
1) You can become an oblate or tertiary of a religious order whose spirituality attracts you. 2) There is one congregation (I forget the name) which does not require good health, and many handicapped people pursue authentic vocations there; they say the divine office and offer up their sufferings for the salvation of souls. I’m sure you can research & find these sisters. 3) You can become a consecrated virgin or widow, saying the divine office every day while remaining a layperson, living according to the adapted rule of a religious order in your own home. 4) Teresa of Avila was in good health when she entered as a young woman–her poor health followed her midlife conversion from being a lukewarm religious to a nun who reformed her order.
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