Is God calling you?

Recently, some of the daily Gospels focused on Jesus’ calling of His apostles.  This led me to looking at the different lifestyles to which individuals are called to serve the Lord.  No matter which state in life one chooses, all are called to become men and women of faith and prayer, men and women serious about their ongoing conversion and transformation into Christ.  The “ingredients” of the lifestyle may be different but the end result are meant to be the same: union and intimacy with the Lord. Why, then, might one be of greater significance to any one person?  The significance of a state in life lies in whether I am choosing that to which God calls me.  God has an unique plan for each one of us. Is my will in harmony with the will of God in terms of which state in life I choose.  If my choices are out of sync with God’s will, I will not experience the harmony that I would otherwise know. It is like trying to wear clothing too tight or too loose for me. They do not fit right and I feel uncomfortable.  Or other analogies might be putting a round peg into a square hole, or putting tires on a car that are too small or too big for the car—they do not fit together.  If you are struggling to know whether religious life is right for you, talk to a vocation director, that is, enter into a mutual discernment process with the vocation director of the community to which you feel attracted.  If mutually you agree that God might be calling you to religious life, take the steps to becoming a postulant or a novice in that community. The postulancy, novitiate and temporary vow period in a religious community, what is called initial formation,  are also discernment periods in which both you and the community continue the process of discernment prior to final vows.  We might compare these periods of formation (postulancy, novitiate and temporary vows periods) to the periods of dating and engagement prior to  the permanency of marriage.

Further discernment of God's will

Discernment: Step 5 of the Ignatian method of discerning God’s will is to  list the advantages and disadvantages of  each choice: the single state, marriage, and/or religious life. In other words, what do you think would be the pros and cons, for you,  of consecrating your life to the Lord, of entering marriage (becoming a spouse/a mother) and finally of serving God as a single person?    Weigh all sides.  Pay close attention to the reasons for each vocation and compare each.  You will then be in a position of knowing which vocation is best for you. Before making a final decision, be sure you are not being carried away by passion or natural inclinations.  Discuss your findings with a qualified spiritual director, someone who has training in the art of spiritual direction, someone who will lean neither to one or the other state in life for you , does not tell you what to do or not to do, what choice to make or not make, but is totally open to what God is asking of you and, with you, is seeking God’s will.

Not my will but yours be done, O Lord

Discernment: Step 2 of the Ignatian method of discernment is to be totally open to what God wants, setting aside that toward which one is personally inclined. St. Ignatius is suggesting that the petitioner be totally indifferent, totally detached from the answer God gives when saying to the Lord: Lord, which state in life do you want of me? Are you calling me to be married? To remain single? Or to enter religious life? He asks that we neither desire one vocation over another but that we desire only that which God desires of us and to pray in that vein. In other words, if open, our prayer might go something like this: Lord, show me what you want of me? Reveal your will to me. In the words of Jesus spoken in the Garden: "Not my will but yours be done, O Lord." Or the words of Mary at the Annunciation: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your will." 

Vocational discernment according to the Ignatian method

Step I of the Ignatian method of discernment is to think of the end for which we have been created: 1)  to praise and glorify God and 2) to work out our salvation. We have been placed on this earth to make choices both in terms of becoming the persons God meant us to become and choosing that state in life in which, over time, we will become our best selves, giving highest praise to God our Creator and working out the details of our salvation, a gift given to us at a great price: the death of His Son Jesus Christ. Where best and how best can we achieve these goals and come to know Jesus personally and develop a deep friendship with Jesus, our Savior, both of which are necessary if we are to reach our end: glorifying God and achieving our salvation, that is,  doing all that is necessary to realize this gift, our complete transformation into Christ Jesus, a life-long task.

Discerning a religious vocation

DISCERNMENT

VOL. 2, NO. 1                                                                                                                    MARCH 2011

      

   In the February issue of Discernment, we looked at one way that one becomes aware of God in the seasons of one’s life. In this issue, I will look  at two practical steps in becoming aware of the vocation to which one is being called. The first step is an awarness of God’s call itself.  That call comes from deep within one’s soul, as does the call to any of the other vocations in life. In the deep recesses of one’s soul, God speaks, God invites, God offers the gift of consecrated life.

