The Evangelization of
Those Discerning Their Vocation
According to recent CARA* reports
regarding vocation (and basically even common sense) it was discovered that
people become religious brothers, sisters, or priests because they meet those
who are already brothers, sisters, priests. Several decades ago there were more
religious and priests who evangelized in large part by their presence.
Discerners had a greater opportunity to see religious brothers and sisters and
priests in action preaching by the very example of their lives. However in this
recent revival of interest (in light of the fact that many have not been raised
with regular interaction with religious and priests) there is a need to
evangelize candidates as they discern by the vocation directors and other
community members and priests.
Some candidates believe that they
have arrived to all there is as far as being where they need to be spiritually,
they are unaware that we continue to transform (or continually convert) because
God is inexhaustible eternal love. The vow of "conversatio morum"
comes to mind, which is the vow of "continual conversion" meaning we
actively strive to turn away from the temporal as we learn to invest our minds,
our hearts, and our actions to that which is of eternal value. As we shed our
various temporal attachments we become ever-more immersed in the "Fruit of
the Spirit" i.e. kindness, gentleness patience, self-control. (Gal.
5:22-23).
Important point: Candidates do not always
realize that it is in “formation” that they will experience the instruction for
continual conversion through the charism of the founding fathers and mothers
(and/or ministerial priesthood). Candidates need to know they do not have to
immediately feel the fullness of their new identity as a religious brother or
sister or priest upon application and acceptance. The formation process is part
of the individual’s conversion process. The founding fathers and mothers
recognized, experienced, and articulated these specific paths, these precise
charisms, as trusted and true. The living waters of instruction (formation) on
navigating the specific graces of the various characteristics that make up each
charism will ultimately allow those being formed to minister effectively from
the well-spring of their spiritual growth. The candidates growing knowledge and
experience of the workings of their order’s charism (and/or ministerial
priesthood) will keep themselves and those to whom they minister safely in the
stream of “abundant life” (John 10:10).
I
write today to make clear the reality that vocation directors need to clearly
explain to discerners how their own vocation
aids them in “working out their own salvation” (Phil 2:12) so that the
candidate can follow and trust this way of more deeply living out the gospel. Discerners
need to know that as they grow in the love of Christ (through the charism of
religious life or the priesthood) they will aid others whom they will
ultimately serve with their salvation. In
this sense vocation directors are further evangelizing the candidate through their
testimony, that is to say, a detailed explanation as to how they are more
perfectly living out the gospel. Vocation inspiration will flourish as promised
as a result of the vocation directors clearly articulated testimony, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” (Rev. 12:11). Candidates
will then have a greater confidence in embracing this way as their very own.
All
true vocation assistance evangelizes, that is to say, it leads us to an
ever-expanding eternal freedom. Freedom from what? Freedom from the temporal
realm. What is the “temporal realm”? The temporal realm is made up of all
particles of fear of loss great and small and of every false notion regarding
the purpose of consumption and ownership. In actually like the “birds and the
flowers” we are held in God’s hand and though we are gifted with participation
in material harvests the only purpose of these harvests are the good of mankind
at large. I have heard that sometimes the thing people fear most is freedom.
What is freedom? Freedom is the ability to live out the words of Christ in His
prayer commonly known as “The Our Father”. It is in the Our Father that our
earthly passage to complete eternal freedom is outlined. I honestly believe that the only way to be
completely free is the purposeful embracing of the evangelical counsels. 1.
Poverty 2. Chastity 3. Obedience (obedience means “to listen”).
“Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” I love
God and He is my all. “Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven”. In heaven there is no marriage. In heaven we are like the angels Matt.
22:30 (this is the evangelical council: Chastity). “Give us this day our daily
bread” (evangelical counsel: “Poverty”) that is acknowledging that I am fed by
the hand of God daily. My air, my water, my rest, all are gifts from the Father
enough for this moment, enough for today.
“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”.
(This speaks of the evangelical council: “obedience”.) In “obedience” I
“listen” to Christ within myself and Christ within all, even those who
persecute me, I listen for any semblance and/or resemblance to the spark of
life within all known as Christ. It is in listening that I preserve the source
of this life with great care, carefully guarding the harmonious unity first
known in the beginning of all creation as the “Holy Trinity”. “I (Christ) was
formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be”
(Proverbs 8:23). And, “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). And “lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil” i.e. “the love of money is the root of all evil”
(more on the evangelical counsel “poverty”). I trust God not goods. I want to
be completely free. (I heard that a Saint said in regard to various prayers and
formulas, “After the Our Father everything else is a play on words.”
