Year IV, Number 9

"I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning" (1 Jn 2, 13). Every vocation is a gift of the Father and, like all gifts which come from God, arrives through many human mediations: that of parents or teachers, of pastors of the Church, of people who are directly engaged in a ministry of vocations' animation, or that of the simple believer. I would like, with this message, to address myself to all these categories of persons, to whom the discovery and support of the divine call is linked. I am aware that the pastoral care of vocations constitutes a less than easy ministry, but how can one not remember that there is nothing more uplifting than an enthusiastic witnessing to one's own vocation? He who lives this gift joyfully and nourishes it daily in his encounter with the Eucharist will know how to sow in the hearts of many young people the good seed of faithful adherence to the divine call. It is in the Eucharistic presence that Jesus reaches us, places us within the dynamism of ecclesial communion and makes us prophetic signs for the world. I would like, here, to direct an affectionate and grateful thought to all those animators of vocations, priests, religious brothers and sisters, and lay people who give of themselves generously and with enthusiasm in this arduous ministry. Do not let yourselves be discouraged by the difficulties - have trust! The seed of the divine call, when it is planted with generosity, will yield abundant fruit. Faced with the grave crisis of vocations to the ordained ministry and to the consecrated life that pervades some regions of the world, it is necessary, above all in this Jubilee of the Year 2000, to labor so that every priest, every consecrated person, rediscovers the beauty of their own vocation and witnesses it to others. Let every believer become an educator of vocations, without fearing to propose radical choices; let every community understand the centrality of the Eucharist and the necessity for ministers of the Eucharistic Sacrifice; let the whole People of God raise an ever more intense and impassioned prayer to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest. And let them entrust this prayer to the intercession of her who is the Mother of the eternal Priest.

Q. Dear Fr. Anthony,

I have always felt a call to the priesthood since my conversion. I have already talked with my vocations director here in my diocese. However, I still have an uncertain feeling whether this is the way I am supposed to go and follow to the priesthood. I have an overabundance of love, joy, and compassion, which I love to share with others. It seems I keep asking God for a true sign if this is the way I am called to go, but I have not received that sign yet, or maybe I have and just haven't noticed it yet. Could you please offer me some advice? Thank you.

- Chad

A. Dear Chad,

When we follow our vocation we should do so with all our whole heart, mind, and will. This means that we have to have put our doubts in their place. Not that we should have the answer to everything, but we should be satisfied that what we are doing is not unreasonable; we have to know the reasons for our actions and for our trust.

I think you have to ask yourself the reasons for your uncertain feelings that make you ask yourself if this is the way you should go. They may be very vague and just normal fears, in which case you will have to overcome them with your hope and love, and follow through with the vocations director.

They may also reflect the promptings of the Holy Spirit who is leading you in another direction, perhaps toward priesthood in a religious order, for example. Try to examine and see if this is the case. Signs of this would be an inclination toward community life, an attraction to a particular type of ministry, or a particular spirituality, the example of a particular priest you have met, or a book you have read, etc. If you think this may be your case the best next step is to look into whatever religious orders you have heard about that attract you, or if you have none in mind at this stage do a little research on the web and see what touches your soul.

I have also met young men who have a real diocesan vocation but are concerned about the seminary they will be sent to. If this is your reason for hesitation be very upfront about it with the vocations director.

God bless.

- Fr Anthony

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

I am 23 years old and currently discerning a vocation for the religious life. I was engaged for a year, but then we broke up about 6 months ago. While the breakup was tough, I have learned a lot about myself through that experience. I have been seeing things in a different light and have never been more open to a religious vocation. My friends and family, however, think that I am turning to the religious vocation because I had such a bad experience in my prior relationship. While I do agree that my recent break up has tainted my emotions, there are some things that are just a lot different. The only thing that seems to set my heart on fire is deepening my faith. Please help for I am very confused on where my feelings are coming from.

- Jennifer

A. Dear Jennifer,

I think it is safe to say that your recent experiences have something to do with the feelings and confusion you are experiencing, and also with the thoughts that are going through your mind. Now, feelings change. So the pain will recede with time, and other feelings will rise and ebb in their own good time as well. What you have to do is make sure that your actions/decisions are not simply a reaction to your feelings, but rather that you base them on reasons - the sounder, the better. They will be sound if they are based on realities and truths that you can validate both with your reason and your faith.

The question for you to ask yourself is, “Is there more to my interest in the religious vocation than simply the reaction to some perfectly understandable feelings?” In other words, you have to question yourself and see if your experience, as well as causing you certain feelings, has also opened your mind and spirit to certain truths that you can build your life on. This will be the most important factor as you continue forward with your search. Often it is a passing circumstance, almost irrelevant in itself, that causes the first thoughts of a vocation to spring up in our minds; but then there has to be the deepening, the discovery of something more solid, of truths you can stake your life on, for the vocation to mature.

God bless.

