People, Do We Need Religious Brothers?

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simple_soul

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The short answer is YES! And, speaking from my own experience, we desperately need them more than we realize!

When I first came to CAF I was lost. I needed some one to take me in to teach me and to help me understand what I did and did not know. I really did not mean to draw attention but a brother from here seemed to listen to what I was saying or asking. Probably he was doing both. I do not know for sure. What I do know is that I have just relived the last 40 years of my life. I have done nothing but follow his lead and direction, weather it came directly from him or through others, and I found myself being opened to understand things. Some of which amazed me.

He saw how unsure I was and found some one to boost my confidence. When my confidence started to get to be a little to confident…well lets just say I was set strait.
He showed me how much God loves me through so many people and the examples of so many saints.
When he had to tell me something that he believed might “potentially” set me back in my desire and journey for holiness…. He was so quick to send someone to check in on me to make sure I was OK.
He showed me how much I knew and how much more I could learn.

But, most of all he heard something within everything I said. Pain and anguish. This pain and anguish came out full force in the fact that I could not take confidence in my trust of God‘s love for me and what He had done for me. So he prayed for me knowing that my conscience would wake up sooner or later and that I would have to realize and face this pain and anguish and the only thing that would help me was knowing how much God does love me. Oh how he must have prayed. Because I can say with certainty it did help this soul. You see, when I was younger I put my confidence and trust in someone at a time in my life when I did not have a soul to turn too. This person not only took advantage of me but had me at a hospital the next morning getting a prescription filled out for a morning after pill. Telling me the whole time to trust him. But when it came time to take this pill I just could’t so I hid it in my mouth and after he dropped me off I spat it out. I thought that was the end of it. I told myself I should never have put myself in that situation to begin with. And then I told myself that since I did not swallow the pill I did not do anything to cause an abortion. Right?

Oh, how the haunting started, every time it came time to trust someone again I would relive this all over again. So I became very picky about who I trusted and who I did not trust.

The poor priests and deacons at my church. I must have driven them nuts. God knows I believe they did there best to help me open up but I was too wounded. Even my love for God become guarded. But God, in His love and mercy, held me close to himself. It was the only place I found refuge and peace. He completely sustain me I truly do believe I would have gone completely mad if it had not been for Him holding me so close to himself. I never really understood just how close until quite recently.
I truly do believe he sent me across this brother’s path so that he could help me. To be there for me and to guide me as my conscience did finally start to wake up. You see, the pain and anguish that I had been feeling came from that pill. The one thought that always kept coming to my mind was “what if some microscopic bit of it had some how seeped into my blood stream and caused me to have an abortion?” This was a thought that I would not let myself think about. It was too painful. I always told myself that a microscopic amount could not cause an abortion. I even ran it by a few people to verify this info. But what I found out just the other day is that I suffer some of the symptoms that post-abortion patients suffer. How could that be? I had to think about this and then it hit me. I had been telling myself all along about how a microscopic amount could not cause an abortion but never looked at it understanding that maybe it could also cause an abortion. We just don’t know for sure only God knows for sure. This is what I had to face. There was a microscopic chance that I had caused an abortion. Period. Just by putting this pill into my mouth. This brother knew this, I am guessing probably from close to the beginning of my coming to CAF, and he did nothing but guide me to first trust in God’s love for me and my love for Him and then to face this cause of my pain and anguish.

I truly do thank God from the bottom of my heart He sent me across his path. I will always be eternally grateful for everything he helped me to understand and face. But most of all for the many prayers I know he must have said so that I would know God’s love deeply enough to be able to face what I needed too. And then he made sure I made it to the care of my parish priests and deacons so that they could bring me into the Mystical Body of Christ more fully. Through the sacrament of reconciliation and the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ to mend and heal a wound I barley knew I had. If it was not for God‘s Love through this brother I know that I would still be suffering the effects of it.
 
continued:

*So I guess after this long story, maybe you all can see a little more clearly how important our religious men are. They are our Brothers to us like Christ was the brother to prostitutes, the poor, the sick, those who did not believe and needed to learn. They are there to show us the way to Christ himself and find refuge in it. We need to let them help us even if we think we do not need their help. We need to lean on them to help us understand God’s church more clearly so that our life will be more healed through the Church’s sacraments.

