L
Londoner
Guest
I don’t know, but I do remember watching a really interesting TV documentary about the life of Sister Wendy. She was sometimes surprisingly plain speaking, and she said that she had never had any kind of sexual attractions or desires. It was, for some reason, just something that was apparently completely missing from her. You would think that this would be something of a bonus for a hermit and consecrated virgin (originally a religious sister), but on the contrary, she said that it was something that she really regretted. Her reasoning was that for most people who have a calling to celibacy it’s a huge sacrifice, whereas for her, she didn’t have anything to give up for Jesus, it wasn’t something that she could give as an offering. And I suppose this does make sense. It’s not really a sacrifice to give up something you never wanted anyway. There are some things in which I have never had any interest—things I’d actually choose to avoid—such as driving a car or visiting Australia. I guess if the Church started up a religious lifestyle whose only vows were never to drive a car and never to visit Australia I’d probably think, ‘Hmm, that just sounds a little bit too easy for me.’ Sister Wendy was clearly a very holy woman, but she also seemed to be somebody whose vocation perfectly matched her personality. She didn’t seem to like to go to a lot of different places (for example, she visited Egypt to study some art in a museum, but didn’t go to see the pyramids when she was there). She also didn’t seem to like a lot of human companionship. And she also didn’t seem to want any possessions other than books.