In vocation discernment we answer
the question, “How free do you want to be?” St. Paul explains, “An unmarried
person is concerned about the Lord's affairs: their aim is to be devoted to the
Lord in both body and spirit. A married person is concerned about the affairs
of this world--how they can please their spouse. I am saying this for your own
good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided
devotion to the Lord” (1 Cor. 7:33-35). However, if you cannot live a celibate
life because of your “passions are too strong” then it is “not a sin to marry”
(1 Cor. 7:36). The question now becomes, “If I can control my passions, if I
can live a fruitful celibate life in order to grow in perfection, what am I
waiting for?”
Important note regarding those
candidates who apply. Naturally, there has to be reciprocity (acceptance) from
a community or diocese validating that they are relatively sure that the
candidate has the grace for the vocation. In all vocations “reciprocity” is the
ultimate validating factor. "Every matter must be established by the
testimony of two or three witnesses” (2 Cor 13:1). (If overtime there is no reciprocity
from vocation directors potential candidates should consider other vocation
options that hold more promise according to their reality.)
Part 2
A key point that discerners need
to be made aware of is that the vast majority of active discerners are seeking
community life be it in a religious community or within the comradery and
support of their fellow diocesan priests under the leadership of the bishop or
archbishop.
1.
We can do many things alone except live in
community. Even God lives in a community called the Holy Trinity. Jesus said,
When you see me you see the Father". We need others to see Christ in and
who may also experience Christ in us. We truly need this exercise of freedom from
self-absorption, the self-absorption that comes from spending too much time
alone. We need others whom we can love as our very selves. St. Benedict was not
at all keen on the hermit life, the singular life. He might allow a monk to
live a singular life only after having lived in community for several decades
but even then it was only allowed on a temporary basis. So living alone without
someone to exercise oneness, to experience the constant mirroring and echoing
of Christ one in the other, can be unfruitful for many. There may those called
to single-in-the-world permanently but the vast majority of discerners are
already living single in the world. They experience a type of spiritual
loneliness that causes them to keep searching for the amplification of heaven
on earth amidst community though many cannot articulate this yearning for peers
at first. (My use of the word “peers” does not mean those of one’s own age. I
am talking about persons in the sense of other athletes in the spiritual life
who have invested their time in training in order to “run the race to win” 1
Cor. 9:24.) Just as those who have never been baptized might not be able to
articulate their need for the freedom that commitment to Christ offers so also
discerners cannot always fully understand the wellspring that awaits them in
their vocation as they thirst for more of Christ. (I am saying it is up to
vocation directors and others who are spiritually experienced in the things of
eternal value to evangelize them regarding these truths.) Why do they thirst
still? How can discerners drink more deeply from the wellsprings of eternal
life that Christ extends? Answer: By understanding the fulfillment realized in
community because ultimately all of heaven is communal and Jesus asked that we
bring heaven here “thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven”.
2.
Make no mistake marriage in itself is fulltime
ministry. A woman commits to the fulltime ministry of wife and mother at the
altar of Holy Matrimony likewise, a husband commits to fulltime ministry of husband
and father (1 Cor. 7:4). St. Paul says, and I believe with great seriousness
and literally, that a woman who marries needs to be concerned with pleasing her
husband and she deserves the commitment of the husband to be concerned with
pleasing her, that is to say to minister unceasingly as one tends to his or her
own body (1 Cor. 7:33). The spouse rightfully deserves this holy dedication and
in this love of wife, live of husband, as one’s own self they live out for all
to see the unity of the Holy Trinity. Holy Matrimony is a community, a domestic
church, but it is temporal. Jesus said, “Do not be in error. There is no
marriage in heaven” (Matt 22:30). In heaven we know our loved ones, those who
were closest to us, but our love is not greater of lesser than other persons in
the eternal kingdom of heaven. In marriage we practice with great persistence
the exercising of corporal mercy. However, the purpose of Holy Matrimony, as
with all vocations, is to “love one’s neighbor as oneself”. In this sense the agape
love, that is to say, the “eternal love of God” whereby all our the bride of
Christ and true friends with each other should be expanding out to mankind as a
result of the graces received in holy matrimony. There is no such thing as
building a small world of our own that is exclusive in terms of love and
charity whereby others are left unaided by the agape love exercise between the
couple now made one. In this sense, “those who have wives should live as if
they do not” (1 Cor. 7:29). In other words, love all as oneself, it is the true purpose of the strength and loving
support gained in the marriage to do so. Our spouse aids in our vocation of moving deeper in the eternal realm of our
Savior Jesus Christ but our spouse in themselves are not our saviors. At some future point we will be united to
Christ as His spouse (and the Church collectively as His Bride).
