As this is a blog for casualties in general, rather than single women in particular, I’d like to share a post from ‘Sponsa Christi’, in which Jenna Marie Cooper discusses the problem of bitterness in the life of a consecrated virgin. It’s a long article, but it’s worth the read; you can find it here. I found it an eye-opener for several reasons:

1) Who knew that consecrated women had to deal with this?

2) The writer doesn’t try to explain away the problem, or to deny that other Catholics hold some responsibility for it.

3) She is charitable throughout, and never loses sight of what matters most.

4) I think plenty of her advice to consecrated virgins could be adapted to other persons in other states of life; you won’t need me to show you how.

So, besides the fact that the article gives us something to think about (and some people to pray for – I mean, seriously, what kind of drongo goes around telling people they’ve wasted their religious vocations and the Church doesn’t need them?) the spirit in which it is written (unlike the spirit of my parenthetical remarks) shows just how possible it is to rise above hurtful experiences, which need not be permanently destablising.