Discernment: Role of God Talk and God Knowledge

Discernment:  As you ponder the vocation to which you feel called—religious life, priesthood, the single lifestyle or marriage—I encourage you to look at what you can do to open up the lines of communication between God and yourself. Also ask: How can I come to a greater knowledge of God and myself in order to understand what my vocation might be. Those two questions are very important.

Why open up the lines of communication between God and yourself? Every vocation is a call and behind every call is a caller. It is important to increase your communication with the Caller and to deepen your knowledge of the One who calls. In terms of religious life or priesthood, growing in your knowledge of God and further opening up the lines of communication with the Caller is as important as doing so with one’s future husband/wife. You would never consider marriage a particular person without increasingly opening lines of communication with that person and taking steps to grow in knowledge of that person. So, too, with the One who calls a person to religious life or priesthood.

So, how to you do that?  What are you already doing in communicating with God? What are you already doing that is helping you grow in your knowledge of God? Continue doing that but increase your efforts. If you are not already doing this, set aside private time with the Lord each day.   Find a space of solitude and talk to God about yourself and your day as you would with a best friend.  God wants to listen to you, delights in you, as a best friend cherishes speaking and listening to you. Tell God everything about your day, your feelings (fears,s hurts, angers, sadness, joy, happiness, excitement, etc.) your thoughts, your hopes, dreams of  each day.  Then sit in quiet, listening to God at work in the solitude. When you mind strays, return to listening, using a prayer word such as “Jesus,” “God,” “Peace,” as you continue being still in God’s presence.

To grow in knowledge of God, read the Scriptures of the day each day (your parish bulletin usually lists those), or go to the Gospels and read about Jesus on a daily basis.

Discerning a Lifestyle Right for Me

Discernment:  Are you wondering  which vocation in life is right for you? Are you  considering religious life or priesthood, marriage or the single lifestyle?

You might begin by asking yourself: why do I want to become a Sister? A priest?  A married man/woman? Why do I want to remain single.  List all the reasons that come to your mind!  Which are rational? Which make sense?  Do any of the reasons that surface indicate inappropriate rationale or motivations that need to be questioned?

Secondly, I suggest that you look at activities that bring you life, joy, excitement, passion, holiness (wholeness of mind, body and spirit)—list all of those activities.  Then ask yourself:   In which way of life—religious life, priesthood, marriage or the single lifestyle—would I most likely be able to give expression to that about which I am passionate, that which brings me deep joy?  Why do you think one way of life over another would be better for you to bring to live your passion—list the reasons. Then examine yourself:   Do you hear yourself saying: “Yes, that is right for me.” “Yes, I think I  will be able to realize my greatness (in God’s sight) in that way of life.”  “By becoming (a priest, a Sister, a married person) or by remaining single, I believe that I will become my  best self.”

Thirdly,  go into prayer, into a place of solitude,  and  share all of the above with God.  Then, stop and listen! What do you hear God saying to you in the depth of your being?   Is God agreeing with you? Or does God seem to have plans different from your own?  Write down what you hear God saying to you about what you shared with God!

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?

Religious Life: A Life of Faithful and Faith-filled Service

 

Religious life is a life of faithful love. We have an example of this in Sister Leonilda Niberle, a Sister of the Sorrowful Mother who died this week. Sister was  one of 8 children, all girls.  Four of the 8 children answered the call to consecrate their lives to the Lord as Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother.  She came to America in 1951 and six months later, after and intensive English course, she was missioned to one of our schools.  She enumerated her  ministry experiences as follows:

·         1952—St. Francis Borgia School, Cedarburg, WI: Housekeeping, cooking & washing

·         1953--Bakerville, WI (another elementary school). People, she says, loved me at the church.

·         1953-1970—St. Clare’s Hospital, Denville, NJ. “I was in charge of the Diet Kitchen.”

·         1970-2002—In charge of food service at Our Lady of Sorrows Convent where "I prepared the meals and took care of the kitchen and dining room."

Her work as a Sister of the Sorrowful Mother was rich in that she lived an active/contemplative lifestyle. Whenever she was in the kitchen and whenever her scheduled allowed, Sister Leonilda found time to contemplative the Lord. She gazed on Him with love and He, in turn, gazed upon her. At the top of her description of her ministry in retirement, she wrote:

•  Ministry of prayer at SSM Franciscan Courts 
•    “My most important ministry” 
•    “I like to pray in chapel a lot.”
•    “Prayer is a blessing and help for others. I benefit spiritually as well.”   

Sister Leonilda speaks to us of the beauty of living an active/contemplative life as a woman religious.

Is God calling you?