Please learn to appreciate them, trust them, treasure them and let them help you to know and understand Christ and His church more fully.

Thank you God for giving us our religious who truly do care for us and please send us more. For this just shows how we so desperately need them.

Christ is Risen!
Glorify Him!
*
 
I have to say, yes we do, as well. I was taught by nuns in grammar school and religious brothers in high school. They not only can help with understanding God and the Church, but they bring a special something to their teaching that, perhaps, lay teachers don’t. My learning experience, I think, would have been quite different, not as complete, if it weren’t for the dedication and caring of the religious who were my teachers. I remember many of them - things they said and did for me - to this day. Not only do we still need them, we need more of them.
 
brillstreet said:
I have to say, yes we do, as well. I was taught by nuns in grammar school and religious brothers in high school. They not only can help with understanding God and the Church, but they bring a special something to their teaching that, perhaps, lay teachers don’t. My learning experience, I think, would have been quite different,** not as complete**, if it weren’t for the dedication and caring of the religious who were my teachers. I remember many of them - things they said and did for me - to this day. Not only do we still need them, we need more of them.
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*Dear brillstreet,

In reference to the part that I bolded.
I do believe this is exactly why we need our religious brothers and that we need to consult them more often.
I believe they do help to complete our understanding of Christ’s and His Church’s teaching.
I truly do wish I had met this brother earlier in my life.
Who knows maybe I would have been better informed as to the whys and why nots when it came to church teaching and maybe I would or could have been stronger in my faith and understanding of Truth and then maybe I would never have had to spend the next 14 plus years trying to cope with this experience. I do not know. Like they say hind sight is 20/20. All I really know is God has helped me to understand how vital there role is and how much we need to listen to them and let them help us understand His Truth more clearly. Even if we do not completely understand the whats and whys of that leadership. We really do need to swallow our pride and start trusting them more. I do not believe we can reach a sound holiness to God unless we learn we can not do it on our own. We need Him and each other and we can not take lightly the vital role of our religious brothers.

Thank you for sharing and God Bless you at this holiest of times,
 
Thank you for that kind OP on Brothers. It’s very humbling to feel that we have contributed to someone’s spiritual life. I know that many brothers often feel that they are not effective and young brothers will often leave the religious life because of this.

Brothers have a long honorable tradition in the Church. Religious life began with brothers. The first hermits in the desert at Mt. Carmel were not ordained priests. These priests joined them later, because they were attracted to the life of the brothers.

Hospitals and schools in Europe began with brothers. The Christian Brothers were the first religious congregation to setup schools for the poor on a grand scale. The Hospital Brothers of St. John of God began the first Catholic hospitals as we know them today.

Today, brothers are theologians, superiors of religious houses, missionaries, directors of shelters for the homeless. We run pregnancy centers, teach religious education, protect the unborn and provide a last ray of hope for the dying as we pray them into heaven.

As far as our relationship with Christ and the Church, I believe that John Paul II said it best.

Pope John Paul II , Vita Consecrata, no. 32
“As a way of showing forth the Church’s holiness, it is to be recognized that the consecrated life, which mirrors Christ’s own way of life, has an objective superiority. Precisely for this reason, it is an especially rich manifestation of Gospel values and a more complete expression of the Church’s purpose, which is the sanctification of humanity. The consecrated life proclaims and in a certain way anticipates the future age, when the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven, already present in its first fruits and in mystery,[62] will be achieved and when the children of the resurrection will take neither wife nor husband, but will be like the angels of God (cf. Mt. 22:30)”

I have always felt honored and excited when people say, “Hi Brother”. It makes me feel that I’m part of a great family and that I can stand in the place of Christ, the first-born of many brothers and sisters giving to them what Christ gave to the world during the three years that he spent preaching, healing the sick, feeding the multitudes and spreading the Gospel to those who had not heard the Word of God: prostitutes, tax collectors, centurions, adulterers and all those people that you would not find in Church on Sunday morning.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
And of course, the clearest sign that we need Religious Brothers is that God calls men to such a life. 🙂

If there were no need, there would be no calling.
 
I have always loved that one section where the Ven. John Paul II says that the religious life is a “more complete expression of the purpose of the Church, which is the sanctification of humanity.”