   A prerequisite to awareness is a listening stance. To hear God’s voice, one needs to create an environment in which one’s quiet, inner voice  can be heard. That whispering voice of God’s Spirit can easily be drowned out, shut out, ignored by the noise of other voices that shout at us from outside the self. God is not in the screaming voices that demand this or that of us or that corral us into doing domething or choosing something just because everyone else is doing it or choosing it. For each of us, God is in the choices that are right for us, that are His will for us.  The prophet Elijah teaches us this truth. Elijah was in hiding—what was happening around him was too much to bear and scary to listen to.     God summoned him to leave his place of hiding and ascend the mountain (a symbol of seeking and praying to the Almighty) and God would pass by.  A powerful earthquake shook the earth. Then a fire broke out followed by a quiet, “murmuring” breeze. God was not in the earthquake nor in the blazing fire but in the gentle, whispering breeze. God is not in that which the world promotes as making us  powerful, prestigious, popular or wealthy—the next blazing hot commodity or experience above all experiences, accomplishment that exceeds all accomplishments—but in His will for us.

     Like Elijah, we need to come out of hiding—the hiding that can occur by being super busy, overextended, connected 24/7, wired 24/7, addicted to whatever--and listen alone to God on the “mountaintop”.    To discover God’s plan for our lives, we need to want to make that discovery.  God’s will for us may, in fact, be different from that which our parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, co-workers want for us. How will one know? By taking in what one hears, looking at it from within, seeking enlightenment, wisdom, counsel, understanding from God. We need to pray for the grace to see what God sees, hear what God hears, especially if God’s will is different from what we hear everyone else saying it is.  We need to ask God to make us aware of His plan through whatever source He chooses and let go of ours.

     Once an individual is conscious that God is calling her to religious life, that person is then faced with a second step in the discernment process. That step is gathering information about different religious communities. There are 1000’s of them. How does one know which one is the right one? The same way a young woman called to marriage knows which man is the one with whom she will enter the married state. The knowing is an inner knowing. One arrives at that knowledge by getting to know men to whom one is attracted. One arrives at knowing which religious community is right by getting to know different religious communities: doing research, visiting, spending time with its members (praying with, listening to, discussions with), learning about the founder/foundress, the community’s charism, spiritualitiy, mission life, ministries, prayer life, community life.  At some point, both you and that community believe this is the right choice for you, as two people believe they are called to marriage.

Sister Dorothy Ann Dirkx, SSM

Vocation Director of the U.S./Caribbean Province of  the

 Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother

Awareness of God in one's life: A Discernment Skill

Becoming aware: One of the first steps in discerning God’s will in one’s life is becoming aware of how one encounters God. One way might be looking back over one’s life’s experiences: the good and the “bad,” the ups and the downs, the “winters,” “summers,” “springs, and “autumns” of one’s life. What do I mean by that? The “spring times” would be times of growth, of new life, new energy, new opportunities. One dies to some things, buries them in “the ground” so that something new springs up. During the summers of one’s life, so to speak, the seeds sown during the spring times were beginning to grow and mature, results were showing.    In fall, a harvest is garnered and some things are also dying. One is letting go of some things, as the leaves let go of the tree to which they were attached. In winter, the going is harsh, cold, dark, sometimes dangerous. Life seems barren. Grief abounds.   During each of the “seasons” what was one’s beliefs about God during that time? How did one experience God then? Write the story of the seasons of your life and your experience of God’s presence, His challenges, His Wisdom, His comfort that seeps through, strengthens, nurtures you in each of those seasons.  What were your beliefs about God in the “good” and “bad” times of your faith journey? in the light and dark times, the "days" and the "nights."

Knowing how you encounter God is an important part of discerning what God is calling you to along life’s highway. God’s will for you is not just about a vocation in life (marriage, single life, religious life). It is also about becoming the best person God has called you to become. It is about becoming YOU in all of your beauty, your strengths, challenges. It’s about developing and being aware of your intelligence, your giftedness, your vulnerabilities, your potential for greatness (spiritual greatness).

As you go through the “seasons” of your life, how did your beauty come through? What strengths surfaced? What gifts were developed? How did you nurture your potential of becoming the great human being God created you to be? Of what vulnerabilities did you become aware?  Did any of your beliefs in God change? How?  What were they prior to the experience? What were they following the experience? What are they now?

Enjoy this method of developing the skill of discernment.