- Fr Anthony

St. Augustine, who understood the human heart deeply, summed up his thought in these words: "Two loves built two cities: self-love enough to despise God built an earthly city; love for God enough to despise self built a heavenly city." Choose God or choose self.

Choosing God is more than words or good thoughts. It's a question of will, sacrifice, breaking free of laziness, embarking faithfully on the path of your holy rule and daily duty, in the knowledge that this too is your vocation, that its final word was not your grandiose response that took just a second. Like some say, it's a drawn out yes. And a happy one. It's not a response to a tyrant or unfeeling idol. That would be never to have seen Christ, Son of the God who calls us, who personally invites us to follow him, offers himself as the way and the life, and associates us with his passion and his Kingdom: "You who have stood by me will eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom" (Lk 22:28-30).

Gospel: Mt 6:1-6; 16-18

"Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. "So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I am embarking upon a 40-day journey into the deepest mystery of the Faith: your death and resurrection. I brand my forehead in ash, acknowledging my failures, yet pledging my death to sin and life in you. May I arm myself this Lent with the weapons of prayer and sacrifice, fighting to destroy the reign of sin and letting you, Lord Jesus, reign in my heart.

Petition: Lord Jesus, you who defeated death and sin, help me to die to sin in my life so that I may rise to life in you.

1. Dust to Death

In the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve fell, God pronounced the consequences of original sin, "Dust to dust shall man return." Death entered history. Dust and ash remind us of original sin, our wounded human nature and the death that awaits us.

The thrust of the Ash Wednesday ceremony declares our death, not to life, but to sin. As the priest marks the ash upon us, he proclaims, "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel." Die to sin and live in Christ. In Lent we strive to burn the sin of our life to ashes, so that the life of Christ will shine within us.

Furthermore, the Gospel passage instructs us on how to die to sin: by prayer and sacrifice. In the battle against sin, these are our strongest weapons, and the Church encourages us to embark upon the Lenten journey wielding these practices. Beware, however, the empty fulfillment of prayer and fasting for the vanity of show. The Pharisees sought after the tinsel of admiration, parading their sacrifices around, looking for applause. We also can easily live a hollow life. If there is no coherence between what we say in prayer and how we live our life, if I profess belief in the Gospels, but don't feel its pinch each day, then my spiritual life is an empty practice and I have already received my reward.

2. Dust to Life

As Ash Wednesday leads us to declare death to sin in our life, Ash Wednesday also leads us to declare our life in Christ. The paradox of Christ’s principle rings out. Death is the door to life. "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (Jn 12:24-25). When we die to the old, selfish man, a new reality awaits us. Clinging to sin means clinging to death forever. Dying to sin means rising to life eternal. Lent is the time to rise. Lent is the time to rise to sincerity between what I profess to be and how I live it. It is the time to seek God’s will, dying to my plans and my dreams, and rising to do whatever God asks of me. It is time to let go of myself and hold on to God. Christ shows us the example. Christ carried out only the Father’s will in his life. Even when it meant horrible suffering and death, Christ rose above humanity’s selfishness and embraced the Father’s will.

3. Dust to Triumph

By completing the Father's will, Christ triumphed over death. This Lent, Christ calls us to his triumph, a triumph wrought in sacrifice but rewarded in life. Through our prayers and sacrifices this Lent, we continue our journey to life, a life that Christ expects us to give to others. We must not rest content until every soul, for whom Christ shed his precious blood, lives in the newness of life that Jesus offers. Today, when so many souls are being lost, dragged down in the clutches of sin, Christ calls us to break their shackles through our fidelity. Christ is counting on us. We must not fight solely for our own salvation, but for the salvation of others. Only an apostle is truly new in Christ.

Dialogue: Lord Jesus, thank you for coming into the darkness of sin and conquering it with your light. Thank you for not abandoning me to my sins, but redeeming me through your own blood and death. Teach me to die to sin and embrace prayer and sacrifice. I never want sin to reign in my heart again. Finally, Lord, teach me sincerity between what I believe and what I do. Keep me from the traps of vanity and emptiness in my prayer life.

Questionnaire:

1. Do I detest sin in my life or what leeway do I give it?

2. What sin in my life needs to die the most this Lent? In what ways are there inconsistencies between what I profess to believe and how I act?

3. How can I offer the newness of life in Christ to others?

Let us take a look at what happened to St. Paul and how he found the meaning of it (Acts, Chapter 9).

Saul (Paul’s name at the time all of this happened) was a persecutor of the Church. Mind you, not any mild critic or your regular two-bit harasser. Saul of Tarsus breathed fire. He breathed threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. People trembled at his name. But he did everything legally; he got the warrants, and then he came down heavy. He put men, and women too, in chains and brought them to Jerusalem. Here was no enemy of the death penalty. There was no way anyone could escape his zeal.

