by Therese Ivers, JCL

An individual who had heard me introduce myself to a group as a consecrated virgin spoke with me at a table. He asked me whether I was thinking of “taking the next step”. Startled, I asked him what he meant, and he responded by saying that he was wondering if I was thinking about joining the religious life. Naturally, I wasn’t planning on joining a convent and explained to him that consecrated virginity is a vocation in its own right.

It struck me that I might have asked that same question of those religious women who find their identity in the thought of being a bride of Christ: “Are you thinking of taking the next step by receiving the consecration of virgins?” For, in my research, I discovered that the consecration cannot be dispensed and yet religious vows can be. I even read in the lives of the saints the story of how a solemnly professed nun, who was a daughter of a king, was for political reasons promised by her father to be the wife of another royal person. This king even obtained a dispensation of vows from the Pope for this to take place, which was to take effect upon her acceptance of the dispensation. Far from accepting the dispensation, the princess-nun took the unusual step (at the time) of receiving the consecration of virgins from her bishop, so as to forever cut off the possibility of marriage.

Another person approached me hours after the encounter I had with the young male. She expressed regret that she didn’t make it to my “private vow” ceremony. For the record, I didn’t make any private (or public) vows before my bishop. Instead, through the ministry of my bishop, I was made body and soul a virgin bride of Jesus Christ through the long consecratory prayer that constituted me a “sacred person” and which placed me in the consecrated state. The closest analogy I can make of my consecration is with ordination. The bishop confers Holy Orders upon a man, (it is not obtained by vow) and it makes him forever a deacon/priest/bishop of God. A deacon/priest/bishop cannot lose this fundamental sacramentally changed identity even if he ceases believing in God and acting as a cleric. In a similar way (although by an ontologically changing sacramental not by a sacrament) the bishop confers the consecration upon a virgin and through the action of God, makes her a bride of Christ, a consecrated virgin forever.

Yes, I will take the next step, which is to become holy in my own vocation as a bride of Christ. I thank God for my vocation and wish you all the best in yours!

Happy Thanksgiving!

(c) Therese Ivers, JCL
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Q.  Why don’t you post the formulas for private vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience?
A.  It is adviseable for a person who wishes to make a vow of this nature and magnitude to do so under the guidance of a knowledgable person.  Otherwise, grave mistakes can be made.  For instance, it makes little sense for a married person to attempt a vow of “chastity” because it implies singlehood for the sake of the kingdom and is null (void) unless the Holy See gives a dispensation.  Also, it should be mentioned that the vow of obedience, while
essential for most forms of consecrated life, is not appropriate for a lay person in the world, because he has no legitimate superior.

(c) 2009 by Therese Ivers, JCL

www.DoIHaveAVocation.com

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Q. Can or should a person enter a seminary without knowing for sure whether he is called to be a priest?
A.  A man can only be 100% certain that he is called to the priesthood at the moment of priestly ordination.  Up until that point, he may engage in gradual discernment.  It is sufficient that a man at first discern that he is called to try out the seminary and to discern in consultation with his formators and spiritual director a step at a time from there.

(c) 2009 by Therese Ivers, JCL

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By Therese Ivers, JCL

Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Toronto

The other day I was pondering on the vocation of secular institutes as they provide such a great path of holiness for people who are clerics or laypersons.   A priestly member of a secular institute who immediately came to mind was a classmate of mine, Fr. Vincent Nguyen.  We would talk about our vocations, and would travel once a week with a couple of other priests to our Latin class at the Beda College in Rome near St. Paul outside the walls.  Fr. Vincent spoke about his secular institute, and how it helped cultivate prayerfulness, a sense of community, and fellowship for him and other diocesan priests.   I was impressed with his love for his secular institute, and enjoyed hearing how it fit in his life, and actually wanted to get in touch with him to get more details on it.  However, the news just broke out- the priest I saw day in and day out in the classroom at the Angelicum is to receive the fullness of holy orders.  He will be ordained an auxiliary bishop in the near future in Toronto, Ontario.  Congratulations, Fr. Vincent!

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Q.  I am a widow.  What are my vocational options?
A.  If you are a Roman Catholic widow, you are called to live the universal call to holiness.  It may be that you have been given a call within a call and that you might be called to marriage, to the religious life, to a society of apostolic life, to become a member of a secular institute, or perhaps to privately dedicate your life to Christ through a life-long private vow of chastity.  Of course, it is essential for good discernment that a widow have
gone through a sufficient grieving and adjustment period before seriously contemplating possibly taking on a new life-long commitment.

NB.  Eastern Catholic widows have the additional possibility of entering the consecrated state as a consecrated widow should they be admitted to this by their local hierarch.

(c) 2009 by Therese Ivers, JCL

www.DoIHaveAVocation.com

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