Do "superficial" reasons draw you to the religious life?

  • Thread starter Thread starter HeWillProvide
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
H

HeWillProvide

Guest
“Superficial” reasons like enjoying the peace and quiet (not being bombarded with the outside world’s “noise”), not having to worry about what you’re going to wear every day, or having to pay the rent, or worrying about your “career,” etc… I know the religious life comes with its own worries, but is anyone drawn to the religious life for reasons (in addition to) wanting to serve God? Or, what were YOUR reasons for wanting to enter the religious life?
 
There can be very less than perfect reasons why a person goes into religious life or the priesthood…most often the formation period will sort these things out and some may leave, others have their reasons for staying purified as time goes on and this is a lifelong process.

Blessings - Barb:)
 
I remember in an old movie, I think “The Bells of St Mary’s” the nun telling the young lady being a nun is not something you do because you are running from something, but running toward something" Quite true, I think, but I also agree the long formation helps that a lot.
I know when I was younger, I would have loved a comtemplative order like EWTN’s for about a month…then I would have gone bonkers seeing the same thing day after day, doing the same routine,etc. BUT if you have a vocation to that, it will last.
 
HeWillProvide said:
“Superficial” reasons like enjoying the peace and quiet (not being bombarded with the outside world’s “noise”), not having to worry about what you’re going to wear every day, or having to pay the rent, or worrying about your “career,” etc… I know the religious life comes with its own worries, but is anyone drawn to the religious life for reasons (in addition to) wanting to serve God? Or, what were YOUR reasons for wanting to enter the religious life?
Click to expand...
I have definitely struggled with this (especially in the first few months of discernment). I think a lot of prayer and reliable spiritual direction are essential for separating a superficial attraction to religious life from a genuine one.

God bless,

Chris
 
I think it depends on the order, but I remember Mother Angelica saying that if you wanted to “escape”, an order like hers with it’s many restrictions, would probably root that out soon enough.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with liking some aspects of the vocation, re the things the OP mentioned, but it has to have a strong draw to the prayer life and wanting to be closer to God and his will.
I heard a priest say the other day how he thinks he has it much easier than married people…living with someone day in and day out, kids, their problems, etc. take a lot of work and prayer. He has no worries about clothes, a home, food, etc. and if you are in a stricter order, not a diocese, you even have more freedom in your poverty. Fr. Coropi said, he doesn’t have to worry about money, (except for his order) credit cards, food, a roof over his head, his obedience makes decisions easy, BUT without a true vocation, it’s a jail.
 
I’m just in it cause I look good in black.

And the free booze too.

(That’s a joke, by the way.) 👍

The superficial benefits are nice, but I doubt it’s enough to keep someone in religious life who doesn’t really have a vocation. Those guys tend to get weeded out pretty quickly from what I’ve heard.
 
debraran said:
I think it depends on the order, but I remember Mother Angelica saying that if you wanted to “escape”, an order like hers with it’s many restrictions, would probably root that out soon enough.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with liking some aspects of the vocation, re the things the OP mentioned, but it has to have a strong draw to the prayer life and wanting to be closer to God and his will.
I heard a priest say the other day how he thinks he has it much easier than married people…living with someone day in and day out, kids, their problems, etc. take a lot of work and prayer. He has no worries about clothes, a home, food, etc. and if you are in a stricter order, not a diocese, you even have more freedom in your poverty. Fr. Coropi said, he doesn’t have to worry about money, (except for his order) credit cards, food, a roof over his head, his obedience makes decisions easy, BUT without a true vocation, it’s a jail.
Click to expand...
This is the way I always think about the vows of poverty and obedience . . . f r e e i n g ! ! ! Maybe that’s just because I just have so many major decisions at this point in my life (i.e. career/vocation, college, major, what to wear;)) that I think it would be soooo much easier to have someone just tell me what to do and me just do it. Of course the money thing (or lack thereof) would be freeing. No strings attached - I belong to God and not mammon!

God Bless
Joyful_1
 
HeWillProvide said:
“Superficial” reasons like enjoying the peace and quiet (not being bombarded with the outside world’s “noise”),
Click to expand...
can’t advise in particular, but before making a decision based on such a so-called “superficial” reason, one would be well-advised to spend some time in the monastery or convent and find out if their preconceived notions are true. they may not be based in reality. some monasteries where I have attended retreats are noisier than junior high schools.
 
I do not know if the OP is a man or a woman. Vocations.org has a questionaire that helps with the discernment process. I still have a copy of the response that I received. It will not tell you whether or not you have a vocation. That is between you and God. There is an order in NJ (I think) whose sole purpose is helping young women (and older widows) through the discernment process. It is a one year program. At the end of the year, the woman will go home, if she has not already left, or she will become a postulant in the order to which she is best suited.
As a child, I was drawn to the religious life because I wanted to teach. A friend of mine (a nun) once told me that even if you enter for the wrong reason (to teach rather than to serve God), then God will give you the right reason [if this is His call on your life].
 
I will be joining a contemplative Benedictine abbey in two months. Yes, there are superficial reasons behind my choice. I love the beauty and silence of the place. It’s a dozen miles down a dirt road from the highway and the nearest town is 27 miles away. But, I have also been to the community and lived with the monks for a couple months. It is a wonderful, good, and holy community. Superficial reasons are not the only ones.
 
Not at all–in fact they distract me from it. Have you ever heard one of those sermons on Sunday where they take up the collection for retired priests & religious?
 
