Aimee Milburn Cooper is a convert to the Roman Catholic Faith, and her blog, Historical Christian, talks about various aspects of the faith. I found one post to be especially apropos for Consecrated Life: On Vocational Discernment and Spiritual Direction.

Ms. Cooper responds to questions from a reader with some very good advice for pursuing vocational discernment with some especially good advice on finding a good spiritual director. While I don’t believe that only priests make good spiritual directors, her advice on finding a good director really applies to anyone: their devoutness during the Mass and their ability as a confessor. While, of course, only Priests can hear confessions, trust me when I say you’ll be telling your Spiritual Director any number of things you’ve never told another soul, and you want someone who will hear you, listen deeply, and advise with compassion, honesty, and, most of all, sincere faith.

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Wednesday Discernment Link: On Vocational Discernment and Spiritual Direction

If you haven’t read this book by Mother Mary Francis, you must read it. Until recently it was out of print and hard to find (I think I paid almost $40 for my copy 10 years ago), but the book has since been rereleased, so now you have no excuse!

In A Right to be Merry, Mother Mary Francis talks about leaving her Poor Clare Monastery to help start a new monastery in Roswell, New Mexico. Mother Mary Francis doesn’t just convey the excitement of a new place and all moving involves. She gives an intimate glimpse into the cloistered life of the Poor Clare nuns, and in doing so, gives many tips into finding joy and God in any lifestyle, in any location.

A Right to be Merry isn’t just a book for those wanting to be nuns or interested in nuns. This book is for anyone looking for a closer relationship with God.

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Tuesday Book Review: A Right To Be Merry

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Video Monday: Vocations to Sisterhood

The Charism of the Sisters is centered around the will of God and the needs of the world.  They live a strong community life, and their apostolate includes education, pastoral work, and missions.  The Sisters wear a brown habit with a black veil (although they have some pictures showing gray habits and white habits).

The Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate

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Friday Community Highlight: Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate

Catholic Vocation Podcasts

Do you have a discernment link to suggest?  Just leave a comment, and it may be used in a future blog post.

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Wednesday Discernment Link: Catholic Vocation Podcasts

While I found some of  Fialka’s writing to be a bit dry, the subject matter was anything but.  Bringing together the words of the Sisters themselves with statistics and history, gives life to what otherwise might be a dry recitation.  It’s not just all the hospitals and schools run by the Sisters, but their individual devotion to their students and patients.  For much of our history, often the only health care or education for the poor came from selfless Sisters who spent untold hours working in desperate conditions to provide for their charges.

Fialka also delves somewhat into the causes of the current loss of numbers in American religious life, as well as what hopes there are for the future of religious life in America.  More than anything, though, the book celebrates the greatness of what so many Sisters have provided to all of us, Catholic or otherwise. Fialka’s book is well worth the reading time. If you’re a woman discerning your vocation, this book will be a treasure.

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Tuesday Book Review: Catholic Nuns and the Making of America

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Video Monday: Sisters Interviewed