Friday, 17 May 2013

Letters from the Monastery Seven

One must ask several questions of one's self.

First, do I have a religious vocation? This is NOT the same as being called to be a Spouse of Christ, a call of all baptized Catholics. To be a Spouse of Christ is to enter into the road to perfection by and in and through suffering. God chooses our way, which always involves suffering.

Second, do I have the gifts for the community? I have been told that I am a community person. But, that is balanced by the need for solitude and intense prayer. I am learning how hard this balance is.

Third, what is the charism of the community? I love the Tyburn charism of adoring the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus.

(By the way, these fragments are part of longer letters...)

As at Buckfast, there are so few nuns to do so many types of work. There is a huge need for more vocations from Great Britain....huge. The monastic houses of Great Britain are shrinking but the size of the buildings and the need to minister to the laity form great outreaches, barely met by so few, so few....