Year IV, Number 11

In their turn, the apostles, appointed by the Lord, progressively carried out their mission by calling - in various but complementary ways - other men as bishops, as priests and as deacons in order to fulfill the command of the risen Jesus who sent them forth to all people in every age.

The writings of the New Testament are unanimous in stressing that it is the same Spirit of Christ who introduces these men chosen from among their brethren into the ministry. Through the laying on of hands (cf. Acts 6:6; 1 Tm 4:14; 5:22; 2 Tm 1:6) which transmits the gift of the Spirit, they are called and empowered to continue the same ministry of reconciliation, of shepherding the flock of God and of teaching (cf. Acts 20:28; 1 Pt 5:2).

Therefore, priests are called to prolong the presence of Christ, the one high priest, embodying his way of life and making him visible in the midst of the flock entrusted to their care. We find this clearly and precisely stated in the first letter of Peter: “I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed. Tend the flock of God that is your charge, not by constraint but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly, not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd is manifested you will obtain the unfading crown of glory” (1 Pt 5:1-4).

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

Greetings! I was discerning my vocation last year and I was convinced that I want to be a priest, and I am willing to answer that call. The problem is that I can't seem to overcome my sins against chastity, and that I am attracted easily to having relationships with the opposite sex. I am thinking that if I continue with my aspirancy or if I indeed become a seminarian or priest, I might not be able to restrain myself from doing things unlikely of a priest or seminarian. I love the Church and its priests, and I don't want to ruin its name. Right now I am attracted to a girl but am able to restrain myself so far from courting her. I am 20 years old. Do you think I have to think and pray things over again? Thanks, and God bless.

- VP

A. Dear VP,

I am at a distance and do not know you personally, so necessarily what I say is going to be a little general; you will have to take the points I give you here and do your own thinking as you apply them to your own case.

Several things are in place, if I read you well: you are willing to answer God's call if it is to the priesthood, you know the behavior that is expected of you if you do set out on the path of a vocation, you are exercising restraint in the present situation you find yourself in, you love the Church and don't want to let it down.

But you are concerned because of your attraction to having a relationship with a girl, and the question of some sins you do not seem to be able to overcome. The nature of these sins is not specified, nor would I encourage you to do so in a forum like this. Instead, you need to seek the help of a prudent confessor and spiritual advisor, explaining your difficulties to him so that he can tell you if they mean you might not have a vocation, or if they are what can be considered "normal" and can be overcome with some effort.

As regards the attraction you feel to courting a young woman, there is nothing extraordinary in that. For one, it shows you are normal. As a tendency, it will not disappear even if you have a vocation (people often make the mistake of thinking it will), but if you give yourself wholeheartedly to your vocation, what will happen is this: through prayer and the gradual mastery of your imagination, senses and feelings that you will develop with the help of grace, your own effort and the guidance of your spiritual director, this tendency will not be the only influence on your life and decisions. As the life of grace grows, as you overcome your habits, as you become more prayerful and mature as a man (in strength of character), new dimensions grow in your life. From perhaps being an enormous sacrifice when first we start, it grows into a sacrifice freely given, and a great source of confirmation in our call. If your call is to the priesthood, you can be sure you will have all the help of grace you need to put this and your other tendencies in their place.

Let me know if this is not clear, or if I can help you in any other way.

God bless.

- Fr Anthony

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

I am a 17-year-old girl contemplating a religious vocation. A few months ago, I was turned down for a vocation retreat when I told the particular community (contemplatives) that I had a mental illness. It is a social anxiety disorder, the effects of which are taken care of for the most part by medication, so I live a very ordinary life now. If I am being called to the religious life by the Lord, I feel that it may be to a contemplative community. Is such a call, if any call at all, impossible? Is my illness a sign by God that I am not called? I would be willing to follow God's will either way. Thank you for your time, and God bless!

- Michelle

A. Dear Michelle,

There are several elements that need to be taken into consideration in searching for an answer to your question: the nature and depth of the illness you suffer from, the nature of the medication (and its secondary effects), your doctor’s prognosis, the particular policies of individual orders, etc.

