Posted on 10/30/2013 1:57:06 PM PDT by markomalley
Nobody’s making “positive” comments - just discussion.
Anyway, I was just curious. You can stop replying now :-).
They can’t help it; it’s a knee-jerk reaction, I guess...
Excellent point. I was a seminarian (Carmelite). Was in my first year of simple vows, and discerned that it wasn’t my vocation. I wonder if I would have wound up in this metric?
While there are times that I almost yearn to join the religious life, I realize that it must be very challenging. It cannot be an easy life, and I can imagine that only a small percentage of people are capable of accepting its rigours.
I assume so; you were in "religious life."
I've known several men over the years who were seminarians, but chose otherwise some time before ordination. I don't know if they'd be counted.
I also met one ex-priest - he was dating a coworker at That Insurance Company, a flaky but very interesting lady - and I was told that the man who was our pastor in Norman, OK, eventually left the priesthood.
I think that many people perceive the religious vocation as difficult, and the married vocation as easy. To that I say, “Unnngh.”
The one thing I would say, is something I remember from my Novice Master. He told us that our Novitiate would be remembered as "the best year of our life". That was 35 years ago, and it's still true.
Apples and oranges. Each is difficult sui generis, and each has its own unique blessings.
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I don't know about that, although I do love being married, but I was thinking more along the lines of giving up material possessions and losing my independence. How would I like having to follow a schedule, not having my own home, not being able to be alone whenever I liked?
Raising children certainly isn't easy. Being married is a snap compared to that.
That's the military. It's easy (if you're my personality type).
Raising children is a snap compared to being married, for me. I've beaten myself almost to death (literally, from starvation) trying to get my husband to be happy with me. The only thing that keeps me from anorexia-to-death is Jesus, my parents, and my kids.
Raising children is a snap compared to being married, for me. I've beaten myself almost to death (literally, from starvation) trying to get my husband to be happy with me. The only thing that keeps me from anorexia-to-death is Jesus, my parents, and my kids.
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You make a good point about the military. I'd never seen the similarities before, but now that you mention it, it seems clear. :) The uniforms, the scheduling, the group meals, group tasks, use of weapons..
Heaven knows I'm not the same person that I was when my husband and I first met, but then, neither is he. Constant dieting-I can't do it these days, nor can I run two and a half to three miles a day. My body isn't the same, nor is my stamina.
I’m good at losing weight. It’s an Achievement, and it’s something I can even if nobody else cooperates. My mom and my Weight Watchers meeting nag me if I get too thin!
Very interesting!
What individual with a serious thought to a religious vocation, or anyone with a religious bent wouldn’t want to invest a whole year doing nothing but pray, work, and attend classes on things like spirituality (Carmelite in my case) and religious history? It really was the most wonderful year of my life, and I’ll always be thankful for it.
It does sound wonderful! I often wish I could go back to college now that I’m not a ditzy young adult, but a religious novitiate would be cool, too.
Any activity in which everyone else can go to the bathroom on their own would be great, for that matter. Breaking rocks in the hot sun would be okay!
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