The call
Another detail emerges from an exchange of letters with her spiritual guide, Fr. Jordan, to whom she writes about her calling, noting: "the call I heard fifteen years earlier said: ‘You will die as a Poor Clare’. It is in this context that she also recalls the resistance that her desire to enter the convent aroused in her family:
“… my parents, after a hard trial of four years, gave me permission to enter a religious order, but at the same time they made me promise that I would not enter an austere order, nor one dedicated to caring for the sick. My so pious parents, who belonged to the class of state employees, attached too much importance to secondary things and had no idea to what a grave sacrifice they condemned me to with their restrictive measures”.
“August 1862: Büchold call to the convent”
In a notebook, Mother Frances writes: "August 1862: Büchold call to the convent". Büchold is a German town in Lower Franconia, in the district of Arnstein. We do not know what happened at that time, we do not know any details about the place, nor why she was there. Later, in September 1881, writing to Bishop Pankratius von Dinkel, Mother Frances recalls the experience of her first call as follows: "At the age of 17, I was called in a particular way to religious life".
“At the age of 17,
I was called in a special way to religious life”
"Lord, what do you want me to do?"
Frances Streitel fought 'against certain restrictive measures' that gave importance to secondary things and measured herself against the desires she carried in her heart--without giving in one-bit!
One call. God's call.
One answer: "Yes. It is worth it!"
Moreover, she committed herself passionately, all her life. Full stop.
Call it Freedom. Call it Life. Call it Love.
... dedicated to young people
MEASURED BY THE DESIRES
YOU CARRY IN YOUR HEART!
