My Calling

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missmorgan389

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Hi! I think it would be appropriate to finally start this thread and gather up some of your thoughts!

Hi, my name is Morgan! I’ve been wandering around these forums for the past few years, trying to educate myself on the Catholic teachings while simultaneously diving into my faith and living in a fairly liberal environment. Around the same time I joined, I felt the first calling in my heart to become a religious sister. I recently got in contact with Franciscan TOR Sisters and advice I received was, “go see other places and find where you belong.”

My problem is, I really don’t know a lot of places to look at 🤷 I don’t really know where to start, only reason I know of the TOR Sisters is because I was introduced to them at a conference. I know what I’m looking for: active lifestyle, daily mass, adoration I just don’t know where to look!

Any ideas, any favorite sisters you know of/heard of, I’m all ears and would love to look into. Thanks for your help.
 
Hi missmorgan389 :]

It is funny that you mentioned the Franciscan TOR sisters because they were an order I visited 3 years ago that helped me realize that I wanted a more monastic contemplative order.

I can only speak from experience as there are, I’m sure, hundreds of ways to do this:
  1. Ask God to show you one:
  • I prayed for signs towards a more specific order. At the time I was reading about St. Therese and I found roses (either a real one, the word ‘rose’, or meeting a sister named Rose) towards a Carmelite spirituality.
  1. Find ones based on location:
  • I visited 3 Carmels around a 6 hour radius from where I am currently stationed in Louisiana and found information via Google to talk to their vocations director.
  1. (This is a silly one) Find orders that have something that you consider to be part of a family:
  • I wanted a dog my entire life. Somehow convents/monasteries with cats I could never be at peace with.
  1. Ponder about God’s mission for you:
  • I knew right away that I wasn’t called to be a teacher, which, for me, meant several education-based orders were out (mostly Dominican). I didn’t feel like I was one of the Apostles, to go out and preach the good news. I knew that I wanted to pray, and pray endlessly for souls. Eventually I found Carmelites who share this similar mission with me.
Those are the only ones I can think of right away. Hopefully this is of some help to you :]

Praying for your vocation!
 
Thank you for response! Of course I should ask God about it… while it may seem obvious that He is the one that holds my vocation, I never actually thought about asking Him about it 😃

As far as number four that you posted, this is the second time I’m hearing about different spiritualities… and I heard about this before, but I just don’t know about any of them in particular. Do you have any book recommendations about them?

ETA: And thank you for the prayers! =]
 
There are 3 Carmelite Doctors of the Church: Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Therese of Lisieux. I fully recommend praying about which ones to read. If God allows it, the heavier books will be easier to read. Story of a Soul is a great place to start. Therese’s Little Way is popular nowadays.

For light reading:
Biography of Teresa of Avila
Story of A Soul (Therese of Lisieux)
Living Flame of Love by John of the Cross (Poetry)

For heavier reading:
Interior Castle, Way of Perfection by Teresa of Avila
Ascent of Mount Carmel, Dark Night of the Soul by John of the Cross

Here is a very good explanation of the Carmelite spirituality. It is the only one I can fully help explain if asked. In short, when one thinks of a Carmelite, one must immediately think of prayer. Their work is their prayer above all else, to deepen their friendship with God, to go deeper inside one’s self to find Him, and to pray endlessly for souls.

Hopefully this helps :] Please pray for me too 😃
 
roundcheese said:
There are 3 Carmelite Doctors of the Church: Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Therese of Lisieux. I fully recommend praying about which ones to read. If God allows it, the heavier books will be easier to read. Story of a Soul is a great place to start. Therese’s Little Way is popular nowadays.

For light reading:
Biography of Teresa of Avila
Story of A Soul (Therese of Lisieux)
Living Flame of Love by John of the Cross (Poetry)

For heavier reading:
Interior Castle, Way of Perfection by Teresa of Avila
Ascent of Mount Carmel, Dark Night of the Soul by John of the Cross

Here is a very good explanation of the Carmelite spirituality. It is the only one I can fully help explain if asked. In short, when one thinks of a Carmelite, one must immediately think of prayer. Their work is their prayer above all else, to deepen their friendship with God, to go deeper inside one’s self to find Him, and to pray endlessly for souls.

Hopefully this helps :] Please pray for me too 😃
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Good comprehensive explanation of Carmelite Spirituality - and not too long either.👍
 
While at Franciscan University, my niece entered the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George, a strict orthodox Order. She left in less than two years time. My sister thinks she would still be a nun if she had bothered to check out other Orders (perhaps a little less stringent). My advice: check out multiple Orders.
 
will definitely be checking all the suggestions out. 👍

thank you very much!
 
Gertabelle said:
Here are a few congregations that I just love, even thoutgh I’m a mom of a most delightful little boy, so I definitely don’t have a vocation to the religious life 👍 Anyway, try these:

Dominican Sister of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist

Carmelite Sister of the Sacred Heart

Little Sisters of the Poor

The Religious Sisters of Mercy (not to be confused with the Sisters of Mercy)

God bless you in your search!

Gertie
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Dominican Sisters of Mary!!! But I’m bias… That’s going to be my home as of next month as I am entering on the 28th of August. 😃 Also the Nashville Dominicans are pretty cool as well from what I’ve heard. 🙂
 
LiveforChrist said:
Dominican Sisters of Mary!!! But I’m bias… That’s going to be my home as of next month as I am entering on the 28th of August. 😃 Also the Nashville Dominicans are pretty cool as well from what I’ve heard. 🙂
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:clapping: Awesome!

I was a postulant and novice in a Benedictine monastery before I discerned it was not my vocation. And I was received the habit on August 28th, the feast of St. Augustine!!

God bless you, dear one! You and your family will be in my prayers!

Gertie
 
If that active lifestyle might involve teaching you might like the Nashville Dominicans!
We have some of the SOLT sisters in our Archdiocese who are very active in education, healthcare, ministries to the impoverished…the list goes on and on. Their website is
societyofourlady.net/about.html
What an wonderful time to be discerning a vocation to the religious life. May God bless you!
 
Sister_MM said:
There are two very helpful websites that will give you a starting point.

www.cmswr.org
www.religiouslife.com

Blessings to you!
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Also:

A Guide to Religious Ministries For Catholic Men and Women
religiousministries.com/

[This can be quite helpful as it will list communities by tradition]

Vision Vocation Network
vocationnetwork.org/

Vocations Placement
vocationsplacement.org/

One further Note:

Sometimes a community will ask you to keep searching…( to confirm your choice)… if you have questions as to why a sister or vocations director tells you something… by all means ask for clarification.

Blessings on your vocations search.

Sr Debbie, O.S.C.
 
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