Many of us “dont’ get it”. I don’t quite, though I do somewhat when it comes to the life of sisters who really are dedicated to that life.
I have been blessed by knowing a couple of sisters who belong to one of the new, young, completely faithful orders. They wear habits and everything. They are extraordinarily joyful women. One of them is beautiful despite no makeup or anything. The other is what I would call “stately”.
They were our guests on July 4 and greatly enjoyed everything. One of them discovered she had burned a small hole in her habit with a spark from some firework or other she had set off. She expressed a kind of amused dismay and commented that she didn’t know when she would ever get another habit or how she could hide that small burn. Might be years, for all she knew. The other one advised her that she would fix it for her with a needle and a little bit of thread and Mother Superior would never even notice.
That’s how little they care about worldly things. They can enjoy them and do, but they’re consciously detached.
I met some contemplative Carmelites once, and my wife and I developed a relationship with them, to the extent they do that. It appears they give food to anyone who comes to their monastery and asks. I asked what they, themselves, eat. “Oh, whatever people give us.” was the cheerful reply. I asked if sometimes donors didn’t quite meet their needs, and they replied that, yes, sometimes it was so. It wasn’t a complaint, and they didn’t ask us for anything. But my wife and I immediately went to a pizza place and ordered a number of large cheese pizzas and took them to the monastery. (That order never eats meat.) They were really grateful for them. But I think if they had gone hungry, they would have been just as cheerful.
