Occasionally abbess might appear to be yearning inwardly for possessions (10)
I believe the answer is:
belongings
'possessions' is the definition.
(belonging is a kind of possession)
'occasionally abbess might appear to be yearning inwardly' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'be' could be 'belong' (belonging is a kind of being) and 'belong' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ings' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for belongings that I've seen before include "property" , "Personal effects" , "stuff" .)