Through the Narrow Gate, Revised: A
Memoir of Spiritual Discovery by
Karen Armstrong
The Religious Life
Through the Narrow Gate is Karen Armstrongs intimate memoir of life
inside a Catholic convent. With refreshing honesty and clarity, the book
takes readers on a revelatory adventure that begins with Armstrongs
decision in the course of her spiritual training offers a fascinating view into
a shrouded religious life, and a vivid, moving account of the spiritual
coming age of one of our most loved and respected interpreters of
religious.
Personal Review: Through the Narrow Gate, Revised: A Memoir
of Spiritual Discovery by Karen Armstrong

Karen Armstrong has written a most marvelous account of her life within a
very strict order of English Catholic nuns of the 1960's. Her description of
the torments she endured has caused me to regard with renewed respect
and affection the nuns who taught me in the 1950's. How odd that we
boys who were in class with the nuns for hours each day really had no idea
of what kind of lives some of them led in the hours before and after school.
The moral, spiritual, and intellectual gifts they bestowed on us daily are
inestimable, even though at the time we were probably more interested in
whether or not they actually had hair under their wimples!
I've noticed some confusion in these reviews about several aspects of
Catholic religious orders of those days. First, despite having no contact for
long periods of time with "seculars" - i.e., civilians - Karen was not in a
order of "cloistered" nuns. Cloistered sisters do truly cut themselves off
completely from the world and, if I can be so bold as to describe them, they
live a life governed by "ora et labora" - work and prayer. In fact, though, as
strict as they were, Karen's order was primarily an order of teaching
sisters.
But there is a much more important concept that many people seem not
quite to grasp, and that is that all Catholic youth of those days - at least in
my experience - were taught that the most perfect way to be a true follower
of Christ was to share in his suffering. That is why those nuns were
treated - and treated themselves - as harshly as any Marine Corps recruits
would ever be treated - only the nun's harsh treatment was to continue all
her life. Certainly, most youth who took Catholicism very seriously must
have given thought at one time or another to entering the religious life. We
were always told to examine ourselves to determine if we had a religious
vocation, but we were also warned that it was not a calling for everyone.
In any event, to decide at a young age to become a nun, brother, or priest -
to dedicate one's life to doing good - was not understood by many of us to
be the same as dedicating one's whole existence to God. When young
people make the decision to enter the religious life they often do not know
what that really entails. Some religious communities are extraordinarily
strict, others less so. The particularly strict order to which Karen belonged
was obviously intent on making sure those young girls found out
immediately that the religious life was not a game, that sharing in Christ's
suffering was not to be an abstract concept but a concrete reality. Those
young nuns were to put up with the sadism of some of their superiors in
the same way as Christ had to endure the sadism of his tormenters. They
were not only to tolerate it but to welcome it and even seek out even more
spiritual pain and physical hardship. (As the British often jokingly say about
the paddlings they endured in school, "Please sir may I have another?")
This concept of self-denial is probably not well understood in our modern
climate of "personal fulfillment."
The total abnegation of self, of one's personal desires, of pride, of the hope
for friendship and love, was the goal of the harshness they inflicted upon
themselves. Their goal was to die to themselves in order to reach God. If

you do not grasp this concept I think you'll miss the heroism inherent in the
story of Karen and her fellow nuns. Naturally, that kind of life is not for
very many of us, as Karen eventually found out for herself. It may be
totally misguided or, by modern standards, even pathological, but it's the
way some people have reached true holiness.
I'm very happy for myself and for all her readers that Karen Armstrong
eventually chose to leave the convent and to follow another path in life.
This book is not only a gift from her but, through her, a gift to us from all
those other nuns who took - and take - the road less traveled. A truly
wonderful and enlightening gift.
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