by JHFamily

Twenty-five years ago, I stood at the cloister door of the Poor Clares, knocked, and asked to be admitted to their community.  I was young, confident, and excited to begin my new life that I just knew was going to be permanent.  During the first weeks, I thrived, so much so that I was allowed to move from Candidate to Postulant in four and a half weeks rather than the usual six.

By the end of the year, I had made a complete turnaround.  Beset by chronic ear infections, the loneliness that came with the lack of my family’s support, and the regular adjustments to religious life, I felt I had no more to give.  However, by the time I had reached home, I regretted my decision.  Those days were filled with so many tears and headaches from the stress!  Over the next few weeks, though, the pain subsided, and I began to pick up where I had left off.  Five years later, I would be walking down the wedding aisle, content and at peace with my decision.

My time in the #cloister was invaluable to me as a wife and mother. #vocations Click To TweetMy time in the cloister was invaluable to me as a wife and mother.  I had learned to submit myself to someone else, a certain amount of detachment, and the importance of obedience.  Six children later, I was pleased with my little family, but even in this state of satisfaction, the truth was that deep inside, I still grappled with what I saw as the loss of my vocation.  Regular dreams visited me in which I was released to enter religious life, only to realize that I belonged with my husband and children and return to the world.  Over and over, God needed to show me the holiness of family life in these little dreams until I learned the lesson.

Then an accident resulted in the loss of my two boys.  A daughter should have joined them in their heavenly abode, but by miraculous intervention, she was spared.  The bigger miracle, however, was a complete healing of the disappointment of my youth.  From that moment on, I added those virtues which are so loved in good mothers: patience, long-suffering and cheerfulness.

God gives two separate and distinct graces in #religious life: one to enter religious life and the other to persevere in it. Click To TweetSince that time, I have learned that God gives two separate and distinct graces in religious life:  one to enter religious life and the other to persevere in it.  God often gives the first without giving the second.  He has things to teach which are best learned in an atmosphere of retreat that may last anywhere from a few days to a few years before sending us out into the world.  Religious life not only is the seed bed for those who will live there until death, but it also cultivates the life of virtue of those who will become the mothers and fathers that God desires.

A few days ago, my oldest daughter stood at the cloister door, knocked, and asked to be admitted to her new community.  She is young, confident, and excited to begin her new life. So now we have come ‘round full circle.  The end of my vocation story means the beginning of hers.