Ever feel that your vocation is to be a Pilgrim?

[PazFeAmor]

I have often wondered if this is the vocation I should be following. At times I feel that I have absolutely no place in modern society and feel suffocated by the need for one to have a “career”, “house”, “car”…etc I don’t even bother to put into quotes family as a need because the concept of what a family is has become so blurred nowadays that I don’t even believe most people find it as a need in modern society.

There was a time when to be a pilgrim was respected as a vocation but today everything is a pick and choose kind of spirituality that supposedly serves the purpose to make you feel good. I’ve had people tell me to go on a weekend retreat or on pilgrimage for 2 or 3 weeks to Europe but that is not my definition of what it is to be a pilgrim. I have no desire for this kind of spirituality nor do I have the desire for a career or marriage or to live in a 9 to 5 society.

I admire saints such as Benedict Joseph Labre who devoted their lives to being a pilgrim. In other spiritualities people who are called to such a life often find that they suffer from a spiritual depression because they are going against their true spiritual natures and finally find spiritual freedom when they let go of everything.

My close friends tell me that they can see me having a very hard life in the future but what they find hard I find liberating. I often envision myself to be like an onion, peeling off the layers of my false self that only cares about my looks, caring for what clothes I should wear everyday, leaving behind everything others regard as modern necessities in life until I finally get to the core of my true self.

I feel tired of this life I am living and just want to wander.

Peace.

 

[Gizmo]

First I think it is awesome that you are contemplating a way of life that involves such sacrifice. However, I think, realistically speaking, I am not sure how reasonable it would be to live as a pilgrim in today’s world. We certainly do not live in the same time as Benedict Joseph Labre. The way you talked about how you feel suffocated by the needs of having a ‘career’ or ‘house’ and so on, these where some of my many thoughts before I decided to go into the Seminary. I know that I could not find any purpose in many of those things and so I did not go after them.

Anyways, have you ever given thought to the possibility that the Lord is calling you to some form of religious life (something that is not being a pilgrim)? Sounds to me, by what you have just said, that He might be.

 

[PazFeAmor]

First I think it is awesome that you are contemplating a way of life that involves such sacrifice. However, I think, realistically speaking, I am not sure how reasonable it would be to live as a pilgrim in today’s world. We certainly do not live in the same time as Benedict Joseph Labre. The way you talked about how you feel suffocated by the needs of having a ‘career’ or ‘house’ and so on, these where some of my many thoughts before I decided to go into the Seminary. I know that I could not find any purpose in many of those things and so I did not go after them.

Anyways, have you ever given thought to the possibility that the Lord is calling you to some form of religious life (something that is not being a pilgrim)? Sounds to me, by what you have just said, that He might be.

First of all thanks for your post. I assume that you are still are a Seminarian? If so then you will be in my prayers. In terms of a religious vocation I would say that I believe that is not what I am called to in life. If anything what does appeal to me if it should result that being a pilgrim cannot be lived out is that of being a hermit. I know there are many lay people who have become hermits within their own diocese.

I know that I am not called to religious life within a community (contemplative for example) because I am too much of a free spirit and I could never envision myself with a set daily spiritual routine.

Anyways thanks again and my prayers are with you.

Peace.

 

[Andruschak]

II feel tired of this life I am living and just want to wander.

Peace.

It might be well to talk this over thoroughly with a Spiritual Director.

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Perhaps, as an alternative, you might want to consider formation in the Confraternity Of Penitents

penitents.org

or The Brothers and Sisters of Penance

bspenance.org

Living a simple life of penance and prayer at home

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Again, perhaps one of the Third Orders may be what you need.

Hard to say, but a long series of sessions with a Spiritual Director would still be my first suggestion

 

[reen12]

quote: PazFeAmor

Ever feel that your vocation is to be a Pilgrim?

Yes.

Perhaps you are familiar with the work The Way of a Pilgrim

amazon.com/Way-Pilgrim-Continues-His/dp/0060630175/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?e=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203976428&sr=1-3

---

I have a great interest in Benedict Joseph Labre, and a couple of years ago I ordered the English translation of Father Marconi’s biography of Labre. [1786]
Fr. Marconi was Benedict’s confessor.

