Discernment: Call, Vocation, Response

Today, let us reflect upon Isaiah 42: 6, in which God says to us:  "I, Yahweh, have called you in saving justice, I have grasped you by the hand and shaped you; I have made you a covenant of the people and light to the nations..."

God is the Caller, the one who calls us "in saving justice."  We are called in righteousness!  This is not our own doing. It is God's action, God's doing.   God does not call us and then walk away. No! He "grasps us by the hand," like parents take the hand of a little child and walk with that child to the task they want him/her to do, or like a husband/wife who take each other;s hand in love.

 

The Caller also "shape[s] us. We are the clay in the Potter's hand, being shaped to hold that which needs to be held, to take on the shape needed to carry out the purpose for which the Potter created it!

An agreement, a covenant is created by YAHWEH--God agrees to be our God, our Redeemer, our Sanctifier, our Strength so that we carry out God's purposes for which we have been sent, namely, to be YAHWEH'S light in the darkness of the world! We are also called to remain true to God's way of relating to humankind: in love, in mercy, in compassion, in forgiveness!

This vocation is for all of us--no exceptions to this call to be a light in a world of darkness, to carry out God's covenant to create a just world, a world in which God's love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness become a reality for all of God's children.

How will you respond?

The Call, the Vocation and the Response

Discernment: Call, Vocation, Response

We will devote several blogs to what we learn from Old and New Testament passages.

 Let us begin with Baruch: 5: 2-4.  “Wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the glory of the eternal name. For God will show all the earth your splendor: you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God’s worship. Up Jerusalem! Stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God.”

The Call, Vocation and Response:

·         To reflect the glory of God’s name

·         To show all the earth your splendor

·         To stand up on the heights (you are “wrapped in the cloak of justice from God”;  “you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God’s worship”)

·         To look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God”

This is everyone’s call—those who are married, those who are in religious life (men or women’s community), those who are single or those who are priests and deacons.

In what ways are you reflecting the glory of God's name? In what ways, by your life, do you show the world God's splendor? Do you stand tall, knowing that you are "wrapped in the cloak of justice from God" and that you will be "named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God's worship" for all eternity?  Do you believe and trust that God is gathering all of His children (and yours) from east and west? Are you rejoicing that God remembers all His children (and yours)?

Following One's Vocation: The Motivating Factor

Responding to One’s vocation: What is Your Motivation?

In the recent Scriptures readings for the day’s liturgy we have been presented with the story of Tobiah’s marriage to Sarah, daughter of Raguel (Tobit 6: 10-11; 7: 1abcde, 9-17; 8: 4-9a). The night of the marriage, Tobiah and Sarah spend some time in prayer before having intercourse. Tobiah says to God: “You made Adam and you gave him his wife Eve to be his help and support; and from these two the human race descended…Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine not because of lust, but for a noble purpose. Call down your mercy on me and on her, and allow us to live together to a happy old age.”

Note Tobiah’s motivation: “I take this wife of mine not because of lust, but for a noble purpose.”  What is motivating you in your choice of a wife/husband? For those of you being called to priesthood or religious or the single life, what is your motivation?  Are you lusting for power,  prestige, wealth, security or other less noble motivations? Or are you seeking the Lord’s will? Are you seeking to grow in intimacy with the Lord? Are you seeking to grow in love and in your ability to be loving and giving of self unselfishly for the good of the other/s?

The Origin of Your Vocation

In today’s first reading, Tobit 6: 10-11; 7: 1abcde, 9-17; 8: 4-9a, we are told the story of Tobiah’s marriage to Sarah, daughter of Raguel. Sarah was married seven times before and each of her husbands died the night of their marriage before having relations with Sarah.  For Tobiah to be given to Sarah in marriage was, to say the least, a great risk. Would harm come to him as well and would Sarah again be devastated by acute loss, shattered dreams, by the death of yet another husband.  Sarah’s mother, in preparing her daughter for this eighth marriage, says to her: “Be brave, my daughter. May the Lord grant you joy in place of your grief.  Courage, my daughter.”  Sarah’s father says to Tobiah: “Your marriage  to her has been decided in heaven!”

Every vocation is made in heaven!  Am I, are you, aware of that?  And, if so, who am I, are you, to flaunt God’s call? And the choice of any vocation involved courage. Risks are involved in whichever vocation one chooses.  God says to you in this passages: “Be brave….Courage.” Your vocation “has been decided in heaven!”

The Origin of Your Vocation in Life

Discernment and One’s Life’s Vocation:  At the last supper, Jesus turned to His disciples/apostles and said: You have not chosen me, I have chosen you.  Jesus has  chosen us for a specific vocation in life: marriage, religious life, priesthood, or the single life.  “I have chosen you.”  He is likewise saying to us: “You are not just a grain of sand on the seashore that blends in like any other grain of sand, unnoticed or unnoticeable. You are not just a number to be counted in a census.  No, you are mine! You are an important person on the face of the earth. I have chosen you to accomplish a  specific mission within a definitive lifestyle.