Religious Life: A Journey of Love

Religious life: Today we will bury one of our Sisters, Sister M. Flora Scheurer, age 98. One of the employers here at our assisted living facility described her as “a pure soul.”  She was lauded in ao many ways, one of which was that she was  one of the best primary grade (first and second graders) teachers ever known in my religious community. She was a woman who loved beauty and created it in so many different ways: poetry,  art, song, loving people and animals, enjoying gardening and producing all kinds of plants, engaging in mischievous behaviors and playing tricks on people,  serving the poor and needy or being engaged in creating things to sell in our gift shop to raise money to support our ministries to the needy.

She left us the following poem to be read at her wake:

I’m Free

Don’t grieve for me, for now I’m free

I’m following the path God has laid you see.

I took His hand when I heard His call

I turned my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day

To laugh, to love, to work or play

Tasks left undone must stay that way

I found the peace at the close of the day.

If my parting has left a void

Then fill it with remembered joys—

A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss

Oh yes, these things I too will miss.

Be not burdened with times of sorrow.

I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.

My life’s been full, I savored much,

Good friends, good times, a loved one’s touch.

Perhaps my time seemed all too brief—

Don’t lengthen it now with undue grief.

Lift up your hearts, and peace to thee—

God wanted me now; He set me free.

She began her journey to become a woman religious as a teenager.  She would fall in love with Jesus many times and pass that love on to others over and over again.  She personified childlikeness that Jesus speaks about in the Scriptures when He says to us, his disciples: “Unless you change and become like little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 18:3). Sister Flora heeded those words and, without a doubt, I believe the gates of heaven flew open when Jesus came to earth, took her by the hand, and said: Sister Flora, come. It is time!”

Religious Life Today: A Call to Wake Up the World

Pope Francis has declared 2015 the Year of Consecrated Life. In The Associate, winter 2015, Vol. 20, No. 1, p. 1, Associate Cathi Duffy, Society of the Holy Child Jesus, writes in an article entitled “Wake Up the World: Year of Consecrated Life”:  “It would be easy to focus on the problems in religious life today, such as the diminishment of numbers and ministries. But that would be to miss a most important reason for celebration – why women and men have stayed in religious life. In her essay, “Why They Stayed,” Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Sandra Schneiders says those who stayed found “the taproot of their vocation. They don’t just belong to religious orders, they are religious.” These individuals remember the one who drew them to religious life in the first place and who alone is their ultimate reason for staying. Having studied their founding charisms, they have embraced them anew. They have grieved losses of members, ministries and customs, and have emerged with an inner freedom to face the future with joyful hope. They are grounded in God’s creative project of bringing fullness of life to all of creation. Does this sound like any of the sisters you know?”

As a member of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Assisi,  this reflection by Associate Cathi Duffy strikes a cord of gratitude to the Lord who has given me and so many others the grace to stay. That is not to say that those who left religious life following Vatican II were unfaithful. No, they, too were following the will of God—the will of God for them.  Those of us who stayed were following the will of God for us.  We are here today to witness to God’s faithfulness to us and to the call to renew our charisms in the world of the 21^st century. Though smaller in numbers than prior to the exodus from religious life back in the 60s and 70s and thus having fewer ministries than then, we are no less vibrant, no less committed, and, by far, no less needed than then!  The problems our world faces now are as urgent as the ones faced by our founding Sisters. And I am delighted to be a part of religious life today when the world is so blessed to have a Pope who understands the necessity of women in today’s Church and the essential presence of men and women religious to wake up the world of the 21^st century!

Think about it! Is God calling you to join a religious community of your choice (and God’s) to make a difference in the world of today?

Religious Life: Growing into the charism, a lifelong process

           

     Sr. M. Stefania Sangalli

Region Italy

My vocation arose in Assisi, a place marked by Franciscan Spirituality which connected my experience with St. Francis. Growing in the charism of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, I

experienced some important aspects of Franciscan Spirituality.

The constant reference to conversion by St. Francis, the  journey to be humble of heart and to ever more welcome God’s love arises from a special relationship with the Father. My journey to truth is guided by listening to the Word and receiving the Sacraments, daily Eucharist and Adoration. In this my first year of temporary profession I am ministering to the youth in St. Maria degli Angeli. One of the most important aspects that I have experienced in this ministry is the loving and simple welcome, sharing of meals and prayer. The youth are willing and helpful; doing whatever is needed in the house. The simple lifestyle and the Providential support of

friends and benefactors is concrete testimony for the youth. Living in this place full of Franciscan Spirituality allows me to live it more intensely, for example, by participating in important celebrations and being a guide for youth when they visit the holy shrines.