THE CLOISTER IN THE HEARTH, AND THE HEARTH IN THE WORLD

 Being consecrated in the spiritual desert, Being solitary in the city,
learning to be mindful in the minefields of distractions, learning to the bread scattered upon the mountains..

If you choose to become involved in The Community of Saint Ita and Saint Fillan, what can you expect?

You can expect to take your Christian commitment seriously, and to make it a way of life.
You can expect to remain in your own current environment, to live in your own home, or flat, or cabin or tent - exactly as you are now.
You can expect to find soul friends who will share your journey seriously, who will offer you treasures from their own experience and help you to shape a way of life (a Rule) which will gradually come to express your own vision and gifts, and become a whole offering of love to our Lord Christ,and to the Trinity in Unity.
You can expect to spend some months of your life planning, and thinking, and making your own uniquely fashioned 'Rule of Life' and, in the company of the Holy Spirit, to begin shaping yourself, we hope to begin finding that your daily life expresses your own unique vision and begins to fit your way of life to what God may wish you to be like.
You can expect to spend some time praying, and becoming (even more) alert to the needs and necessities of others. To learn to serve others in a respectful and cheerful way.
You can expect to discover that you are not alone: that your vocation has in other times and in other places been experienced and celebrated by others. Saints have gone before you, and not just historically, as a woman called 'Margaret said recently:

 "at one point on my journey I felt like I wanted to be a hermit.  Now I am married and have had two children and four grandchildren and the whole idea was impossible.  However, the longing and yearning was so strong in my heart, I wanted to run away to a monastery.  This troubled me and when I went to my spiritual director and told him what was going on, he laughed and said I was experiencing Carmelite spirituality.  After all the first Carmelites were lay hermits!!  Of course this gave me peace and I knew this to be true in my heart and I didn't want to run away to a monastery anymore but found my hermitage within my own heart.

 Things to consider ..

This form of consecrated life has a long and honourable history.
How would I describe the life style which draws me?
Do I know anyone who would understand what I am talking about?
How can I find out more?

How has God called others before me?
How do I know that my vocation is from God, and not just idle dreaming?

"The monastery is a specialized society with a specialized  goal: seeking union with God for all its members. Because of  that specialized nature, the monastery does not have an  infinite commitment to anyone, except to one who truly perseveres unto death. This is unlike the stronger and more necessary bonds of Church or a  family". - Br Jerome

Copyright (c) 2007 Community of Saint Ita and Saint Fillan