Last weekend we celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday which is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. The church invites every one of us in these days to consider our particular vocation. Who is the person we are called to be?
Pope Francis has sent a letter to the worldwide Church – here is a little bit of it:
All of us are called to share in Christ’s mission to reunite a fragmented humanity and to reconcile it with God. Each man and woman, … receives, with the gift of life, a fundamental calling: each of us is a creature willed and loved by God; each of us has a unique and special place in the mind of God.
At every moment of our lives, we are called to foster this divine spark, present in the heart of every man and woman, and thus contribute to the growth of a humanity inspired by love and mutual acceptance. We are called to be guardians of one another, to strengthen the bonds of harmony and sharing, and to heal the wounds of creation lest its beauty be destroyed.
Pope Francis – Letter for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations
Our vocation is about being the person God has called us to be as fully as we can. A lovely reflection I read recently said
‘God looked at the world and thought
it needed one of you!’
If the message of Jesus is to get beyond the doors of the church it needs each one of us to be a carrier of it. We are called to be someone who brings light, to find joy in life and to speak words of hope in the broken and hurting places of our world.
In the Gospel for Vocations Sunday Jesus talks about himself… he knows his purpose exactly. He knows what he is about… when he says he is the good shepherd he knows that there is a cost to that… that it demands something of him – but it also describes who he is.
For each of us, I believe, there is something that describes us, that enables us to be more fully ourselves, that might contain challenges and even sacrifices, but that is basically worth giving everything for. The Pope, in his message to the church for today says that each of us has a unique and special place in the mind of God … somehow we believe that God creates and loves each one of us, and that the person we can be, Our Vocation, cant be fulfilled by anyone else.
I am a religious sister – an FCJ – Faithful Companion of Jesus – People often ask me “did you always want to be a nun?” or – No! I don’t think it was all that clear until I actually made the first step. I think God calls us through all the choices we make, and in all the events of our lives.
I love religious life, I love being a sister – I often wake up and feel excited about what the day will bring! For me that is a sign of my vocation. It’s how I know that I am in the right place –Jesus has called each one of us to feel truly alive.
Sometimes things aren’t easy – religious life isn’t (as some people seem to think) a get out clause from reality: I work hard, I live away from my family, I could be, and have been, asked to leave a place I love and go to work in another place knowing no-one, but there is something bigger than me that makes it worth doing. I make the sacrifices freely because they are part of living out of who I am.
Religious life is a life in community , we pray together, we share meals and everyday things together – we know each other well and support each other. It’s a life that involves others – our resources and money are shared in common for the good of people who need them. We have sisters in 15 different countries across all the continents!
Religious life is at its very root a way of living a very personal relationship with God.
When I first told people that I wanted to be a sister, quite a few were against the idea – they said that I could do all the same things without being religious – and YES I could, and yet this whole way of life, this commitment of my whole life to seeking God is what makes me the person I think I am called to be.
For each of us there is something that is worth giving our lives for … maybe a partner, a child… maybe a particular job. There is something that inspires us … something that makes us feel Jesus’ call to live our life to the full… so I invite you to spend a moment wondering what that is in your life….
I am going to close with a prayer which perhaps describes vocation better than I can….
Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in love; stay in love, and it will decide everything.
Attributed to Pedro Arrupe SJ
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