It was on one of these missions as Saul, still breathing threats and murder, headed out to Damascus to take Christians prisoner, that God’s time came. As he rode, a great flash of light enveloped him, he was thrown to the ground, and he heard a voice. It was Jesus who asked him why he was persecuting him.

Now this would seem to be the perfect moment for Christ to explain everything to Saul. He certainly had his attention. But Christ’s words seem strange to us under the circumstances. Instead of pressing his advantage he says to Saul: "Get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." Saul doesn’t object. He gets up and does as he has been told. He has the added bitter surprise that he has now become blind. What a humiliation for this fiery self-starter, to have to be led around by the hand. As a soldier who knew he was feared he must have felt very vulnerable.

Saul does not know what lies ahead. He is at a loss, so he obeys. He waits. He fasts. We can be sure he prays. But he does not expect any other answer to his prayers than to be told by someone what he was to do.

That someone - his name was Ananias - was being approached by Christ in a vision, and was having a problem with what he was being asked to do, for the Lord was telling him to go and visit Saul. Ananias knew only of the ill-gotten fame of Saul as a persecutor, and it made going to see him a most dangerous and undesirable task, so, quite naturally, he objects by reminding Christ who the man is they are dealing with. But Christ insists. Ananias goes, perhaps thinking his own time has come.

When Ananias goes in and delivers a simple message to Saul - The Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit - the New Testament says that immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored.

Saul regained his physical sight. But some spiritual "scales" fell from the eyes of his soul as well. He got up and was baptized, and now by faith he saw that Jesus was the Son of God. His soul acquired a new spiritual sight.

This is significant for us. What gave Paul the gift of faith was not the vision on the roadside, although God could have given it to him there. The gift came through the man sent by Christ, who explained the meaning of what had happened on the roadside and who gave him the sacrament of baptism.

Even Paul needed someone to help him understand his experience.

Upcoming Events & Retreats

(( Listed here are retreats directed by the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi members. For a listing of diocesan activities and other events, click here to go to the vocation.com website ))

LEGIONARIES OF CHRIST

Cheshire, CT Mar 7-9, 2003, Test Your Call Retreat. Ages 16-30. Contact Br Branigan Sherman at vocation@legionaries.org or (800) 420-5409. Price: none

Cornwall, ONT Mar 7-9, 2003, Test Your Call Retreat. Ages 16-30. Contact Fr William Slattery at wslattery@legionaries.org or (613) 931-1920. Price: none

Houston, TX Mar 14-16, 2003, Young Men's Spiritual Exercises. Ages 16-30. Contact Donna Rueby at dmrueby@hotmail.com or (281) 361-3708

Youth Pilgrimage to Rome - April 13-22, 2003. Ages 11-15. Price: $1,495 (includes airfare). Contact Ray Arsenault at arsenaultacres@pei.sympatico.ca or (902) 854-2808.

Cheshire, CT, Apr 16-20, 2003: Test Your Call Retreat, ages 16-30. Contact Br Branigan Sherman at vocation@legionaries.org or (800) 420-5409. Price: none

Cornwall, ONT, Apr 16-20, 2003: Test Your Call Retreat, ages 16-30. Contact Fr William Slattery at wslattery@legionaries.org (or (613) 931-1920. Price: none

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated women

Chicago, Mar 4-6, 2003, Young Women's Spiritual Growth Retreat. High School/College Girls. Contact Rae Joyce Baguilet at raejoycebag@aol.com or (630) 759-2322.

Washington DC, Mar 4, 2003, Young Women's Lenten Retreat. Ages 17-30. Contact Lucy Honnor at lhonnor@inteducators.org or (301) 536-6031

Portland, OR, Mar 7-9, 2003, Spiritual Exercises. Ages 17-30. Contact Rebeca Barba at rbarba@inteducators.org or(206) 755-1121

Syracuse, NY, Mar 7-9, 2003, Young Women's Spiritual Growth Retreat. Ages 16-30. Contact Megan Fallon at mfallon@fallonlaw.com or (315) 727-6336.

Ottawa, Mar 9, 2003, Young Women's Spiritual Growth Retreat. Ages 17-30. Contact Lourdes Cano at lcano@inteducators.org or (401) 225-2314

Los Angeles, CA, Mar 16, 2003: Young Women's Spiritual Growth Retreat. Ages 16-30. Contact Magdalena Faine at mfaine@inteducators.org or (562) 597-6352.

Lafayette, LA, Mar 28-30, 2003: Spiritual Exercises. Ages 16-24. Contact Kay Eads at lumenchristikay@juno or (225) 344-0469

St. Louis, MO, Mar 28-30, 2003: Spiritual Exercises. Ages 17-25. Contact Mary Smith at msmith@inteducators.org or (636) 519-0488

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated men

Call Tony McDonnell for more information, (301) 365-3205. amacdonnell@arcol.org.

ShoreLines welcomes your questions and comments at questions@shorelines.org. If you do not specify otherwise, your question may be posted in the Vocations Q&A section.

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