Year IV, Number 12

What is youth? It is a time given by providence to every person and given to him as a responsibility. During that time he searches, like the young man in the Gospel, for answers to basic questions; he searches not only for the meaning of life but also for a concrete way to go about living his life. This is the most fundamental characteristic of youth… There is a youthfulness of spirit which lasts through time; it arises from the fact that at every stage of life a person seeks and finds a new task to fulfill, a particular way of being, of serving and of loving… even though you are young, the time for action is now! Jesus does not have “contempt for your youth.” He does not set you aside for a later time when you will be older and your training will be complete. Your training will never be finished. Christians are always in training. You are ready for what Christ wants of you now. He wants you – all of you – to be light to the world, as only young people can be light. It is time to let your light shine!

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

Hello. I was reading one of your answers to someone who asked about a possible vocation and you mentioned that it might be a good idea to discern a vocation before college because a college debt might make it hard to enter the seminary. I have left the question about becoming a priest or religious open for a little while, but I always thought that I was expected to go to college to gain life experience before applying for the seminary. I'll be a senior in high school this year and I was wondering what I should do. Should I go to college first or should I start discerning my vocation before running off to the university? I would also appreciate it if you could give some advice on discernment. Thanks, and God bless.

- Mark

A. Dear Mark,

It is not in itself necessary to go to college before entering the seminary. There are some individuals for whom it might be good and even necessary to do college first, but my experience is that they are the exception. Nevertheless, there are seminaries and religious orders that for their own reasons require potential candidates to do college before entering. They usually provide some sort of support program for their candidates who are doing college.

So, to answer your question: don't simply plan on going to college and figuring out your vocation later. Try to use your senior year to resolve the question of your vocation.

You are thinking of a vocation, or at least you are open to it, and your way of expressing yourself is quite clear, so presuming everything else in your life is as normal, I would be inclined to think that chances are you may be dealing with a vocation here. So, to answer your question, what should you do?

Use your senior year to take major steps in your openness to God. Keep up your prayer life, ask God to help you always put him at the center and to see your life in terms of what you can do for him and for others.

Use your senior year also to find out about the vocation. Start from where you are right now. Is there any particular type of priesthood you are initially attracted to: diocesan priest or religious priest? Is there any particular diocese or religious order you know about that attracts you? Your first step should be to get in contact with them, and see where it leads.

See if you can get the help of a spiritual director. This will be important so as not to get confused with information or feelings.

If by the year's end you have seen that you may have a vocation, and are pretty sure of where you should go, that in itself will solve the question of college. If the diocese or order accepts you straight away from high school and your spiritual director does not see overriding reasons not to take the step, then go ahead and start in seminary without going to college first. If the diocese or order prefers you do college first, then do college, try to resolve the financial implications, and keep your focus on the priesthood. This will save you from wasting your time there and from getting sidetracked from your vocation.

God bless.

- Fr Anthony

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

I have heard it mentioned in a few places that when a person is in the process of being interviewed for a religious community, those who are already in the order will look for the appropriate accompanying signs of the call to religious life in the person. Could you please tell me what these signs might be?

- Toni

A. Dear Toni,

There are general and specific signs that help us see if a vocation is really there.

The general signs have to do with physical health, psychological health, maturity proper to your age, intellectual ability, spiritual health, and a spiritual motive. The specific signs are those that a particular group will look for - each group may have its own particular standards and needs as regards the general signs of health and intelligence; they may have some additional requirements that relate to their specific charism and apostolic work; they might have limits as regards the age of candidates, etc.

Just to explain very briefly the general signs:

- Physical health means normal health for a young person, with no physical condition that would keep you from fulfilling habitually the normal duties and responsibilities involved in the particular vocation you are considering.

- Psychological health means the same, but applied to your psychology: freedom from illness, addictions, obsessions, etc... Ability to withstand the normal stress of the vocation.

- Maturity proper to your age goes to a certain degree with psychological health: to have the ability to discern, a functioning conscience and will, independence from peer pressure, emotional stability, etc. Obviously you would expect more of a mid-twenty-year-old than a seventeen year old, so that’s why we say ‘proper to your age.’

- Intellectual ability: since in most vocations you have to take college studies, you need to have the necessary ability, but not for every vocation. Ask the group you are interested in.

- You usually need to have acquired a certain stability in your spiritual life, though you might still have your struggles. This would mean that you are not too recent a convert, not a devotee of strange devotions; that you give God his place, have an active faith in the Church as Christ founded it, etc.

- Spiritual motive: this means that your reasons for looking into the vocation have to be motivated by something more than human convenience or ambition - a desire to save souls, to use your life in the most pleasing way to God, to bring God’s mercy to others, more concern for what you are called to be than what you are called to do.

Toni, I hope this clears things up a little for you. It is very brief, I know, but you will probably be able to connect it with your own experience. God bless.

- Fr Anthony

Why was this vocation born in you, to what end? More than anything else so that through it you will give much glory to God, save many souls, and carry out the unique mission beyond compare of communicating the Kingdom of Christ to men. This vocation was born in you to make you happy, to make you experience the joy and fullness of a life lived authentically, not with the stamp of ambition, power and money - there is nothing as foreign to our reality as children of God -, but in love, dedication and sacrifice - there is nothing more in keeping with our new life in Christ, the life he lived and preached. And though it might seem contradictory, this vocation was born to enable you to experience the heaven you long for right from here below, amid suffering, renunciation for Christ, and ceaseless toil for his Kingdom. But who could possibly be happier than the man who at his death can look down at his hands and say: "These hands have toiled for your Kingdom, they have spread your message, they have distributed your body"?

