D
DebChris
Guest
Theresa of Lisieux received special permission to enter the convent at the age of 14. I will echo what another poster said about still being “high” from receiving Confirmation.
Many religious communities have discernment retreats. They do not accept candidates just finishing the retreats because of this “high” which may wear off when faced with the reality of daily living.
I will share a little of my own journey. I always wanted to teach and saw becoming a nun as the only way for this to happen (wrong reason). When I turned 14, I wrote to all the convents I found advertising in Catholic Digest that would take somebody my age. At the time, the entry age for religious life varied from 14 to 18 with a cutoff of 30.
When my mother found out, she took me to see the chaplain. I lived on a military post. That was the end of my discernment, sort of. I was a tomboy who gave all my dolls to my younger sisters when I turned 8–all except my nun doll. My mother talked about why she had wanted to become a missionary nun.
I figured I would enter a convent at the age of 30 if I didn’t get married before that. Now I am hardly a beautiful woman but I managed to turn the head of a man still thinking about returning to seminary to become a priest. I did not marry him because he met my “ideal standards,” but because I met those standards when I was with him (a right reason confirmed in a much more recent retreat with the Trappists in Conyers, Ga).
When my marriage fell apart at the age of 30, my first question was did I make the wrong choice. Had God really called me to be a nun? I have friends now pushing me in that direction despite my age. I had a nun friend who told me that even if you enter religious life for the wrong reason, if you are being called God will give you the right reason. God did give me the right reason shortly before that trip I made to Conyers.
As you see, I have an impediment which cannot be removed without being disobedient to God. The vow to obedience is to God first. I also didn’t mention that one of the things that kept me from entering religious life were the vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity.
At fourteen I didn’t really know what chastity was. I knew it had something to do with purity which I saw as just being good. I didn’t want to be poor, so poverty was an issue. I now understand that vow in terms of poverty of spirit. I was not exactly the most obedient child so that caused problems. Obedience comes from “listening.” I have learned the Benedictine concept of obedience as listening to what you are told and then following your conscience even if it differs from directions given by superiors. To act against conscience is to sin against God.
Today, the entry age has been raised. I have only found one Carmelite community that will accept members as young as 18. The general cutoff is 45 while a few communities will take 60 year old postulates. By living in a world first, the postulate has a better understanding of what the call to religious life is about. If it is right, the call will not go away.
Many religious communities have discernment retreats. They do not accept candidates just finishing the retreats because of this “high” which may wear off when faced with the reality of daily living.
I will share a little of my own journey. I always wanted to teach and saw becoming a nun as the only way for this to happen (wrong reason). When I turned 14, I wrote to all the convents I found advertising in Catholic Digest that would take somebody my age. At the time, the entry age for religious life varied from 14 to 18 with a cutoff of 30.
When my mother found out, she took me to see the chaplain. I lived on a military post. That was the end of my discernment, sort of. I was a tomboy who gave all my dolls to my younger sisters when I turned 8–all except my nun doll. My mother talked about why she had wanted to become a missionary nun.
I figured I would enter a convent at the age of 30 if I didn’t get married before that. Now I am hardly a beautiful woman but I managed to turn the head of a man still thinking about returning to seminary to become a priest. I did not marry him because he met my “ideal standards,” but because I met those standards when I was with him (a right reason confirmed in a much more recent retreat with the Trappists in Conyers, Ga).
When my marriage fell apart at the age of 30, my first question was did I make the wrong choice. Had God really called me to be a nun? I have friends now pushing me in that direction despite my age. I had a nun friend who told me that even if you enter religious life for the wrong reason, if you are being called God will give you the right reason. God did give me the right reason shortly before that trip I made to Conyers.
As you see, I have an impediment which cannot be removed without being disobedient to God. The vow to obedience is to God first. I also didn’t mention that one of the things that kept me from entering religious life were the vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity.
At fourteen I didn’t really know what chastity was. I knew it had something to do with purity which I saw as just being good. I didn’t want to be poor, so poverty was an issue. I now understand that vow in terms of poverty of spirit. I was not exactly the most obedient child so that caused problems. Obedience comes from “listening.” I have learned the Benedictine concept of obedience as listening to what you are told and then following your conscience even if it differs from directions given by superiors. To act against conscience is to sin against God.
Today, the entry age has been raised. I have only found one Carmelite community that will accept members as young as 18. The general cutoff is 45 while a few communities will take 60 year old postulates. By living in a world first, the postulate has a better understanding of what the call to religious life is about. If it is right, the call will not go away.