When you stop and thinnk about that sentence, that’s a big statement. To be the person whose presence should communicate to others the purpose of the Church is a daunting responsibility. What I have always found interesting is that the statements made about religious life have all been made by popes who were not religious themselves. They were all secular priests. It’s a warm feeling when a secular priest, who is also the pope, stands up and proclaims that a brother proclaims the mission of the Church. It’s like, WOW! It’s almost scary.

I do want to thank the OP for promoting the vocation to the brotherhood. We don’t get too much publicity from the laity. :confused:

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
JReducation said:
I have always loved that one section where the Ven. John Paul II says that the religious life is a “more complete expression of the purpose of the Church, which is the sanctification of humanity.”

When you stop and thinnk about that sentence, that’s a big statement. To be the person whose presence should communicate to others the purpose of the Church is a daunting responsibility. What I have always found interesting is that the statements made about religious life have all been made by popes who were not religious themselves. They were all secular priests. It’s a warm feeling when a secular priest, who is also the pope, stands up and proclaims that a brother proclaims the mission of the Church. It’s like, WOW! It’s almost scary.

I do want to thank the OP for promoting the vocation to the brotherhood. We don’t get too much publicity from the laity. :confused:

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
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Not too much publicity, but a lot of appreciation from those of us who know Brothers and understand their unique role in the Church. (I’m a Lay Carmelite, and know some Carmelite Brothers who are just incredible, and I’m sure other Orders have super Brothers as well!)
 
JReducation said:
I have always loved that one section where the Ven. John Paul II says that the religious life is a “more complete expression of the purpose of the Church, which is the sanctification of humanity.”

When you stop and thinnk about that sentence, that’s a big statement. To be the person whose presence should communicate to others the purpose of the Church is a daunting responsibility. What I have always found interesting is that the statements made about religious life have all been made by popes who were not religious themselves. They were all secular priests. It’s a warm feeling when a secular priest, who is also the pope, stands up and proclaims that a brother proclaims the mission of the Church. It’s like, WOW! It’s almost scary.

I do want to thank the OP for promoting the vocation to the brotherhood. We don’t get too much publicity from the laity. :confused:

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
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*Dear Br. JR,

It was the least of what I could do to say thank you.
 
Brother JR,

I was taught by Christian Brothers and want you to know that you are appreciated for your unique role in the Church. I was young when I was learning fro the Brothers and didn’t really appreciate everything they gave to me then. With age, their influence and irreplaceable contributions to my upbringing in life and in the Church became more and more apparent.
What they meant to me can’t be overstated.

So a special thanks to you and all the Brothers in Christ who do an often thankless task with such dedication.
 
simple_soul said:
*Dear brillstreet,

In reference to the part that I bolded.
I do believe this is exactly why we need our religious brothers and that we need to consult them more often.
I believe they do help to complete our understanding of Christ’s and His Church’s teaching.
I truly do wish I had met this brother earlier in my life.
Who knows maybe I would have been better informed as to the whys and why nots when it came to church teaching and maybe I would or could have been stronger in my faith and understanding of Truth and then maybe I would never have had to spend the next 14 plus years trying to cope with this experience. I do not know. Like they say hind sight is 20/20. All I really know is God has helped me to understand how vital there role is and how much we need to listen to them and let them help us understand His Truth more clearly. Even if we do not completely understand the whats and whys of that leadership. We really do need to swallow our pride and start trusting them more. I do not believe we can reach a sound holiness to God unless we learn we can not do it on our own. We need Him and each other and we can not take lightly the vital role of our religious brothers.

Thank you for sharing and God Bless you at this holiest of times,
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Great insight, simple soul. In the end, the important thing is that you found your way home again. Sometimes, when the road back is not that easy, you appreciate getting home that much more.

God bless.
 
As I’m following this thread I’m thinking that if I had to do it all over again, I would still become a brother. A life consecrated to God, to be lived in his presence day and night cannot be compared to anything else that the world or the Church has to offer. This is not to say that it is better than, but it is very special, very unique, and very fulfilling.

I have several ministries. I’m the superior of my community, until Pentecost Sunday. Then we’ll have an election and hopefully the Holy Spirit will pick someone else for the next six-years. Right now, that is my primary ministry, to watch over my brothers. Some of them are priests and some are not. But they are all very special to me. They are my family. This is part of the gift that comes with the call to be a brother. Christ calls us into a new relationship with him through a family of brothers who share the same ideals, goals, dreams, hopes, fears, weaknesses, struggles and daily life.

