Personal Testimonies and some questions we are often asked in the parlour:
Why did you enter an enclosed order such as the Poor Clares?
"For a life lived totally surrendered to God. Only prayer can reach where no words or actions can."
"To be with God, in union with Him, praising Him, thanking Him and interceding with Him for the whole world and trying to imitate Christ and His Mother."
"Once I became aware of the call to religious life I knew I had to do something about it ... a bit like a person who can't ignore a toothache! On the other hand it was God who was really "doing something about it". I just tried to be open to His guidance."
Describe the "Call" or vocation to this Poor Clare life?
"I knew deep down I'd never be free until I tried to answer the call"
"Materially, I had everything, but I was resisting the call. Once I entered, I felt such peace descending and all my restlessness went"
Do you miss home as you only see your family a few times a year?
"I expected it to be hard, because I knew I was leaving everything familiar and forever, but I also expected it to be a happy life. It was just as hard as I had expected, but also, it has brought joy beyond all my wildest dreams."
"Yes, I do miss my family sometimes, especially during family occasions but somehow I feel closer to them now that I have entered."
How would you describe your Poor Clare life? Are you fulfilled?
"Am I fulfilled? ...strange paradox. Can you arrive at self fulfillment without self emptying? I have the capacity to transcend. In self transcendence I am focused on the other and on God. Now I am being led by values - these are chosen. This gives me my true identity."
"It has often been said to us "what a wasted life." True- Jesus, too had to contend with those words "why this waste?". But love doesn't count the cost. Love is its own justification."
St Francis' inspirational words to the Lord " You are all my riches" gave me a deep insight into what our poverty is."
Please click on the images below
The ancient spiritual tradition of the Church, explicitly connects the enclosed-contemplative life to the prayer of Jesus "on the mountain", or solitary place not accessible to all but only to those whom he calls to be with Him, apart from the others.
The enclosure therefore, even in its physical form, is a special way of being with the Lord, of sharing in Christ's emptying of Himself by means of a radical poverty, expressed in renunciation not only of things but also of space, of contacts, of so many benefits of creation.