Dunmoose said:
I will be joining a contemplative Benedictine abbey in two months. Yes, there are superficial reasons behind my choice. I love the beauty and silence of the place. It’s a dozen miles down a dirt road from the highway and the nearest town is 27 miles away. But, I have also been to the community and lived with the monks for a couple months. It is a wonderful, good, and holy community. Superficial reasons are not the only ones.
Click to expand...
I’ve heard good things about Christ in the Desert. I will be praying for you!

God bless,

Chris
 
HeWillProvide said:
“Superficial” reasons like enjoying the peace and quiet (not being bombarded with the outside world’s “noise”), not having to worry about what you’re going to wear every day, or having to pay the rent, or worrying about your “career,” etc… I know the religious life comes with its own worries, but is anyone drawn to the religious life for reasons (in addition to) wanting to serve God? Or, what were YOUR reasons for wanting to enter the religious life?
Click to expand...
Those things are certainly a nice bonus.
 
Originally Posted by HeWillProvide forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_cab/viewpost.gif
*“Superficial” reasons like **enjoying the peace and quiet (not being bombarded with the outside world’s “noise”), not having to worry about what you’re going to wear every day, or having to pay the rent, or worrying about your “career,” ***etc… I know the religious life comes with its own worries, but is anyone drawn to the religious life for reasons (in addition to) wanting to serve God? Or, what were YOUR reasons for wanting to enter the religious life?
Click to expand...
Out here in the hurly burly stresses and strains of modern life, these things can certainly be attractive - “the grass is greener syndrome”…but after a few years of religious life one may find these things burdensome - it is not unknown. And if one does not find them burdensome, then there are other concerns and worries peculiar to religious life that are present. Wherever Christ is, there is His Cross also.

Blessings - Barb:)
 
But, is it wrong to enter the religious life (maybe a Franciscan brotherhood, if there is such a thing) to escape from materialism, etc? I’ve been thinking about it recently, now you all say that it has it’s own stresses and I’m deeply rethinking this approach. Well, as deeply as one can in ten minutes (not very). Did not St. Francis reject all materialism, and part of that was creating his own brotherhood? Ah well, it’s late…
 
Fr. Groechel’s order franciscanfriars.com/vocations/repair_my_house2.htm
is pretty strict and men seem to come after being business men, etc. because of a “lack of something” and a “call to something”. I noticed it said 30 or younger, but it seems they take older men from their pictures but I might be wrong. Brothers also might have different restrictiions.
I don’t think it’s wrong to say you don’t like something about your life, but there has to more there than a “retreat” type feeling or it wont last. Sometimes they see that early (or you do) sometimes it takes a while. It doesn’t hurt to look, you can always leave, but you never know if you don’t go.
I know at my age, 40’s and even 30’s, taking orders would be hard,especially if I thought they were silly or I thought another way was better. I’d be obediant. but fight it (re The Nuns Story if you remember that movie) I understand the age restrictioins in the more austere orders or enclosed, but exceptions can always be made.
 
debraran said:
Fr. Groechel’s order franciscanfriars.com/vocations/repair_my_house2.htm
is pretty strict and men seem to come after being business men, etc. because of a “lack of something” and a “call to something”. I noticed it said 30 or younger, but it seems they take older men from their pictures but I might be wrong. Brothers also might have different restrictiions.
I don’t think it’s wrong to say you don’t like something about your life, but there has to more there than a “retreat” type feeling or it wont last. Sometimes they see that early (or you do) sometimes it takes a while. It doesn’t hurt to look, you can always leave, but you never know if you don’t go.
I know at my age, 40’s and even 30’s, taking orders would be hard,especially if I thought they were silly or I thought another way was better. I’d be obediant. but fight it (re The Nuns Story if you remember that movie) I understand the age restrictioins in the more austere orders or enclosed, but exceptions can always be made.
Click to expand...
You make an important point about the “retreat” type feeling. Oftentimes discernment retreats are given by different orders. They do not accept the “yes” that comes at the end of the retreat. Retreatants generally need to return home. If the call is there, it will not go away. Sometimes Jesus can be a real nag.
Right now I have friends pushing me to consider the possibility. Even with the right reasons, impediments stand in my way. It is God who calls. It is up to us to answer His call, even if it is not toward religious life.
 
I am an older woman and I would like to enter a religous community because I like praying the Liturgy of the Hours as a community. The local cathedral has Morning Prayer daily and on Sundays the Office of Readings. I seem to want a community for all of the hours. It seems rather superficial when you think about it.
 
BarbaraTherese said:
There can be very less than perfect reasons why a person goes into religious life or the priesthood…most often the formation period will sort these things out and some may leave, others have their reasons for staying purified as time goes on and this is a lifelong process.
Click to expand...
I imagine that this is much like marriage. There are likely some people who enter into marriage for less-than-pure reasons, but unless those reasons existed, they likely wouldn’t be drawn there in the first place, nor would they be of much use when they got there.

As you say, once they’re in, their reasons can be purified, but try to imagine a man who hadn’t ever lusted after his wife or a contemplative who didn’t take great pleasure in silence.
 
Ann_Stanton said:
I am an older woman and I would like to enter a religous community because I like praying the Liturgy of the Hours as a community. The local cathedral has Morning Prayer daily and on Sundays the Office of Readings. I seem to want a community for all of the hours. It seems rather superficial when you think about it.
Click to expand...
We worship as community in community. There are some orders that will take women as old as sixty. A set time when I know where I am to be could be a good thing. It would mean letting go of my own time schedule.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top