We get up at 4:45. By 5:00 we’re in chapel, virtually in darkness and in silence before the Lord in the most Blessed Sacrament. But you’re not there alone or as an individual. You’re part of a family. We are there are a collective of brothers, who come before our God to ask him to bless our day, not my day or his day, OUR day. By 6:00 we begin Morning Prayer, and then mass and by 7:30 we’re having breakfast. Then we take turns cleaning up for our brothers, just as a mother does for her family. Why everyone else goes to get ready to begin their day one of us is in the kitchen doing the dishes, wiping the table and rushing to get out of there so that he too can get to his ministry.

Though doing dishes is not something that I enjoy, I don’t really mind it, because it is the service that Mary performed for Joseph and Jesus throughout her life. My Mother and I do this together for my older brother, Jesus.

Then comes the rest of my day. I work in Respect Life. Sometimes I’m in an office doing administrative details (which I don’t particularly enjoy) and other times I’m at a pregnancy center with two high school kids who want to get an abortion. At that moment I feel that I stand in the place of Jesus, our older brother. I’m there, not as a priest would be, a spiritual father, I’m there as their brother. I’m Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman offering her the water that quenches all thirst. I’m pointing the way to the Father. To me that’s a special moment. When these parents agree to keep their child, I feel like Christ who draws the little child into the middle of the crowd and includes him in his ministry. At that point, through the power of brotherhood and the grace of the Lord, a child has been drawn into the middle of life.

Then there are the sad times, when I’m called to the side of a woman who has had an abortion and is in great pain or a man who is the father of an aborted baby. And as the tears stream down my face, I feel that this is my little brother or sister who has been crucified even though he was innocent. But then too, I’m still brother. I feel like Jesus who cried over the death of Lazarus. But I have to proclaim to these parents, who are also my brothers and sisters that God forgives those who are truly sorry and that God wants to forgive. I’m the brother who brings the Good News that our Father loves us.

My day usually ends with Evening Prayer, community supper, community recreation, Night Prayer and Grand Silence. By 10:00 we can go to our room, which we share with another brother or two or three, because we can’t afford a large house. But that’s OK, when I was a kid I shared a room with my two brothers. We had bunk beds then too. I usually don’t go to bed. That’s the time that I use to write letter and answer people’s PMs etc. At 12:15 the bell rings and everyone gets up, if they’re sleeping. I’m usually still awake. We come together as a group of very sleepy brothers to pray the midnight office until 12:45. Then it’s bedtime until 4:45.

So that’s the life of a brother. We don’t all live the same routine. It depends on what order or congregation you belong to. There are some congregations and orders that are much more austere than we are, such as Mother Teresa’s Missionary Brothers of Charity. Those guys lead tough lives. Whew!

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
*Dear Br. JR,

I know I started this thread as a thread of appreciation but this one line from what you said here really stood out and I could not help but comment on it.
JReducation said:
I feel that this is my little brother or sister who has been crucified even though he was innocent.
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But for me it also comes with another painful realization that I was the one that did the crucifying to my child.

This is why I am so grateful. I do not know how, except for by the grace of God, I did not go insane with this painful realization. All I can do is be eternally grateful and thankful that He got me to some one who understood this pain deeply enough that they could help me face it, accept it, embrace it and then cry for forgiveness for it without ever despairing and losing the hope and trust of God’s love.

As always I pray this makes sense and that it also again shows just how much we need our brothers,
 
simple_soul said:
*Dear Br. JR,

I know I started this thread as a thread of appreciation but this one line from what you said here really stood out and I could not help but comment on it.

But for me it also comes with another painful realization that I was the one that did the crucifying to my child.

This is why I am so grateful. I do not know how, except for by the grace of God, I did not go insane with this painful realization. All I can do is be eternally grateful and thankful that He got me to some one who understood this pain deeply enough that they could help me face it, accept it, embrace it and then cry for forgiveness for it without ever despairing and losing the hope and trust of God’s love. *

I always encourage parents of aborted children to reflect on the crucifixion narrative when the thief says to Jesus, “Remember me when you enter into your Kingdom.” And Jesus responds, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

The two key words in the good thief’s statement are, "Remember me."