3.
Once a single person (who has yet to marry) has
a vast experience of loving God in creation, loving God in neighbor to degree
that they experience others as true mothers, fathers, husbands . . . as in, “if you give up mother, father,
husband . . . I will give you back 100s” they may find that little by little
they lose their desire for the smaller domestic church that holy matrimony is.
I am speaking now to those who already experience the reality of everyone being
a sister, brother, for real as in “who is my mother, my brother, all who do the
will of the father.” When we close the door to a romantic element in our lives
the door to a unity of hearts with all human beings swings open wide (an
experience so real it can be quite surprising as we realize we are completely
united having now experienced a type of spiritual DNA with all persons as
fellow children of God). It can be difficult for many to shrink the experience
of unity with all persons into what can come to feel like a small container of
an exclusive relationship such as Holy Matrimony. Yet if we do decide to marry
know for sure we do not sin as St. Paul says. Just know that the agape love amidst
the couple and children should expand to all over time in a Spirit of great
hospitality not exclusivity. And it is for this reason that if a person feels
trapped or less free to serve God in any way as a result of their movement
toward marriage they should pause and rethink their direction. One’s true
vocation gives them the support and love to love others not to be alienated
from the reality that all are our brothers and sisters.
4.
But most of those who are called to marriage are
not contemplating religious life or the priesthood. Religious life and/or
priesthood has never appeared on their spiritual radar. Those called to
marriage know who they are and many would never, nor have they ever, seriously
considered religious life or the priesthood, though they might have toyed with
the idea as a fictitious notion of sorts. Those who have been given the special
grace of contemplating (of considering, of discerning) a religious vocation or
the priesthood should not underestimate the “pearl of great value” that they
have received. Buy the whole field, that is to say, don’t hinge on the parts
you don’t fully understand or which might not be perceived as totally
comfortable. In a field there are rocks, brambles, and the like. Want the
pearl? Buy the field.
5.
Remaining single in the world permanently is an
option but it requires an ongoing ministerial commitment (a “plow to but one’s
hand to” Luke 9:62). If you decide to stay single, stay busy for our Lord.
Being single in the world is not being a perpetual bachelor or bachelorette who
does some good deeds on occasion. It is a lifelong commitment to this path of
grace and therefore our hearts are freely and willingly closed to all other
vocation options as we move forward.
6.
It is only by eating resurrected food, i.e.
Jesus in the Eucharist, that we are able to live the resurrected life now. “Oh
death where is thy sting”. Death has shrunken to complete insignificance for
those willing to be completely free. Did you notice when Jesus was resurrected
He made no mention of the suffering He endured. Jesus even seemed to be making
light of His wounds when He invited Thomas to put his hand in His side. Jesus’
demeanor shows no sense of shuttering concerning the temporal aspects of His
earthly horrific sufferings. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection we have
complete freedom from death. I remember the joke made by St. Lawrence during
his martyrdom who, when being grilled alive, humorously said, “It is time to
turn me over. I am done on this side”. St. Lawrence responded with casual
insignificance and light-hearted candor at the barbaric taking of his life (so
little was his joy in Christ affected).
7.
Freedom is awesome. Don’t be afraid to be free.
Run with the herd (the team) of other spiritual Olympians living in community or
serving for the diocese as a priest, or marry if you wish. But know that for
most we cannot truly realize our spiritual athleticism alone. It is in seeing
the pace of the other runners, by experiencing their support (two are better
than one. If either of them fall the other is there to help them up”
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10. In community (be it religious life, priesthood, or holy
matrimony) we are more fully aware and more fully challenged, more fully
supported, to truly “run the race to win” (1 Cor. 9:24).
* Center for Applied Research of the Apostolate (from the
first paragraph page 1)
