Year IV, Number 26

“You are the light of the world. . . Your light must shine before all” (Mt 5:14.16).

Dear Young People,

Ask yourselves: Do I believe these words of Jesus in the Gospel? Jesus is calling you the light of the world. He is asking you to let your light shine before others. I know that in your hearts you want to say: “Here I am, Lord. Here I am. I come to do your will” (Responsorial Psalm; cf. Heb 10:7). But only if you are one with Jesus can you share his light and be a light to the world.

Are you ready for this?

Sadly, too many people today are living apart from the light – in a world of illusions, a world of fleeting shadows and promises unfulfilled. If you look to Jesus, if you live the Truth that is Jesus, you will have in you the light that reveals the truths and values on which to build your own happiness, while building a world of justice, peace and solidarity. Remember what Jesus said: “I am the light of the world; those who follow me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (cf. Jn 8:12).

Because Jesus is the Light, we too become light when we proclaim him. This is the heart of the Christian mission to which each of you has been called through Baptism and Confirmation. You are called to make the light of Christ shine brightly in the world.

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

I am writing to you for the second time. The last time I wrote, I was about to enter a discernment program for my diocese. However, my plans have fallen through. The vocational director and I thought that at the time I was called to be dating. Since then, I tried going on a date or two and enjoyed it, but I don’t think that I would be detached enough to serve as a good husband. I’m sure that I would do better as a religious or a parish priest.

The first question is: how much emphasis should I put on my personality traits in figuring where I would fit best, and does personality even have anything to do with it? I do tend to be more introverted.

The second question is: Can a vocation be destroyed? I ask this because I have tried several times to go after what I thought was God’s will, but I always seem to bail out or have trouble accepting it as just not being my vocation. Someone told me once that a vocation can be socially ruined due to the reputation that a person has given themselves. I want to avoid becoming any more impulsive and, I was wondering if you had something of encouragement for my journey.

Chris

A. Dear Chris,

It’s good to talk to you again. I’ll go straight to your questions:

How much emphasis should you put on your personality traits when figuring out where you would fit best? I would rephrase the question (it makes a big difference when you do) and change the last part instead to the obvious, “...figuring out where God is calling you.” It’s not just a question of where we fit best. In seeking our vocation we are trying to see where God is calling us, we are trying to be as generous as possible with him, and we are offering ourselves to him.

Now some of our personality traits are learned and can be changed, and some are structural to us and can only be modified up to a point. These “structural” elements are what let us know what God did (or, more easily, did not) make us for. If you don’t think that you would be detached enough to be a good husband, just figure how detached you have to be to be a good priest. Your lack of detachment, if it is “structural”, would probably be modifiable enough, with the help of grace certainly, to become a good husband. You have to start working on your detachment (which is absolutely necessary for your human maturity) so as to see how far you progress and discover if you are able to take the extra step in generosity that the priesthood entails. If it is beyond you, even with grace, then you don’t have a call.

Can a vocation be destroyed? Insofar as a vocation is a call and our part in it is to answer, and we are free, then certainly we can make a mistake, or be ungenerous, or even be rebellious; the outcome will be that God’s call does not receive the answer he was looking for. In the case you mention someone jumping around a lot, never settling in or seeing through his decisions; yes, that could conceivably “ruin” a vocation. But I would not see it only as a problem of a reputation you get for yourself, but rather of a trait that you have not formed or matured in yourself. All the indecision, stepping back, etc. again may have to do with your temperament, and you should consciously start developing the virtue of perseverance and decision in order to enrich it.

Start by taking on some daily spiritual commitments - not too many, ones that you can handle - but the key is your resolution to fulfill them every day, and then your perseverance in actually doing so. It could be a Rosary, or ten minutes of Gospel reading, or daily Mass... but the key is going to be to stick at it. And as you make the effort, ask Jesus for the grace to put him at the center of your life. Then, simultaneously, you should take stock of your other duties, be they work or studies, and tackle whatever inconsistency you discover there.

I hope that helps and encourages you a little. Be sure of my prayers.

Fr Anthony

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

I recently began discerning a vocation to the religious life after a priest suggested that I do so. (The thought has crossed my mind several times, but I quickly laughed it off and pushed it away.) Since then I have told a few people, and about 90% of them have responded with “I’m not surprised.” I talked with my priest about this, and he said he mentioned it because he saw some signs of a possible vocation, and obviously if all these people whom I have told responded in that way... what are these signs that they are seeing? And, do you think that because I pushed the idea of religious life out of my mind so many times, God has sent this priest to my parish to foster this possible vocation?

Marianne

A. Dear Marianne,

I don’t know exactly what the people who spoke to you may have noticed in you, but some of the things that make me think someone may have a vocation is when I see that they have, as well as the normal health, intelligence and verve of a young person, a greater spiritual sensitivity, and a disposition towards service.

There is no doubt in my mind that if you do have a vocation, the fact that this priest came to your parish is part of God’s providence at work in your life to help you realize it. At least I think you should now consider the vocation more seriously; ask his advice about what form of consecrated life he would suggest to you now that he knows you more, and start speaking to Christ about it in prayer.

Think of what it is to consecrate your life to him, and to spend your life bringing others to know him. Talk over with him the value of your life, of time, and what you would like to be able to give him at the end of your life.

God bless.

