Giving up your things and following the LORD, literally

[mymamamary]

Dear Brothers and Sisters

PAX CHRISTI!

a thread here brought this verse to mind “Go sell all you have, give it to the poor and come follow ME”. In a few months I’m looking to take that step for the LORD.

Im looking for Religious Brothers and Seminarians here:

When you entered: What did you give away? What did you keep? (In terms of material things)

Im excited at the concept of giving everything away and following the LORD as I am. HE has been leading me on a road for the past 16-17 years and now is the time I make the decisicion to follow HIM, with HIS consent. I would enjoy being poor (not that my family is, but me personally as a 17 year old). I dont have a job. I have a grand total of $12 to my name ($7 of which will be going for lunch… ). I have a Android. Thats it for technology. The things I could say I have is alot of clothes. I also have a camper that my dad gave me (trailer camper) but I will be giving that back to him and a 1995 Ford F-150 truck. I enjoy being detached from all earthly goods…

 

[edward_george]

Diocesan clergy (and thus seminarians) are to live simply, but do not take a vow of poverty. As such, I didn’t have to give up any of my material possessions when I entered.

-ACEGC

 

[Trishie]

If you go to a seminary as you hope, the usual practice would be to leave your possessions in trust with your parents. Time in the seminary requires careful discernment and does not guarantee that anyone will be discerned as suitable for this difficult way of life.

It may possible to get through life without having some possessions, physical requirements for a physical body and a human mind which are gift from God and must be reasonably protected and cared for. A person might survive without personal possessions if they remained indefinitely at home and their parents were willing to exclusively fund them throughout life. However they would still be using possessions, a dwelling, a bed, blanket, chair, dishes and saucepans, bathrooms, food, and so on.

If you have a spiritual adviser it might be wise to ask his advice on where you should give away your possessions at this stage, and whether you should leave yourself without anything to sell, if that is later your wish in order to have a small fund of your own for expenses if you are not immediately able to get work to support yourself. He is possibly the best person to discuss this matter of giving away possessions.

May God guide you in what Jesus sums up as the two aims of life, love God and love others. Yes, you love God, and may God in this time deepen your practical love and kindness also of your family members… as the most blessed kind of self-denial is in loving others, being kind to the people we live with and around us, even when it is difficult (and it often is)…and keeping in mind Matthew 25 verses 31-46.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

I was a Franciscan for six years and kept some clothing, a few books, and toiletries.
I loved that simplicity,

 

[Linusthe2nd]

Dear Brothers and Sisters

PAX CHRISTI!

a thread here brought this verse to mind “Go sell all you have, give it to the poor and come follow ME”. In a few months I’m looking to take that step for the LORD.

Im looking for Religious Brothers and Seminarians here:

When you entered: What did you give away? What did you keep? (In terms of material things)

Im excited at the concept of giving everything away and following the LORD as I am. HE has been leading me on a road for the past 16-17 years and now is the time I make the decisicion to follow HIM, with HIS consent. I would enjoy being poor (not that my family is, but me personally as a 17 year old). I dont have a job. I have a grand total of $12 to my name ($7 of which will be going for lunch… ). I have a Android. Thats it for technology. The things I could say I have is alot of clothes. I also have a camper that my dad gave me (trailer camper) but I will be giving that back to him and a 1995 Ford F-150 truck. I enjoy being detached from all earthly goods…

Good luck, you have our prayers, we need good priest and religious.

 

[edward_george]

If you go to a seminary as you hope, the usual practice would be to leave your possessions in trust with your parents. Time in the seminary requires careful discernment and does not guarantee that anyone will be discerned as suitable for this difficult way of life.

.

This isn’t entirely true. I didn’t have to leave anything at home when I started seminary. Some men pack just like they would for college or living on their own in a small apartment (save for cooking considerations, as all our meals are provided), and others live fairly austerely while in the seminary. I’m sure some seminaries have different practices, but in general it’s not much different from college dorm life in terms of what you can bring with you.

-ACEGC

 

[Trishie]

Edward, to clarify…I didn’t say 'have to, but ‘usual practice’ it being the usual practice for novices in the Franciscan Order that my son entered and where he remained during his postulancy and his novitiate years, and also with some diocesan seminarians known to us. I had to sell a family heirloom to pay for his food for his first six months in the seminary…which if I had not, he would have had to find the $600 himself…They took little in with them but a percentage of students leave and must make a living in this world as well as overcoming the emotional difficulties resultant for this loss of their hope, eg

“Of the 709 seminarians who began theologate study in 2008, 520 are completing their fourth year in 2012. Thus, the retention rate for the Class of 2012 throughout their four years of theologate study is expected to be 73 percent, approximately the same rate as that reported for the Classes of 2004 and 2005 and a little lower than in recent years. The average retention rate for those who began theology from 1999-2000 to 2007-2008 was 77 percent.”

cara.georgetown.edu/Publications/Overview2011-12-FINAL.pdf

 

[edward_george]

Edward, to clarify…I didn’t say 'have to, but ‘usual practice’ it being the usual practice for novices in the Franciscan Order that my son entered and where he remained during his postulancy and his novitiate years, and also with some diocesan seminarians known to us. I had to sell a family heirloom to pay for his food for his first six months in the seminary…which if I had not, he would have had to find the $600 himself…They took little in with them but a percentage of students leave and must make a living in this world as well as overcoming the emotional difficulties resultant for this loss of their hope, eg

“Of the 709 seminarians who began theologate study in 2008, 520 are completing their fourth year in 2012. Thus, the retention rate for the Class of 2012 throughout their four years of theologate study is expected to be 73 percent, approximately the same rate as that reported for the Classes of 2004 and 2005 and a little lower than in recent years. The average retention rate for those who began theology from 1999-2000 to 2007-2008 was 77 percent.”

cara.georgetown.edu/Publications/Overview2011-12-FINAL.pdf

Thanks for the clarification, and God bless your son for his pursuit of his vocation.

-ACEGC