Help me please

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Joan_of_arc21

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I am a 21 year old woman with many questions to ask of you and Hopeing you might ansewer them all for me. My first Question for you is can God give you a call to the religious life in your dreams? For I have had dreams that I can remeber all of what happened in them and in deep details. The nest question is that if I am being called to the religious life and I feel its the contemplative ones. Can they deniey me entery if I have arthritus in my knees which stops me from kneeling in the pew. If you can help me I would be grateful to you.:bounce:
 
Joan_of_arc21 said:
I am a 21 year old woman with many questions to ask of you and Hopeing you might ansewer them all for me. My first Question for you is can God give you a call to the religious life in your dreams? For I have had dreams that I can remeber all of what happened in them and in deep details. The nest question is that if I am being called to the religious life and I feel its the contemplative ones. Can they deniey me entery if I have arthritus in my knees which stops me from kneeling in the pew. If you can help me I would be grateful to you.:bounce:
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Hi Joan: Last question first: No, I don’t believe arthritis would be an eliminating factor in a vocation to the religious life.

2nd question (your first one): Regardless of ‘how’ you feel your CALL from God comes, you would not act on it without confirmation, feedback, verification and validation from either someone in the religious life already - possibly from the community you hope to join - i .e. through a discernment process, weekend, retreat, discussion, etc, etc., OR serious, in-depth discussions with your/a spiritual director who can advise you and assist you in the discernment of spirits and of a possible vocation.

No one would ever ‘decide’ (discern) a vocation in a vacuum or alone, by themselves (dreams notwithstanding). If a call is from God, nothing will make it go away or change it; if it is NOT from Him, it will not stand the light of day or spiritual scrutiny.

I hope this helps you…:confused: 🤷

I will keep you in my prayers so that you will always be guided by your Holy Angel and your Blessed Mother…🙂
 
Joan_of_arc21 said:
I am a 21 year old woman with many questions to ask of you and Hopeing you might ansewer them all for me. My first Question for you is can God give you a call to the religious life in your dreams? For I have had dreams that I can remeber all of what happened in them and in deep details. The nest question is that if I am being called to the religious life and I feel its the contemplative ones. Can they deniey me entery if I have arthritus in my knees which stops me from kneeling in the pew. If you can help me I would be grateful to you.:bounce:
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Hi, Joan of Arc,
I am a contemplative and a hermit. My response to your first question is that certainly God can give you a call to the religious life in your dreams. See how St. Joseph received his call to marry Mary in his dream … among many other cases. It is important to pay attention to our dreams, although they are only pointers, and we need to discern from several other approaches as well. Would be good to find a spiritual director or a person you can dialogue with and discern the possible vocation.
As for the second question, there are places where they would not receive a candidate to contemplative life with arthritis in her knees. But that’s part of the discernment process. There are places which would not make a problem out of it.
Ultimatelly a contemplative vocation is not conditioned to a “place” or an order. It goes beyond. If you feel the attraction the call may be very real. Follow it and work on becoming a contemplative whether within a community or even at home.
I’ll be praying for you. Peace! 🙂
 
It’s been pointed out that it’s all part of the discernment process - and most communities will make very sure to test your vocation pretty thoroughly during your period of novitiate.

Remember nuns don’t jump straight into the solemn perpetual vows (not the ones I know anyway) - they usually have a period of at last a year or two as a novice, then another few years under temporary vows.
 
Wow I really thank all of you for posting your thoughts on this and I know my discernment process is not easy. I been through one rocky road after another. My father has gone to our Lord 2 1/2 years ago and this year my grandfather went to glory. I know that I need a Spirtiual director cause I know I can’t do this by myself anymore. All I as is that you guys pray for me and pray for my family to stick together through these hard times.😃
 
I am sure many great saints received their calling in dreams or visions; St Francis of Assisi was converted in this way, and many woman medieval mystics were guided by visions of Christ or by other forms of vision. Metchild of Magdeburg, Hildegard of Bingen, Joan of Arc, and Hadjewich are examples, and there are probably others. Perhaps you should seek out a spiritual director and if you have a strong disposition to interiority, contemplative prayer and devotion, the religious life might be what you are called to.
 
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