But the problems that exist in convents right now would exist in this kind as well. Eg, who will pay for all the medical care of those who need it, how to form a community life around people who are too incapable of it to have joined a normal community, how to deal with the personalities that were not fit for other communities who would be a problem in ANY community, etc...
Firstly, one needs to consider what God wants in their lives. A strong and powerful desire to devote one's life entirely to God is nothing less than what every Catholic on earth should have in their hearts. Whether they do so in marriage, as a single person in the world, or in the walls of a convent is just "details". Or in some cases, just a difference in location.
Throughout the history of the Church, we have the example of the saints who were, if you will, perfect Catholics. Their devotion is what ours should be... even if we can't do their miracles or their penances. As St. Therese points out, most people are "little souls" ... and cannot be the great mountains of grace that the magnificent saints were. But they can be the little saints they were meant to be. Not everyone can be a martyr or a mystic. But we are all called (as the Bible also says) to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.
ALL of us are supposed to be saints. ALL of us are supposed to live for God really, truly and deeply. Thus the words, that we should love God with our whole hearts, minds, souls and all our strength. So, too, we read, "This is the will of God: your sanctification." That every one of us learn to possess their vessel in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust.
However, not all of us are meant for community life (in a convent or what not). Not all are meant for that, any more than all are meant for the priesthood. There is the matter of what God made us to do in this world. What talents did He give us? What did He want us to accomplish? If He has given us some work in the world to do, then going into a convent, however good our motives, will not be doing His will.
This is why the example of the "secular saints" ... the saints in the world... are so important. They may not have done many miracles, or be as famous as the great saints. Yet they were saints. They achieved perfection of holiness in their lives, out in the world, doing whatever it was they were meant to do. There's even a book "Secular Saints" ... a very thick volume, too... devoted to them. Being "in the world" does not mean we can't give Christ our all. Actually, some people are meant to be in the world, and to do some work in it that they could not do in a convent.
Those who are prevented by illness or some defect of character, or some mental affliction, are no less able to be saints because the convent or monastery will not have them (because they cannot take them). Those people all have crosses chosen by God to carry in their lives, that have simply made them unfit for that road. But that doesn't make them unfit for sanctity. They are called to love God every bit as perfectly and really as those in the holiest community... just according to their own abilities or capacity to do so, and in the life than they have been given to lead.
Often times it is overlooked that those who have vowed themselves to chastity are NOT, in fact, always suited to the religious life (convent or monastery). Nevertheless, they must, like any other Catholic, live the most religious life they can in the world. Their sainthood may lie in living a simple, humble, uninteresting life in the four walls of their own home, perhaps taking care of some relative, or working outside of the home doing some worthwhile duty. They will be no less saints because they were not fit for convent life. God has called us all to be saints, and God has a plan for each of us to achieve that, which will be as individual as ourselves and our lives.
The devil, too, can make us think we are fit for things greater than we are capable of. Often if he can get us to overestimate ourselves, and aim too high, he can get us to despair after we crash and fall because we were not able to do what we thought we could. In humility, we must realize that not all of us can do as much as we want or think.
Some of us, for instance, can hardly concentrate on anything, let alone meditate. But if that's the case, sitting in a convent and being unable to do so will not be very productive. We could be out in the world "praying" with our whole lives. Working for God, because we can't pray well. Whether married or single, out in the world that person can find a way to show their great love of God in actions, the way the religious show it by their deep contemplative life. Making the rules of religious communities easier, or making a community with an easier rule that anyone could follow, would basically destroy the whole point of being there at all... which is not to find company, but perfection.
And if it's a matter of not wanting to be alone on our road to sanctity... 1) of course we are never REALLY alone... and 2) loneliness in itself can be a heavy and painful cross to carry for Christ. Being not able to find even the rest and companionship most find in their families, their everyday friends or religious communities, would be a heavy burden to bear. But learning to bear it patiently and with love for God and peace in one's heart, would be a great thing to overcome for Him.
I am one of those people "not fit" for a convent, in spite of having vowed myself to God. I cannot concentrate well (often not at all), and my personality is such that I have been "outside" of human society ever since I was introduced into it (preschool). That stark but intrinsic difference between myself and everyone around me has made it impossible for me to form healthy human connections anywhere outside of my family. A life lived with almost a complete absence of normal human relationships (outside of family), gone untempered by the natural, matter-of-course training of constantly having to consider those around me, has given me a disposition which... to put it frankly... is galling and unbearable. In being perfectly honest, I can say I would not wish to inflict myself upon some poor community, where because of my nature and disposition and acquired negative effects of the world, I would be to them a constant source of problems on any number of levels.
For someone like myself, who is clearly not fit for community life, to pursue it, would be pride and selfishness more than anything else. Also, perhaps, it could be called a great lack of faith in God's ability to save my soul outside of a convent's walls. In spite of my pit bull personality, there are things I can do in this world that other people could not do in a marriage or convent because of the restraints and responsibilities they have. I am free to be able to help the people around me, and... perhaps more realistically... I also have my hands full trying to straighten myself out, without having to also deal with 30 other women trying to do the same. Taking care of or helping a parent may not be lofty or particularly impressive in the eyes of most. But to some, it is a perfectly good means of sanctity. Especially since there's nothing impressive about it to be able to brag or think well of one's self about. (If you can't do THIS much in charity, what are you good for?)
I think the bottom line is, we have to remember that we must be saints WHEREVER we are. And that we don't need a convent or community to be able to achieve that, any more than we all NEED to be married.
For some, marriage is the only way for them to save their souls and become saints (if only they didn't think it meant they didn't have to do so). For others, the religious life is "the only way". But for still others, "the only way" is a humble, uninteresting life that is in almost every way unremarkable. A life where one comes face to face with the monster of pride, and has to conquer it, because there are in it no great and mighty deeds to distinguish them, no one to show off to, no one to admire and like them, no one to be pitied by. A life where the first and greatest lesson is to "become as a little one" (like the Little Way of St. Therese) ... to accept one's limitations and faults, and live a simple and ordinary life trying to correct them, and to love one's neighbor as earnestly as possible in thought, word and deed.
A lot of people think that convent life = automatic perfection. But the reality is that the fight may be different there, but it is not necessarily easier. Nor are we necessarily equipped for it. The important thing is to realize the truth about one's self and one's faults and limitations, and to make the best decision based on the facts.
Single people living in the world may fade into obscurity, or they may live lives working out in the world doing wonderful acts of charity and what not. But it is best in any case that we realize where we, in particular, with our circuмstances, talents, gifts and problems, belong. Sometimes the answer is hard to take. But if it's the right answer, it will lead us to holiness, even if not down the road we thought or wanted.
Topic: a religious order that needs to founded (Read 589 times)