Chastiy, Poverty, and Obedience

Last week brought a rare excitement in Catholic circles- we were contemplating watching Oprah! Oprah, people!! Oprah had the Sister of Mary Mother of the Eucharist from Ann Abor on her show. I ended up watching it on youtube and it was really well done. My favorite part was when Oprah explained when they first started looking for convents to go into all said no, including one order who said "What's an Oprah Winfrey"


(insert copious amounts of laughter)

Anyway, during one of the segment Oprah asks about the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience.Was it hard to do and what happens if you break a vow? The sisters answered the question really well. One sister explained that it wasn't far from a married woman in that she can't spend whatever money she has but has to be frugal for the family, she can't do whatever she wants whenever she wants and she can't have boyfriends on the side (to put it nicely). It was a great response and it got me thinking the rest of the week how being married with children is so very similar to being a religious sister especially the vow of poverty.

I have no possessions, at least none that are safe. Not only do my children seek and destroy most household objects but my body itself is not my own. I am often at the discretion of Happy's appetite and he is constantly trying to rip my earings out and hair out while bruising all parts of me during "Climb on Mommy" time. My food isn't even my own. If the children actually let me eat they still feel they can eat any or all of my food at anytime. An our bedroom and bed can be invaded at anytime without notice.


Today was the first time we've been paid since October and even then it's only enough to get us through to next month. Plus tonight at 5:15pm I opened a letter from our insurance telling us they dropped us on New Years Eve (the day I found out I was pregnant by the way) No notice, no warning, no phone call just a letter two months later. And of course it was fifteen minutes after they closed for the day so we had to accept our stress for the night. I'm not complaining,it's just a part of life. Every family starts looking at items around the house to sell in order to secure a mortgage payment next month, searching for change to pay for a few things and even starts shaking the kids piggy banks. (Just shaking. I didn't take anything...yet)

Anyway I just found the comparisons somewhat humorous and thought I would share.