Fr Anthony

I remember that it was a First Friday and the Blessed Sacrament was exposed at the parish church. I went to entrust myself to Christ in the Eucharist before going to take the bus. I left home bound for an unknown adventure. I had a little suitcase with my clothes, twenty-five pesos that my brother José had gotten for me at the last minute, and I was ready and eager to serve Christ. That was all I wanted, and it had my heart on fire. I knew hardly anything about the Puebla Carmelites, where I was headed. Really, the only thing I wanted was to put myself totally at Christ’s disposal, following God’s call. I had plenty of time to reflect on the mystery of God’s call that night spent under the stars, lying on a bench, at the train station in a town called Tinguindín, where I was to catch the train from Mexico City. Truth to tell, everything was filled with the mystery of God that fills your heart with peace, and the sensation that I was embarking on an adventure, God’s style. In all vocations, the person called gradually discovers God’s will, step by step. Each instant you have to correspond to the graces of the moment, without worrying about the past or the future, abandoning yourself entirely to God’s hands.

Gospel: Mt 16:13-19

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Introductory Prayer: Lord, I love you because you made me and then saved me by dying on the cross. Help me to see that no sacrifice is large enough to respond adequately to the love you have shown me.

Petition: Lord, help my faith in you go beyond being an opinion in my mind and become a conviction of my heart.

1. “Who do people say that I am?”

“Who do people say that I am?” This is an easy question. I don’t reveal what is inside me by telling what other people think. People have had many opinions about Jesus and still do today. Some think he is a great moral teacher, but no better than any other. Some think he is a prophet. Some still say he is a sinner, like the Pharisees did. Some, like the people of Nazareth, claim that he was just a carpenter’s son, that he had no intention to call himself the Messiah, that it was a kind of tragic mistake that the Apostles took advantage of to proclaim him the Messiah. There is no shortage of different opinions about Jesus.

2. "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Peter answers that he is the Messiah, the Son of God. He speaks up first because in some mysterious way, perhaps even without his realizing it, the Father has revealed this to him. It has become a conviction of his heart, not merely an opinion in his mind. When dealing with our convictions we speak up immediately, we act. When we are asked about things that are only opinions, we are slower to answer. It takes a lot to change a conviction. It only takes one new fact to change an opinion. Suppose a boy starts a fight with another boy at school. All the other parents thought he was a good boy, but not any more. Yet his own mother still believes he is good. It takes more than one fight to change what she believes with all her heart.

3. "But who do you say that I am?”

What do I believe about Jesus in my heart? We all know that Peter had the right answer. That is the opinion we have in our mind. If it is also the conviction of my heart, it will change the way I live. We live according to what our heart says, not our mind. How many times do I know what the right thing is to do and I don’t do it? Instead, I do what my heart loves. I follow its convictions. My belief in Christ has to be anchored in my heart, not only in my mind. To accomplish this, I need to pray. Praying, thinking about Christ and what he has done for me in my life is the only way to convince my heart that he is the Messiah, that Son of God. My faith in Christ has to pass from being an opinion in my mind to being a conviction of my heart.

Dialogue: Lord, I know so much about you, yet I follow you so poorly. So many times, I know what you want me to do, but I don’t do it. Instead, I follow the things my heart loves but shouldn’t. Help me to think about all you have done for me, to remember it, to meditate on it, starting with your death on the cross. It is real. My heart must be convinced of it. I can’t go on with it being only an opinion in my mind; something I know about and accept as true, but which doesn’t affect my life. I beg you for this grace to be thoroughly convinced of you.

Questionnaire:

1. When is the last time I had a real "heart to heart" with Jesus in prayer?

2. How often do I raise my thoughts up to him? Do I set aside time in my schedule every day? How often do I stop off and visit him in the nearest Catholic Church, where, truly present in the Eucharist, he is reserved in the tabernacle?

3. It always comes down to a question of me wanting. Do I want this grace of conviction? What are the obstacles that keep me from making Christ the center of my life? Am I willing to remove whatever is holding me back from following Christ whole-heartedly?

Discernment will be truly successful if we find out what God wants of us, and then go do it. So much is obvious. It is not difficult to see how pointless it would be to search for our vocation if we are not willing to follow it.

What some might find surprising is that our willingness to follow our vocation is a major factor in our willingness to accept it, and our willingness to accept it is a major factor in our ability to discover it. Discovery is acceptance on an intellectual level that the vocation is there, acceptance is to admit it is something that should be acted upon, and action is the crown of the whole process - it is love made practice.

We cannot help but approach discernment with a certain number of prejudices and biases, be they positive or negative. Indifference in this matter is not part of our nature. The sacrifices that we know are entailed in following a vocation do color our willingness to accept its existence. Often, like a border guard faced with a person of questionable origin, we can question the vocation to death, playing it all by the book, prudently.

So the real challenge for a person considering a vocation is to be willing to follow it if he has one. The real problem is to acquire this disposition of willingness, unconditional openness. And this, rather than mere discernment, should be our concern.

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, July 25-27, 2003, Test Your Call Retreat. Ages 16-30. Contact Br Branigan Sherman at vocation@legionaries.org or at (800) 420-5409. Price: none.

Cornwall, ONT, July 25-27, 2003, Test Your Call Retreat. Ages 16-30. Contact Fr William Slattery at wslattery@legionaries.org or at (613) 931-1920. Price: none.

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated women

Washington DC, July 1, 2003, Young Women's Spiritual Growth Retreat. Ages 17-30. Contact Lucy Honnor at lhonnor@inteducators.org or (301) 536-6931.

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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