You must also consider the fact that if you suffer from a social anxiety disorder, there is at least the possibility that contemplative life of silence and prayer might seem like a very attractive relief to you. From the outside it is difficult to realize just how demanding the contemplative life is, and it requires pretty robust mental health.

What I would recommend is that you gather full information on your condition (mostly the points I mentioned in the first paragraph above) and then speak over a period of time to the vocation directresses of several contemplative convents. If they all tend to dissuade you from pursuing the contemplative vocation, you can be pretty sure that this is a sign from God that it is not your calling.

God bless.

- Fr Anthony

Following Christ is an enormous risk and an enormous adventure. It isn't easy. The priesthood that awaits us requires sacrifice and renunciation for love of Christ. It calls us to be totally committed on the frontlines, without holding back any part of our personality or possibilities. Committing yourself to Christ means being willing to do everything humanly possible to contain the avalanche of materialism and atheism that is bearing down on the world, and then throwing ourselves with all our energy into conquering the world, starting with the task of transforming man as a person

This is why I say you should focus the question of your vocation on the question of generosity: Do you want to lend Christ a hand? Do you want to be instruments of his love and his Kingdom? Are you willing to give your all for his sake? Just as you say, life in the Church is beautiful precisely because it's the monopoly of Christ and his Kingdom: for him we live, for him we work, for him we sacrifice, everything we do is for him. Without him, without his cause, we would be the most wretched and unfortunate of men.

Gospel: Jn 2:13-25

When the time of the Jewish Passover was near Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting there. Making a whip out of cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, sheep and cattle as well, scattered the money changers’ coins, knocked their tables over, and said to the dove sellers, “Take all this out of here and stop using my Father’s house as a market.” Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: “I am eaten up with zeal for your house.” The Jews intervened and said, “What sign can you show us that you should act like this?” Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple: are you going to raise it up again in three days?” But he was speaking of the Temple that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciple remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and what he had said. During his stay in Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he did, but Jesus knew all people and did not trust himself to them; he never needed evidence about anyone; he could tell what someone had in him.

Introductory Prayer: Jesus, you have come into my Temple, and I beg that you come again this day. Purify my heart and make it yours, that you may dwell here forever.

Petition: Lord, grant that my soul be for you alone.

1. What is my Temple?

Different buildings have different uses that are designed by their owners. What intelligent man doesn’t carefully think of what his building will be used for before he designs it? Then, to make use of every inch, he makes a floor plan, decides on the furnishings, the counters, the doors and windows; even the lighting is thought through. God knows what he wants of us and also makes us accordingly. In a certain way, he remains in us as the artist remains in his painting. This is not only true of our conscience, but also our talents. Maybe we are weak or even lack certain abilities for a reason. We need to have confidence in God’s design. Don’t think you are too small for what God is thinking of. Believe that God will be able to work through you - that is why he made you.

2. Take these things out of here.

Sometimes we have brought things into the temple of our souls that it was not designed for. The Lord may want to remove these things when he enters in. He has zeal for his Father's house. Sometimes we have made our temple even into a place for the worship of idols. If there are things we would not give up that are not God, how can we pretend to be consecrated to the Lord through Baptism? The Lord will bring us face to face with these things, though we ourselves did not think it a problem. He is in fact doing us a favor, for in this way he makes us a worthy place for the worship of the Father.

3. He could tell what someone had in him.

No one knows us like God does. I heard it said once that only God knows our real name, since he calls to the most intimate part of the person. It would follow then that when he calls us to live with him at the end of our life, he will call our name; the honesty and truth of it will be impossible to resist. When he calls us, it will be to everything we are, everything we will have done for him, and also every act of mercy or blessing that he had done for us. I think it will be a great pleasure to be known by someone and loved by someone who is that close to us. The Gospel says that he would not trust himself to anyone, for he knew them; however, we should trust in him. He knows that we can be his followers one moment and the next we might deny him, as happened from Palm Sunday to Good Friday in Jerusalem. On the other hand, he is always faithful, as he demonstrated so well on Easter Sunday, when he fulfilled his promise to those who had abandoned him. He is still fulfilling his promise through the Holy Spirit who he sent to lead us to the fullness of truth. When we get to know God, we slowly get know ourselves better, and he reveals us to ourselves. It is normal in the Christian life to walk slowly the road of purification, the road of the cross. God is preparing us for that meeting at our judgment through us embracing his call to walk this road faithfully.

