Hey Catholic teens! So today I’m talking about vocations! This one is mainly geared towards vocations
for women to the religious life, but there’s definitely some information in
here that could be useful for men too.
First I’d like to quote a passage of scripture that I’m sure everyone
has heard before, and then we will talk about how it relates to vocations. This
passage, Mark 6:24-44, actually begins where the Gospel reading from today
ends.
When he disembarked and saw the
vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep
without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. By now it was already late and his disciples
approached him and said,” This is a deserted place and it is already very
late. Dismiss them so that they can go
to the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to
eat.” He said to them in reply, “Give
them some food yourselves.” But they said to him,” Are we to buy two hundred
days’ wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?” He asked them,” How many loaves do you have?
Go and see.” And when they had found out they said,” Five loaves and two fish.”
So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass. The people took their places in rows by
hundreds and by fifties. Then, taking
the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the
blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the
people; he also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were
satisfied. And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what
was left of the fish. Those who ate were
five thousand men.
I
always thought that this passage was interesting because here, what Jesus
DIDN’T do is just as important as what he actually did. So Jesus is teaching lots of people and after
a while they are hungry but the disciples only had five loaves of bread and two
fish with them. First I’d like to point
out that Jesus is God, and God is omnipotent.
When He found out there wasn’t enough food, He could’ve said,” Hey,
Peter! Throw me that rock over there; I’m going to change it into two thousand
loaves of bread!” That way, He wouldn’t
have even had to take the loaves and fish from the disciples; He could’ve just
made more. But that’s not what He
does. Instead, He takes all the bread
and fish the disciples had and feeds everyone from multiplying those. In other words-God called the disciples at
that time to give Him everything they had in order to do more with it than they
could’ve ever imagined. And notice-He
gave everything back to them, and more.
When
God calls a woman to a religious vocation, He asks her to give up everything
she has to follow him, just like the first apostles. Truly, a young woman even gives up her life
so that God may take it and do even greater things with it. No, the woman isn’t actually dying when I say
that she “gives up her life.” But in a
way, she does die to the world-she renounces owning anything, having an earthly
spouse, and her will and her desires. In
fact, the concept of giving up your life is a central idea to the religious
life, and it is reflected in many practices and traditions of the different
orders. The website for the Poor Clares
of Perpetual Adoration at the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery (the order
Mother Angelica belongs to) says,” The black outer part of the veil is a sign
that the nun is dead to the world.
Inside, the veil is white-this symbolizes the glory of Heaven. This white part is partially hidden by the black to
symbolize that those who are ‘of the world’ cannot see the reward that is to
come. Wearing this veil is the nun's witness to that reward.” From the reading from Mark, we know that God
took everything the disciples had and did more with it than they could do on their
own. In the same way, when God calls a
woman to religious life, He is calling her to do more with herself than she
could ever do without Him as her spouse.
And really, it will only cost her her life.
In the
responsorial psalm this morning, we heard that “The Lord is my Shepherd; there
is nothing I shall want.” This also
applies to the passage from Mark and to the religious life because after
everyone was fed, they were able to fill up twelve baskets of extra fish. When the Lord asks you to give Him your life,
there is no reason to think that He won’t give you back something better. The Lord is our shepherd-did you know that
sheep are very dumb? They can’t tell
when there is danger, and they’ll walk right into trouble. The shepherd’s job then is to lead the sheep
to food, shelter, safety, and anything else that they need, because the sheep
can’t provide those things for themselves.
And the shepherd loves his sheep, so he is going to lead them to the
best food and the safest places and protect them, but the sheep have to be
willing to give up their control to the shepherd. In case you haven’t figured it out, God is
the shepherd and we are the sheep. God
doesn’t ask us to give anything up if he isn’t going to put something more
majestic in its place.
If
you’re a young person discerning a call to the religious life, don’t be afraid
of what God might have planned for you.
Pray about your future, go to mass as often as possible, and spend time
with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
Most importantly though, be patient.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the discernment process, it’s
that you may have your life scheduled and planned out, but God doesn’t work on
YOUR schedule. I’m praying for all of
you and I hope you have a wonderful couple of weeks!
Through Christ who strengthens me,
Emily
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