www.vocation.com - What kind of motivations do you have to have in order

	Trina asks: I have been examining the reasons I have for wanting to pursue a consecrated religious life. I have established that there are two main reasons. I want to do what God wants. And I want to get closer to him - there is this amazing desire to know and love Him better. I've been reading what other people have been saying on this site. Everyone is talking about bringing others to Christ. I have to say, much as this is something I definitely want to do, this is not my main motivation for looking into the religious life. Unless that qualifies as fitting into my first motive, i.e. doing what God wants. Is it selfish to be wanting to be religious purely to enhance my own relationship with God? When I was young, my parents taught me this. There is one thing I have to do on this earth. I have to get to heaven. They told me that if I could bring others with me along the way, that's great, but that is NOT what my main focus should be. I guess I've always followed this idea. I'm 21, and active in youth ministry in my parish, trying to bring the teens in our parish closer to Christ. But I've felt for a very long time that this is not enough. How can a motive that appears on the surface to be bordering on selfish possibly be a sign that I have a vocation? I love God, and all I want to do is know and love Him more. I want Him to take anything that is a distraction from this love out of my life. I'm so confused. (I guess you hear that all the time on this site, huh?) And if I DO have a vocation, is it better/more christian to want to get closer to God through bringing others to Christ, or to want to bring others to Christ through becoming closer to God? Thanks for your time.
	Dear Trina, The proper motive is just one of the elements of a vocation. The other requirements are that you have the necessary qualities and that it be a free choice. For a motive to be "proper" the only condition is that it be a spiritual motive. Your wanting to do what God wants, or wanting to get to heaven, are perfectly good motives and sufficiently spiritual as regards discovering a vocation. You will find that when you try to love God and enhance your relationship with him, you automatically find yourself doing things for others, just like your participation in youth ministry in your parish. Even the contemplatives who spend their lives in silence and prayer do so for the good of the Church and for souls. You can grow in your love for Christ, and show your love for him by working for others, by developing your talents and putting them at the service of others. So really the answer to your last paragraph is that it is a circle and it doesn't matter where you start: you will get closer to God by bringing others to Christ, and when you start trying to bring them you discover that you need to be closer to him yourself first, and your closeness to him will make it more urgent to bring others to him, because you love him and want them to have the same grace... I hope I am not confusing you more. God bless.


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