Being called to religious life, marriage, priesthood or the single life is initiated by God. God does the choosing. God is the one who calls.   Recall a time when choices were being made for a specific task in your grade school, high school, college years. Remember the excitement.  Then, think of God personally calling YOU to your vocation in life, looking directly into your eyes and saying: “Come, follow me. I will make you a fisher of people for an eternal Kingdom. I am choosing you to do that fishing as a woman/man religious, as a married person with this special partner, as a single person, as a priest.”  Feel God’s love as He says to you: “I have chosen you.”

Discernment

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and to us, Eph. 1: 9-10, Paul explains what God’s intent is; namely, that we come to understand “fully the mystery, the plan to be decreed in Christ in the fullness of time: to bring all things into one in him, in the heavens and on the earth.”  In discerning one’s vocation in life—marriage, religious life, priesthood or the single life—an individual needs to ask the question:

            In which lifestyle am I more likely to realize my oneness with the Trinity?

God is not going to tell you that in neon lights.  Quiet, internal messages, insights and hunches will point you in the direction that is right for you.  An inner, Creative Energy will steer you toward that state in life that is the likely place where you will realize your full potential as a human being: intimacy with God and a growing, deepening awareness of God’s oneness with you. 

Will you best reach that goal with a carefully chosen partner in marriage?

Will you best realize that goal as a diocesan priest or a religious-order priest, such as a Benedictine, a Jesuit, a Dominican, a Franciscan, an Augustinian, or any other men religious congregation?

Will you best realize that goal as a single person?

Will you best realize that goal as a woman religious (Dominican, Franciscan, Benedictine, Augustinian or any other woman religious congregations)?

Those questions need to be answered. Those of you considering religious life and/or priesthood, I encourage you to talk in person with persons who have consecrated their lives to the Lord and to search the web and browse the websites of diocesan priests, women/men religious, religious brothers. If considering marriage, I encourage you to talk to your parents about marriage or to any other married couple whom you also admire. I also encourage you to meditate on marriage/the sacrament of matrimony in the Catholic Catechism of the Catholic Church. If considering the single lifestyle, I encourage you to talk to persons who have chosen to remain single and whom you admire for their way in which they are living out their faith. I also encourage you to study the section on “Vocation” in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and any other section that speaks to you of deepening your baptismal call. 

 All of you contemplating which vocation God is inviting you to consider, I invite you to talk to God about this concern. God has a plan for you full of hope (Jer. 30: 11).  Ask Him to show you His plan for you, to make it clear to you which path is best for you.

Uncertainty about the Call

Being uncertain about your vocation, not sure whether you are called to religious or married life or the single life is normal.Living in the tension of not knowing is important. I suggest that,in prayer, you share all the feelings and thoughts you have about each vocation, or the vocation you are considering, with the Lord. You could do that by journaling or  writing the Lord letters expressing these inner stirrings, the confusion, the questions that are rising up within you. Eventually a clear picture will emerge in God’s time and place, not ours.

 Do not rush the process or force clarity. Live in the mystery.  Go about life, living it fully and intentionally, meaningfully and calmly as a student, as a participant or leader in service and/or parish activities, as an employee, knowing that, as Isaiah tells us, “in quiet and in trust your strength lies” (Is. 30:15).  Keep seeking God’s will above all—He will show you what He wants of you as you continue to open yourself up to a variety of experiences and considerations. Always seek His counsel. Call upon Him for clarity, patience, humility and love.  Be open to dating, to religious life, to intentionally remaining single, namely, to whatever vocation God calls you. The key is: what does God want of you and where does your happiness lie. God wants you to be at peace with yourself and happy with you choices.

 Since the Holy Spirit has whispered to you to consider religious life, it is possible that you are called to consecrate your life to the Lord. That will become obvious to you as you search out information about religious life: browsing websites, visiting convents, talking to vocation directors (face-to-face or through email, telephone conversations, Skype), attending discernment sessions and/or “Come and See” events. At “Come and See” events you will meet sisters, begin to become acquainted with that community’s charism and spirituality, listen to the Sisters’ vocation stories, ministry experiences, their living of community life, what makes them happy and joyful in their vocation, etc.—a sort of dating “religious life” over an extended period of time.

Many young women do not enter marriage or religious life until their late twenties or early thirties, so give yourself space to consider the vocation in life to which God is calling you without putting undue pressure on yourself.

 

I hope this information is helpful to you. As vocation director for my religious community, I would love to hear from you, that is, to be able to talk with you via a phone call. I can be reached at 973-627-0424(office) or 973-349-9654 (Cell) or by email—ssmvoc@gmail.com. Let me know if you would appreciate the opportunity to chat about feeling called to religious life. If so, suggest a good time to call you.