1.20.2007

nature is slow, habit is strong

I'm reading "The Nun of Kenmare:An Autobiography" by Margaret Anna Cusack (our groovy founder). This bit jumped out at me this evening and so I thought I'd share it for what it's worth:
I believe the cause of some of the trouble in convent life is a mistaken view of human nature. Those who enter a religious house young, and full of hope and zeal, and with such sublime ideas of perfection, still take with them poor humanity. To believe that putting on a religious garb will at once alter the dispositions, tempers or personal peculiarities is a sad delusion. It is true that we may, by generous efforts, change in some respects, but nature is slow, and habit is strong. We come into the convent full of imperfections, perhaps of grave faults, and we expect to find everyone there perfect; but they, like ourselves, are human.
-The Nun of Kenmare, 1889

2 comments:

Fred said...

I'm learning this about myself as a married man with children: nature does not grow by leaps and bounds.

Fred

Anonymous said...

Indeed, a good thing to keep in mind, "habits" or no...