leadership, priesthood and being 'called' as a young man
Its time for me to share a story, one inspired by an encounter with a women's spirituality group, mainly made up of Episcopalian women, many of whom are priests, a community called 'St. Hildegard's'. When we moved into the final session of our time together this weekend, we were asked to reflect on what it means to be 'called' to something and mention was made of 'over commitment'.
I began to feel a spiritual presence with me and a certain state of elevation. This is a state that has increased since I was in Alabama to visit relatives and I experienced some kind of spontaneous mediumistic state connected to the healing of an issue in my family line. The experience was not only powerful but deeply unblocked something, particularly in my upper subtle centers.
A wave of inspiration came to me to talk about my sense of calling as it manifested in my childhood, particularly from the time that I was nominated as a potential candidate for the priesthood via the 'seminary high school' system, just as I was preparing to transition from my short experience in Catholic school back to public school for high school.
I had met with the members of this unusual congregation on a rainy day. The trickled in slowly, exceptionally kind and sweet women, middle-aged in most cases. They were hardly what one would describe as radical or angry feminists, although one woman did seem to be a bit uneasy with having a man in the group. One or two men attend the church services, but I was aware that I might be a bit of an exception in terms of the more intimate gathering of the church's leadership/active members on retreat.
The woman who was hosting the gathering had created a kind of spiritual community of sorts out of her property, which was made up of small and smaller houses, intelinked on one piece of land.
Towards the end of the very interesting day (after discussion their identity, commtiments, tithing, personal spiritual practices etc..) they came to the point of looking from the practical and psychological, to the more exalted theme of how we experience our calling in life. By that time we had had a potluck lunch and after a break we shared some hot drinks and chocolate to finish the process.
Sitting there I started to experience a slightly altered state, a joyful one with a sense of a subtle light in me and passing through me. At some point, feeling so comfortable with this group of women, and so at peace, when my turn came tot alk about being called, I just blurted something out that I have not often thought about:
When I was around 14, I was chosen as one of two boys in my Catholic middle school to be put forward as candidates for seminary high school. My mother was very upset about the possibility of me being recruited for the RC priesthood and so I didn't attend the school, but since then I am always being 'called'...too much, in fact. You list here one of the shadows of being called as 'over-commitment'. Well, if I do get involved with your church, I am likely to over commit. :-)
And that opened up more and more layers of other contemplations...
(National Geographic. Travel photo contest 2011)
I began to feel a spiritual presence with me and a certain state of elevation. This is a state that has increased since I was in Alabama to visit relatives and I experienced some kind of spontaneous mediumistic state connected to the healing of an issue in my family line. The experience was not only powerful but deeply unblocked something, particularly in my upper subtle centers.
A wave of inspiration came to me to talk about my sense of calling as it manifested in my childhood, particularly from the time that I was nominated as a potential candidate for the priesthood via the 'seminary high school' system, just as I was preparing to transition from my short experience in Catholic school back to public school for high school.
I had met with the members of this unusual congregation on a rainy day. The trickled in slowly, exceptionally kind and sweet women, middle-aged in most cases. They were hardly what one would describe as radical or angry feminists, although one woman did seem to be a bit uneasy with having a man in the group. One or two men attend the church services, but I was aware that I might be a bit of an exception in terms of the more intimate gathering of the church's leadership/active members on retreat.
The woman who was hosting the gathering had created a kind of spiritual community of sorts out of her property, which was made up of small and smaller houses, intelinked on one piece of land.
Towards the end of the very interesting day (after discussion their identity, commtiments, tithing, personal spiritual practices etc..) they came to the point of looking from the practical and psychological, to the more exalted theme of how we experience our calling in life. By that time we had had a potluck lunch and after a break we shared some hot drinks and chocolate to finish the process.
Sitting there I started to experience a slightly altered state, a joyful one with a sense of a subtle light in me and passing through me. At some point, feeling so comfortable with this group of women, and so at peace, when my turn came tot alk about being called, I just blurted something out that I have not often thought about:
When I was around 14, I was chosen as one of two boys in my Catholic middle school to be put forward as candidates for seminary high school. My mother was very upset about the possibility of me being recruited for the RC priesthood and so I didn't attend the school, but since then I am always being 'called'...too much, in fact. You list here one of the shadows of being called as 'over-commitment'. Well, if I do get involved with your church, I am likely to over commit. :-)
And that opened up more and more layers of other contemplations...
(National Geographic. Travel photo contest 2011)