How do you know? Part II - Where!?!

Hey folks!

I promise to get better at this - I will post more frequently!!!

It has been asked, as you see in the blog, when you know the Lord is calling, then how do you know where He is calling you to? How can you know which way of life - whether it is diocesan or religious; or, if religious life, is it active or contemplative?

Well, I explain the discernment process toward priesthood and religious life much like the discernment process toward marriage - mainly because they are not only related, but these vocations are reflections of each other... So, I am going to speak in "dating" terms, but always keeping religious communities or ways of life in mind.

We can simply ask ourselves: How do you find your love?

To find who is our love, we need to meet different people, get to know them, and spend some time with them. It will not come like lightning out of the sky, or be placed at our doorstep. It is the same way with the different ways of religious life. Of course, in the first step mentioned in January, we should have a pretty good idea of who we were created to be, or what kind of ministry we may be more inclined to do or gifted for. This helps to narrow the field, so to speak, and look for those ways of life (charisms) among the religious lives that are out there. Then we have different groups/communities that surface which we should then visit and spend time with in order to get to know them. The personal contact is something we have lost a bit in our technological and busy lifestyles. How can we know if we can spend our lives with this community, with these people, unless we get to know them? We will find our love as we get to know them and their life better. We will find one or a couple that we find ourselves more attracted to.

Always remember - there is nowhere that is perfect. Yes, they may be religious or priests, but they are human, and sinners as well; striving for holiness like any of us, and always in need of reconciliation and conversion.

Next, as we think we have narrowed it down, there are communities/ways of life who have a kind of "exclusive dating" period, which is often called postulancy (to be a postulant) or minor seminary. This is not a commitment to final vows! It is a more focused opportunity to look at this way of life. If things seem right, then one would move on to novitiate (to be a novice) which is more direct formation and discernment for a year, or so. After novitiate would be simple vows or temporary vows - like being engaged to be married (to Christ). After renewal of simple vows for another year (some communities are more) then would be final/solemn vows.

Three things to remember with this process:

1. There is no shame in leaving before final/solemn vows when one finds that this particular community is not what they are called to. That's what the "dating" and "engagement" stages are there for (the postulancy/novitiate and simple vows). It is a discernment process.

2. If you leave one community, that does not mean you do not have a vocation to religious life at all. We are in the Catholic (meaning Universal) Church - there are many spiritualities, which are different facets of the fuller revelation of Christ. There is NO one community/charism, but many. If you are not called to one, but still feel called to an exclusive devotion to the Church and our Lord, then there is another out there that you were created for.

3. As you go through these steps, you should be weighing in your heart the answer to these questions: Is this who I am? Is this the love of my heart, to which I can give my whole life, for my whole life?

For more on discernment see:
For Men: www.HearTheCall.org/mens_discern.html
For Women: www.HearTheCall.org/womens_discern.html