Does he have to in this current liberal welfare country?
Posted on 07/01/2011 6:55:12 AM PDT by marshmallow
She Entered the Convent the Day Benedict XVI Was Born
GUADALAJARA, Spain, JUNE 30, 2011 (Zenit.org) - She entered the Cistercian Buenafuente del Sistal Convent the day that Joseph Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI) was born, and today Sister Teresa is 103 years old and the world's record holder for having lived the longest as a cloistered nun.
After 84 years as a cloistered nun, Sister Teresa says that the greatest gift she has received has been prayer: "Without it, one cannot sustain oneself. I never cease repeating: 'Thank you, forgive. Thank you, forgive.'"
The nun is one of 10 cloistered nuns profiled in the Spanish-language book "¿Qué hace una chica como tú en un sitio como éste?" (What's a Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?). In the book, author Jesús Garcia brings to light the secluded world of cloistered nuns by getting to know what life is like behind the grail, and what inspired them to join.
Sister Teresa's story began as young girl living in Alava, Spain. She was known then as Valeria, and she was happy with her life on the family farm. "We were in the field from morning 'til night, working, but we were happy," she said.
The eldest of seven children, her father saw how hard Valeria and her younger sister worked and he wanted a different life for them. "Thinking nuns didn’t work, [my father] would say to my sister and me: 'Wouldn’t you like to be nuns?'" she recalls.
"I didn’t like nuns," she continued, "given how comfortable I was at home, [but] to please my father, [I] prayed to the patroness of Vitoria and asked her to give me a vocation. And did she give me one!"
Upon entering the Cistercian convent in Guadalajara, Spain, Valeria took the name Teresa. "I was afraid to enter, but the Lord helped me," she said. The sister said that she prayed to both God and St. Teresa for the courage to be committed to her new vocation.
Though Sister Teresa says that there was a time when she wondered about her contribution to society from behind the convent walls, her worries were soon put to rest: "Once, I was tempted to imagine how my life would be outside [the convent] because I felt I wasn’t contributing anything by being here."
She adds that it is a concern of many cloistered nuns. After consulting a priest about her feelings, Sister Teresa says "He told me I had a very beautiful vocation; that it’s worthwhile."
Sister Teresa says that she is very happy and does not desire anything from the outside world. "It’s a grace from God," she says. "I know that many won’t understand my way of living, but I don’t understand any other."
“It’s not a game with me. It’s the primary basis for my Christian walk”
Well, that’s good for you. Hopefully all will come to Christ.
“Ok. I see where this ‘habit’ comes from. Thanks for clarifying what some people put their priorities or faith in.”
Our faith is in Christ. Whatever priority you have is your business.
Frankly, knowing contemplatives and knowing the depth of their dedication to God, anyone, especially the person who thinks the contemplatives priorities of constant prayer and their complete faith in God is valueless is ignorant.
I don’t have any patience with willful ignorance.
Of course, there are those who think the religious in active life is damned too. Mother Teresa’s name has been dragged through mud enough on these threads.
You might want to read In this House of Brede to understand the life of the cloistered.
It is not at all an opt out.
Yes, and somewhat cowardly, if that’s all you do with the life God has given you.Except she believes that God CALLED her to this very life, the life you deride as "sad" and "cowardly". Have you ever spent any time with any religious orders? Have you any clue what you are degrading and decrying?
Does he have to in this current liberal welfare country?
Nuns are wonderful. I still remember one that smiled at me as we passed on the street about 45 years ago.
The Sisters of Mercy were kind and cheerful and comforting when I had my tonsils out as a little boy.
The Sisters of the Visitation at the school my daughter attended were splendid human beings. I owe them a great deal.
If we are to know things by their fruit, then I would say that the Sacrament of Holy Orders is a precious gift from God.
Amen!
There’s one on every thread...!
What actually makes them more impressive is that nuns/sisters do not receive Holy Orders. They are only a group of women who bond in community for religious reasons under the auspices of the Church and the authority of their order.
The Sacrament of Holy Orders is specifically the Priesthood.
“I’ve noticed that nuns tend to live very long lives.”
Me, too! The nun who was principal of my high school died a few years ago at 104. This year we lost 2 more, just months apart, who were teaching nuns. They were all there well before I arrived and long after I graduated almost 50 years ago!
I think it’s hilarious when people who have NO CLUE about Cistercians mock them, criticize them, and generally go about appearing to feel superior to them.
I am disgusted by your presumed superiority and know-it-all air. You think you are so much more holy and useful than a lifelong cloistered nun who has spent her life in prayer and devotion to God?
Who are you, so great and holy and wise, to judge what she has done with her life?
Ever read about the Desert Fathers? Some of the very earliest Christians in the first three centuries or so after Jesus. They were basically monks, many of them hermits, and there were also Desert Mothers. Many were extremely wise and holy people.
“The Sacrament of Holy Orders is specifically the Priesthood.”
Yah, I had a twinge right after I clicked “post.”
I guess that’ll teach me to post when overmedicated.
I agree...and even this nun questioned this.. which evidences the Lord was attempting to reach her about this very thing.
Unfortunately she sought out a Priest, it appears. Once again seeking mans wisdom can often times lead one back into the dungeon the Lord is trying to bring them out of. They would have done her far better allowing her to go out into the world for a time. Sadly her life was never lived out...it was lived within a prison wall IMO.
A prison is an involuntary commitment.
How was her decision to be a cloistered nun imprisonment?
How is questioning her vocation any evidence of the Lord attempting to reach her? I suspect many people question their vocation, no matter what their occupation. There is no reason to assume that the Lord was behind her questions. For all you know, she may have gotten a letter from an old boyfriend.
Well each to his own opinion on the matter. I for one believe they are a prison and that which occurs there isn’t pretty. Enough nuns have escaped these prisons to tell their stories. I believe them.
Like an occult, or prison camp, once you’re worn down and out it’s not an easy thing to buck the system. You “believe” regardless of the reality before you.
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