Hi, Lizzie!
When you put “lay vocation” what do you mean? That you won’t, obviously, be a priest, or that you are looking for a Third Order Secular (an association whose members marry and live in their homes but practice the ways of prayer of a particular Order as far as they can), or something else?
Benedictines are focussed on the Liturgy, that is, on the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours (or the Breviary or the Divine Office), the praying of most of the psalms throughout the hours of the day and week. They alternate prayer with manual labor.
Here is an essay that explains a little about Dominican spirituality, and if you find it particularly interesting the site has several more essays which will give you more of the flavor.
nashvilledominican.org/Charism/The_Dominican_Soul/index.htm
Dominicans are called to study and preach the Truth. Friars do this by preaching at Mass, writing books, speaking at conferences, etc. Nuns also can write books, but their main work is to pray for the needs of the Order. Sisters may spread Truth by teaching in Catholic schools, nursing, or in other ways. The Dominicans are specially devoted to Mary and to the Rosary.
Some wonderful little books that will give you an idea of Franciscan and Carmelite spirituality respectively are
A Right to be Merry and
My Beloved: The Story of a Carmelite Nun. The books may be a little hard to find. Franciscans love poverty (as do the others, but more particularly for Franciscans) and their main work is to simply give witness by living radically in conformance with the Gospel. Friars preach, Poor Clare nuns pray, Sisters help out the Friars. Someone is free to expand on this picture or patch it up, I’m not as familiar with Franciscans.
Carmelites have an apostolate of prayer. The men are sometimes monks and sometimes friars, I think. There is a book about them called “Men In Sandals.” The nuns are probably the most famous of women’s orders thanks to St. Therese. They pray for the needs of all the Church, especially priests. There are also Carmelite Sisters but they’re not very famous. Carmelite spirituality is based on the works of St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross–after troubles and the apparent privation of God the soul emerges purified for joyful union with God, its Spouse. (I’m really summarizing and it is a lot more poetic when they explain it, but I think that is the gist of it.) If you read “Story of a Soul” (now that book is very easy to find) you’ll get something of an idea of them.
Besides these Orders another famous ancient Order is the Cistercian Order, a reform of the Benedictines. They are austere and don’t, traditionally I believe, decorate their churches much or use elaborate chants. I attend Mass sometimes at a Cistercian Abbey. It is very bare but peaceful. The men are not strictly enclosed, here at least, and run a school and teach at college. The nuns are enclosed, though, and you can get a good idea of their life at
nunocist.org.
Trappists are a reform of them, so fairly similar, but stricter still. They are known for not speaking much. A good book with Trappists is “The Man who Got Even with God,” by a Trappist about a Trappist.
There are many smaller Orders and communities which follow more specific apostolates, such as some new pro-life communities (Sisters of Life, Missionaries of the Gospel of Life) and some communities which have sprung up for those who desire the use of the 1962 Missal:
- the Institute of Christ the King and
- the Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP)
are societies of priests who serve as pastors or chaplains of parishes & not-quite-parishes who enjoy this form of Mass.
But I guess those aren’t for you if your name is Lizzie
Feel free to PM me if you have questions, I’ve been reading tons about religious life for the last two years so I’d be happy to help!