That’s all it takes for Jesus’ divine heart to melt with divine love and forgive and heal. God’s justice comes from his power. But God’s mercy comes from his heart… As the Lord told St. Faustina, the Father will never deny us anything that we ask for the sake of his son’s passion. So when we say, “Lord remember me.” The Father’s heart melts with love, because of the love that he feels for his son. These words moved his son. And the Father’s love for the son is so infinite that whatever the son loves and whatever the son forgives, the Father accepts with great gentleness.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
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JReducation said:
I always encourage parents of aborted children to reflect on the crucifixion narrative when the thief says to Jesus, “Remember me when you enter into your Kingdom.” And Jesus responds, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

The two key words in the good thief’s statement are, "Remember me."

That’s all it takes for Jesus’ divine heart to melt with divine love and forgive and heal. God’s justice comes from his power. But God’s mercy comes from his heart… As the Lord told St. Faustina, the Father will never deny us anything that we ask for the sake of his son’s passion. So when we say, “Lord remember me.” The Father’s heart melts with love, because of the love that he feels for his son. These words moved his son. And the Father’s love for the son is so infinite that whatever the son loves and whatever the son forgives, the Father accepts with great gentleness.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
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*Thank you. It helps to see it this way. *
 
JReducation said:
You see, a brother can be useful once in a while. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
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*Well I was going to sign off for the night until I saw this.

I hope you know that I know you are more than useful,

You are IMHO a true brother.
 
simple_soul said:
*Well I was going to sign off for the night until I saw this.

I hope you know that I know you are more than useful,

You are IMHO a true brother.
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Well, I have to go to midnight office in 12 min. Then to bed. 4:45 comes early

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
Something happened to me today that made me think of this thread. I thought I’d share it with you. This is typical in the life of brothers. I work for a Catholic organization. However, the Director is a lay person. She asked me if I would attend a particular function, related to the ministry. After asking what day and time, I realized that the function is not during the hours that I’m supposed to be at the ministry. If I attend the function I will miss Evening Prayer, community supper, cleanup and community recreation. Granted, the function is for the unborn. It’s a good cause. But the rule is very clear; community life always trumps all ministries, except to the dying.

I told the person that I would get back to him, because I would have to ask for permission. The argument was that the diocese pays the community a stipend for our services. I explained that I understood that, but I could not give myself permission to miss three important community functions in one day. Though I can presume that I will get the permission, because it’s not a daily occurrence, I cannot assume permission. We went talked about it for a few minutes and finally the Director said, “Let’s just drop it, because I’m not going to convince you and you’re not going to convince me.”

At first I was very hurt, because I felt very much like an outsider. Here I am working with a group of very talented and very dedicated Catholic lay people, whom I consider to be role models of charity, fidelity to the Church, prayer and dedication, but they could not cross over into the world of the brother. I understand that it’s easier for a brother to cross over into the world of the laity, because we came from that world. But I also asked myself why is it so difficult for some people to even attempt to understand our way of life?

Something like obedience is so simple. Most lay people are parents. Parents expect their children to consult them before making decisions that affect the life of the family. The authority of the parent always trumps the authority of the teacher, the grandmother, and sometimes the State. My point is that obedience should not be such a foreign concept to the lay person. Or has life in the secular world changed so much since my days as a youth in my family? I still remember having to ask for permission to go visit my friends or stay up an extra hour. To me, asking my superior for permission to miss community functions is not unreasonable. I had to do it when I lived with my parents.

The other point that made me feel a little sad was that I felt there is an assumption that the life of a brother is to be at everyone’s beck and call. When I tried to explain how important these functions are to us as a brotherhood, because we draw our strength from the charity that we share. It is the observance of rules and procedures that keeps the community alive. Otherwise, it would be simply a boarding house for a bunch of bachelors, which is the case in many religious houses, but not our order. The urgency of the family life lived by a brother was not easily understood. What was understood was that we get a stipend and therefore we should be ready to drop everything and go. I’m wondering if it’s just ignorance (the good kind) or if this shows a real lack of understanding of the life of a brother. I guess I never thought of us (brothers) as being an enigma.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
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