Today's Discernment

So ... about a month ago I was teaching a friend how to make knot rosaries while having dinner and great conversation. We were updating each other on our lives since the last time we talked. She is always eager to hear about my discernment and always has some intriguing questions. One of these questions was, "Do you think it is possible that part of the vocation shortage is because many have never discerned their vocation to married, single, or religious life because they never even thought to do so because of the circumstances of their lives (hurts, wrong doings, of self and of the world, or just ignorance of vocation)?" She then said, "You know I've come to the conclusion that I'm not single and 40 because I've discerned that I am called to single life, I'm single and 40 because I've never discerned to which vocation God has called me." I replied by saying, "I think you have hit one of the key issues as to why we have a vocation shortage! I think I can name 5 other friends I have that fit the same discription. We are not presenting the different vocations to our youth, especially the vocation to religious life. Religious are not seen today! And many have become so jaded in their view of themselves, the Church, and the world that they never even think to discern their vocation. Whether it's because there are so few religious, or because they are not in our schools and hospitals anymore, or because many do not wear the habit, etc. ... Whatever the reason, they are not seen and the youth and secular society wonder if they even exist!" I had someone ask me when I told them I wanted to be a nun, "Are they really still around?!?!" This conversation and others like it have continued to plant the seed of the desire to renew and change, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, the world, community, family, and relationships that I am in, in order to plant the seed of vocation and discernment in others. If we do not have solid relationships with these people and the people around us the seed will never be planted.
A couple of weeks ago I was able to have lunch with this friend again. This time she said that, "For the first time in my life I'm ready to discern my vocation. And for the first time, it's ok if I never marry." At the end of August we are planning on going on a "Road Trip" to visit a community together so that she can, for the first time, look into a religious vocation ... while having me as a buffer! Please pray for my friend and her vocation, whatever it may be. And please pray for her family and friends that have no clue that she is in the beginning stages of discernment, and who may or may not support her.
Keep the Faith,
Betsy

John 15:16

John 15:9-17
Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. “I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.”

This is one of my favorite Bible passages. It was my favorite before I fully understood why it was my favorite. The part that strikes me the most is the 16th verse in Bold. Before all else ... before I learned of Him ... before I chose to follow Him ... before I loved Him ... He chose ME! Before I understood why this passage meant so much to me this is all I learned from it. But in time I found myself moving on through the words to discover that not only did He choose me, He appointed me to go and bear fruit that will remain! He didn't just choose me and say just "be." He chose me for a specific task and vocation. One that would spread His love to all His children, a love that will remain forever. But even more still I gleamed from this one sentence in John's Gospel ... Whatever I ask the Father in His name the Father will give me! He didn't just leave me to my own devices to accomplish this task! He made sure that whatever I might need to "bear fruit that will remain" would be within my grasp. All I have to do is ask! If I do not receive what I have asked for it must not be what will bear much fruit.
This is how I understand my vocation ...
Keep the Faith!
Betsy

Hope

Three years ago Tuesday I realized that what I had felt for years was real and true and OK ... God wanted ME to be a nun! Three years have past and I still feel called. Many things have changed. Communities come and gone. Feelings up and down. Emotions crazed and peaceful. Temptations big and small. But today I have hope. Hope for my future, but especially hope for God's plan for my future. Tuesday marked three years of discernment, but Tuesday also marked the first day of my last clinical before graduating!! In three months I will finally graduate from College with my doctorate in Physical Therapy. Not only have I waited and worked six years for this degree but I have waited three of those years knowing that God was calling me to something different. Now that this time has finally come, I'm nervous and scared about what the future holds and where it will lead, because for the first time in six years, or for that matter first time in my life, I have not idea what will happen next. I don't have a definite plan and I finally have to truly and completely trust in the Lord and the Holy Spirit's guidance. But I have HOPE! For the Lord says, "For I am with you always, until the end of the age."I'm praying for you all please keep me in your prayers!
Keep the Faith!
Betsy
P.S. I just got a new roommate that does not speak english!! Does anyone know Chinese by chance?? If not say a prayer that we can think of really good hand signals!