Dialogue: Lord Jesus, thank you for the gift of my existence. I know you are leading me; give me the strength to respond to the truth you reveal. I desire today to freely respond by ridding myself of all that hinders me from embracing your plan for me. Jesus, I trust in you, for you are the true friend of my soul.

Questionnaire:

1. Do I think that God is capable of using my littleness, or am I depending on myself?

2. Is there anything I need to stop? Is there anything that my heart has grown so fond of that it begins to obstruct my relationship with God and my total generosity?

3. Do I see God as someone who knows me well and is close to me? Do I respond in kind? How do I respond to him when I know he is asking me to change?

Cardinal José Saraiva Martíns, Prefect for the Congregation of Saints, summarized the holiness of Padre Pio in the following words: “This aspect is probably not very well known by the majority of his followers, and it is rarely mentioned. But his holiness cannot be understood if the spirituality and the reality of the Cross are taken away from the life of Padre Pio. For him, the cross is not an episode; it is a permanent attitude. His entire life was lived next to the cross, for the glory of God, his personal sanctification, and the salvation of his brothers.”

Padre Pio wrote: “The more Jesus wants to bring a soul to perfection, the more he brings him close to the tribulation of the cross.” Cardinal Saraiva Martíns underlined the fact that Padre Pio presented the path of the cross as the way for privileged souls: “This is the essential part of his spirituality, which also constitutes his personal effort for sanctity.”

“Padre Pio,” the Cardinal explained, “knew and repeated that suffering in itself is an evil, and that it is not desirable for human nature, which naturally rejects it as an obstacle to happiness. The Christian must be motivated by theological and supernatural motivations.” Padre Pio adds, “Don't let the cross discourage you. You suffer, but keep going! This is the part reserved for those souls who have chosen the better part in the service of God: the cross.”

The Prefect affirmed that suffering is not a punishment in the spirituality of Padre Pio, but a show of his intimate love. What usually causes more suffering is the subtle temptation for the soul to think that the suffering is a punishment from God for unfaithfulness, or for straying from the road to salvation and holiness. It is the spiritual director's job to explain that suffering is neither a punishment, nor expiation for sins, nor a revenge of God's justice. Quite the contrary: it is a trial of love's predilection for those privileged souls chosen to share in the sorrowful mysteries of the Redeemer.

Padre Pio wrote to those who suffer: “I cannot but wholeheartedly share the suffering that oppresses you. Pray more fervently to the good Lord for youselves, for Jesus to grant you the spiritual and material strength to persevere in this last trial of God's paternal love for you (...) How I wish I could be close to you to relieve the suffering that befalls you! But I will be close to you in spirit; I will make all your pains my own, and offer them all in holocaust to the Lord for you.”

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

Youth Pilgrimage to Rome - April 13-22, 2003. Ages 11-25. Price: $1,495 (includes airfare). Contact Ray Arsenault at arsenaultacres@pei.sympatico.ca or at (902) 854-2808.

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

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

Denver, CO, April 25-27, 2003, Young Men's Spiritual Exercises. Ages 16-25. Contact Julie Weidinger at jweidingerykc@yahoo.com or at (719) 481-5760.

May 23-30, 2003, Mega-Pilgrimage to Rome. For college-aged men and high school seniors. Contact Karolee Stauduhar at kstauduhar@msn.com ar at (407) 869-8263.

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated women

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

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

Washington, D.C., April 1, 2003, Young Women's Lenten Retreat. Ages 17-30. Contact Lucy Honnor at lhonnor@inteducators.org or at (301) 536-6931.

North Shore, LA, April 4-6, 2003, Spiritual Exercises. Ages 16-24. Contact Kay Eads at lumenchristikay@juno or at (225) 344-0469.

Ottawa, April 6, 2003, Young Women's Spiritual Growth Retreat. Ages 17-30. Contact Lourdes Cano at lcano@inteducators.org or at (401) 225-2314.

Los Angeles, CA, April 6, 2003, Young Women's Spiritual Growth Retreat. Ages 16-30. Contact Magdalena Faine at mfaine@inteducators.org or at (562) 597-6352.

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated men

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

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