I’m in my early 60’s, yet my heart remains young. From this vantage point, I have to say that - among other things in life - one might consider the need for caring for oneself.
This is not the 17th century.

You might wish to consider the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.
Their work is with those who need support and care, in many realms - and their vow of poverty is taken very seriously, from that which I’ve read.

If you have a contemplative nature, surely there are many existing orders which would accomodate same.
For full-boat contemplation, the Carthusians spring to mind. :coffeeread:

chartreux.org/en/frame.html
.
Honestly, PazFeAmor, I do understand what you are saying.

Over 30 years ago, there was a TV program [fiction] which presented a Buddhist monk wandering about the western United States. It made such wandering seem attractive and
heroic. The trouble is, the man who starred in this series is now a little older than I am.
He does not appear to have an interest in continuing to roam - even on TV.

Counsel from one of the Fransican Friars of the Renewal might be of solid assitance, in trying to discern your vocation in life.
You might mention the thought of a wandering life, and see
what a friar has to say on this possible vocation. Experience
is needed here for you to draw on, I think - in deciding what
might be in your best interest, spiritually.

“Discern” is a relatively new word in the lexicon of vocations - and over-used, IMHO.
[It makes me think of reading tea-leaves.]

The religious of the Renewal know of which they speak, in terms of leaving the “worldy” behind, yet they use their time and their prayers and their energy - in support of God’s sons and daughters who need such loving support.

Francis of Assisi wanted to embrace poverty. Yet, within his lifetime, some in the order did not think such poverty practical.

I oft mention the Renewal friars - because I think that they seek to live as Francis intended his followers to live. And Francis was God’s Vagabond.

franciscanfriars.com/

So I agree with the thought of seeking spiritual guidance.
Except that it is my thought that such guidance might be better sought in speaking to one who lives out poverty.

The Renewal Friars seem to do just that.

I will say a prayer for you, Peace Faith Charity.

reen12

 

[reen12]

quote: PazFeAmor

Ever feel that your vocation is to be a Pilgrim?

Yes, many many years ago.

The Way of the Pilgrim.

amazon.com/Way-Pilgrim-Continues-His/dp/0060630175/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203981107&sr=1-2
This is a fictional account of a man who wanders as a Pilgrim in the Russia of an earlier century.
It is a charming account. I have read it many times.

Then there is the life of Father Seraphim of Sarov, who was an Orthodox monk.
[This image takes a moment to load.]

fatherstephen.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/stseraph.gif

He had a wooded area to which he went - after many years of monastic life - where he became a combination of hermit and monk. This is a link to a volume on the life of Father Seraphim of Sarov.

amazon.com/Footsteps-Saint-Hermitage-Teachings-Seraphim/dp/1878997769/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203981292&sr=1-4

For an actual hermit, I’d check out Orthodox accounts, and then make the “translation” into Catholic practice - in both the eastern and western churches of Catholicism.

reen12 :coffeeread:

 

[PazFeAmor]

Andruschak In my area the Catholic church is infected with Liberalism and I have tried to find a good spiritual director to no avail. I did come across a nun from a religious association called Lumen Dei that seems similar to Opus Dei and so I am in the process of trying to see if I can find a spiritual director that way but all is dependant on whether or not they are an orthodox association and that will take me alittle time to figure out.

I have already visited the websites you linked to and don’t find myself attracted to their rule of life. As I said before I tend to be more of a free spirit and prefer to go it solo. I do agree with you 100000% that a spiritual director is of great importance and when God deems it to be the right time I will find him/her.

**
reen12** I bought the book The Way of the Pilgrim several years ago, the Helen Bacovcin translation, so it is a great spiritual favorite of mine. I have also read of Father Seraphim Sarov and the writings of many of the fathers contained in the Philokalia. I do have a touch of the East in my heart I must admit.

When it comes to combining East and West as you suggested, I am way ahead of you I have a book that I love written by an Orthodox convert to Catholicism (Catherine Doherty) called “Poustinia”. I love how the book uses the Poustinia (a small one room cabin used for the spiritual life) as something that is in ones heart all of the time that she calls the “Poustinia of the heart”.

It seems we are both on the same wave length spiritually so I have probably read alot of the same spiritual books as you.

Peace.