Discernment: What we Learn from Ecclesiastes 3: 1-11

In today’s first reading, Ecclesiastes 3: 1-11, we are reminded that  there “is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every  thing under the heavens”: birth and death, dying and rising, peace and war, tearing down and rising up, building and destroying what was built, planting and reaping what was planted, weeping and laughing, killing and healing, rending and sewing, keeping and throwing away, speaking and being silent, embracing and refraining from embracing, seeking and losing, loving and hating. “Oh, my goodness”, we might exclaim. Or “Give me a break!”

Can you discern what action is appropriate for you at this point of time? Are you to give “birth” to something yet to be born in your life? Are you to rise to a new occasion knocking at your door? Are you to tear something down and rebuild, plant something new or reap what you have already planted? Is it time for you to weep, to grieve a loss, or to rejoice at a gain?  It is time to keep what you have or throw something away so as to move on to something that challenges your growth into the best person you can become?  It is time to embrace what God is asking of you and refrain from embracing what others are expecting of you? Is it a time for you to seek for a partner in life or to explore other vocational choices? Is it a time to seek deeper meaning in your married life, in your religious life, in your single life,  and find ways to make a difference in your current situation?

Religious Life: What influences you to say "yes" to your vocation in life?

Religious Life:  Religious life is a special calling to live for the Church and its mission. It is entrusting oneself totally to God and no other. It is living the faith in its depth, its width, its height, and its length to be of service to the needy.  Some beginners in religious life, studying to become Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, a Franciscan community, novices were asked what how Mother France, the Foundress of this community,  influenced them in saying “yes” to the vocation to which they were being called.

Sister Lara states: “Since the beginning, I was attracted to the life of Mother Frances because she totally entrusted herself to God and His providence, certain that His faithful love was working only for her good. But what influenced me the most in my decision to join the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother was the great love Mother Frances had for the Church and her desire to give herself totally for the good of the Mystical Body of Christ. I try to imitate her but, for me, it is a great challenge to be faced every day. Young people of today live and grow in a society where all authority exists only to be denigrated or “fought.”  I believe that the constant and confident abandonment of Mother Frances to the Father’s love, bearing witness to a direct but respectful relationship with human authority is a great example for the youth of today.” 

Questions for reflection: 

1.      Who attracts you to be faithful to what God is asking of you as a disciple of Christ?

2.      What in your life gives testimony to your belief that God is working only for your good?”

3.      What is your attitude towards the Mystical Body of Christ here on earth, the Church?

4.      What is your experience of society’s relationship to authority in the world of today?

Who, for you, models a “constant and confident abandonment…to the Father’s love?

Discernment and "Troubles" Encountered

“In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world,”   Jesus says to us in today’s Gospel, John 16: 29-33. 

You might have encountered problems in your quest for God’s will in your life. “Is God calling me to marriage? But I cannot find the right partner,” you might be thinking.  “I feel called to the single lifestyle, but people will think I am a failure.” Or, you might be saying to yourself, “I feel called to religious life or to become a priest, but what will others think? My parents will discourage me and my grandparents will have a fit,” some of you might be thinking. Or, you might respond to the call to consecrate your life to the Lord as a religious or as a diocesan priest with: “But I am not “holy” enough. I’m not even a virgin.”  Or “I’m gay/lesbian; I can’t be called to religious life or to the priesthood.”  Think again. God calls all persons. The call to priesthood or religious life or to marriage or to the single life is not about holiness, not about self. It is about God’s plan for you, God’s faithfulness and yours to the call to enter a process that leads to holiness and wholeness for those who are called to that specific vocation in life.

How will you respond? What excuses do you make? What “troubles” to you encounter? Remember Jesus’ words: “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” Go to Jesus and share your troubles with Him. You might do this in writing. Then listen for His response and, possibly, record that in your journal as well. Keep talking to Jesus about these "troubles" until these excuses are dissipated and you find courage to move forward embracing the call that is right for you.