How pitiful are those men who set their hearts only on wealth, power, luxury - in everything material. They believe they feel safe, yet they are the most unhappy, bitter and lonely people on earth. They may laugh, they may travel, they may satisfy their every impulse, but none of this can feed their hearts and souls, which God made for greater and more sublime things. Otherwise, how easy it would be to be happy!

Gospel: Mk 14: 12-16, 22-26

On the first day of Unleavened Bread when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go into the city and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him, and say to the owner of the house which he enters, ‘The Master says: “Where is my dining room in which I can eat the passover with my disciples?”’ He will show you a large upper room furnished with couches, all prepared. Make the preparations for us there.” The disciples set out and went to the city and found everything as he had told them, and prepared the Passover. And as they were eating he took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to them. “Take it,” he said “this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them, and all drank from it, and he said the them, “This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many. I tell you solemnly, I shall not drink any more wine until the day I drink the new wine in the Kingdom.”

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I consecrate to you these brief moments of prayer. Even as I begin them, I am reminded of that night when you made sure that everything was prepared for the Last Supper, the institution of the Eucharist. There is no reason for me to think that you have any less interest in my encounter with you now since your earnest desire is to come to souls, my soul in particular. In order to come to my soul you conquered sin with your own bloody sacrifice. May I, through my sacrifice, make my soul a place where you can dwell. Amen.

Petition: Lord, help me to understand that it is in being taken by others, laying my life down for them, that I can take you to myself and you can fill me only with you and with your interests.

1. “All is ready.”

A man with a water jar, a homeowner busy about preparations, an upper room already furnished with couches - coincidences? Unlikely. Jesus Christ carefully arranged everything for this Last Supper. The fullness of love was caught up in planning the expressions of that love. Jesus Christ had “something up his sleeve”, as the expression goes. The disciples found everything as he had told them. How could they not show him a grateful love when he arrived for the Passover supper! Lord Jesus, you have prepared everything in my life with your heart so full of love for me. There is no detail that you have left out - you have looked after everything. Teach me to see your providential hand in my life and to love you in and for each and every detail of your plan over me. I know, Lord, that this is not simply a lesson but one that you want me to put into practice. When was the last time I looked after others’ needs with this sort of detail and love? When was the last time I was ready to lay down my life for my friends, for those that you have entrusted to me personally? I have so much to learn still, Lord. Walk me through this detailed love for others so that I may learn to love through my own sacrifice following your example.

2. Christ the Pelican

The pelican wounds itself to draw blood in order to feed its young. That is why the Church sometimes depicts Christ in this form. As Fr Maciel so beautifully writes, “I love you, Lord, for your Eucharist - this great gift of yourself - for when you had nothing left to give, you left us your own body, to love us to the end in an overwhelming show of love that makes our hearts tremble with love, gratitude, and respect” (Psalm of Love for the Eucharist). Jesus Christ knows no end to his self-giving. Even as we offend him so frequently he loves us. The very blood that we cost Christ with our unbelievably selfish actions, he takes and returns to us as a gift in the Eucharist to heal and nourish us. As the song says, “What wondrous love is this!” Is it possible that any one of us can receive this blood in a cold and indifferent manner without being moved to imitate this love? Is it possible that any one of us could stiff-arm the effects of this sacrament in our soul? Is it possible that any one of us could witness this bleeding Jesus entering into our souls and not learn from his example?

3. "Take!"

“Take this, all of you.” These words of Christ should become our own. Take! To the Lord we should say, “Take my life, all I have and possess, all my liberty, my understanding, my entire will.” To others we should say, “Take my time, my talents, my strengths, my gifts, all that I have and possess.” This is Christian life. This is love. And we are called to love.

Dialogue: Lord Jesus, I honestly want to prefer you to anything and anyone else in this world. But I need you to draw me to yourself. I need you from the cross to look at me with love and I will look back into your eyes also with love. I do not want to walk away sad, uncured. Strengthen my weak will so that I will never more prefer any darkness to your marvelous light.

Questionnaire:

1. When was the last time I made the invitation of Christ to take my life? Have I ever given him this opportunity? Have I given him external things as long as I can protect that which is most intimately mine? Why?

2. What do I do to increase my faith in the fact that giving myself to Christ and his plan over my life is the one thing that will give me the greatest freedom, the most lasting peace, the most profound happiness? How often do I ask Christ to remind and convince me of this?

3. How can I effectively learn from the Eucharistic sacrifice to give of myself? Is my dialogue with the Eucharistic Christ one that takes this into consideration? How do I express my interest in learning from him when I speak with him?

Bishop Jesús Emilio Jaramillo Monsalve, Catholic Bishop of Strumniza (Colombia)

Bishop Jesús Emilio Jaramillo Monsalve was born in Colombia on February 14, 1916, in the village of Santo Domingo, Antioquia. On December 3, 1944, he made his Solemn Profession in the Yarumal Foreign Mission Institute. Ordained a priest on September 1, 1940, he was consecrated Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Arauca on November 11, 1970, and titular Bishop of Strumniza on January 10, 1971. In his diocese he had to confront violence and social injustice. On October 2, 1989, at the age of 73, he was tortured and killed by a group of guerillas during a pastoral visit to rural parishes in the diocese.

From his writings:

"Where will we find a more perfect gift, to be taught the bitter experience of dying, if not in Jesus Christ?... It is my desire that death be the ultimate moment of my incorporation into Christ, a sharing in his pain and an expiation of my own sins and the sins of others. It is my desire, with all my frail nature, to divinize my suffering and my fear, uniting myself to the terror of the suffering Christ. Above all I confirm my faith in the Resurrection of Christ."

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, Apr 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, Apr 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, Apr 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.

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.

Atlanta, Georgia, April 7, 2003, Young Women's Spiritual Growth Retreat. Ages 17-30. Contact Dorrie Donahue at ddonahue@inteducators.org or at (770) 417-1045.

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated men

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

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