Last week was National Vocations week here in the United States.  I was unaware of that until today. 

Growing up, I often thought what would it be like to join the convent; be married to Jesus Christ, so to speak.  I had an opportunity when I was in grade school to tour the convent next door.  It was a very large, mysterious place to me.  Full of secrets and deeply quiet and religious.  Two things that stuck in my memory were that the dining room table was fully set with place settings; kept that way all the time we were told, and that the sisters’ bedrooms were called ‘cells’.  An odd term, I thought, since the nuns were there by choice.  There was a small chapel, candles, and many statues meant to invoke the memory of the Saints they represented. (No, Catholics don’t pray to statues, nor do we worship all the saints or Mary, the Mother of God.  We only worship God.  🙂  All the others we ask to pray and intercede for us, just like we’d ask you to pray for us too! )  It was all very enticing to an elementary student.

I found this link to a youtube presentation.  It was published by ForYourVocation.org.  Check it out.  The convent is a lot of what you think it is, AND a lot of what you may not know too! 

http://www.youtube.com/user/ForYourVocation#p/c/0/O-UM1REA7EM

Many Blessings to You!

Deneen