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How
Will I Know?
When most of us began considering
a religious vocation, we asked ourselves questions such as:
How
will I know if this is for me?
What is God's will for me in my life?
Where will I find peace and fulfillment in life?
What is the ultimate purpose of my existence?
How can I be sure that God is calling me to be a sister?
While we may never know
with absolute certainty that our choices are the best ones for us, we
can walk through a process that can help us become more clear about
whether or not we are being called to religious life.
First, ask yourself about
your readiness to discern these questions.
Availability and
openness:
Am I open to whatever God is calling me?
Am I free to respond to that call?
Desire:
Do I sense a degree of potential satisfaction, hope or
joy
when I consider religious life?
Proper motivation:
What is my primary motivation in considering religious
life?
Would I experience peace and a sense of fulfillment as a sister?
General disposition:
Am I able to become a sister at this time in my life?
Am I reasonably healthy,
emotionally stable and spiritually centered?
If you feel comfortable
with your answers, you may want to enter into a more specific spiritual
discernment process that can help you know more clearly if religious
life might be a healthy and good choice for you. The following outline
of a possible discernment process combines reflection, prayer, dialogue
and scripture.
Take time to reflect on the following passages
1. Present disposition
Reflect on Matthew 16: 1-4
| a)
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Find
some quiet time and think about how God has worked in your life.
How has Jesus been present in your life? |
| b)
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Reflect
on Luke 9:28-36.
How might Jesus be calling you? What is Jesus saying to you
today? |
| c)
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Reflect
on Matthew 5:1-16.
What do you expect and anticipate from God? What do
you hope for? |
2. Reflective experience
Reflect on Matthew
8:18-27.
| a) |
As
you think about your own life story, what have been the most
important decisions in your life so far? |
| b)
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What
were your feelings, hopes and fears in the process of making
those decisions? |
| c) |
What
were the consequences or outcomes of those decisions? |
3. Prayer
Reflect on Matthew
6:5-22.
| a)
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How
do some of the gospel values (discipleship, God's reign, perseverance,
truth, poverty, single-heartedness, fidelity, justice, mercy,
hope, love, humility) relate to your present discernment? |
| b) |
How
do you see your discernment in relation to the elements in Jesus'
life (his ministry of healing, his qualities of trust, courage,
forgiveness, faith, his suffering and persecution, his desire
for fullness of life for all, etc.)? |
4. Consultation
with others
Reflect on Matthew
7:7-12.
Consult
with people who are significant in your life:
Friends and loved ones
Family members
Spiritual director
Vocation director |
5. Listening to
yourself
Reflect on Matthew
6:24-34.
| a) |
As
you think about religious life now, what feelings emerge? |
| b)
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What
do you hear yourself saying to others when you are talking about
religious life? (What messages are you giving yourself here?) |
| c)
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What
is your sense of God's "inner voice" within you? What is your
gut-level intuition about your decision regarding religious
life? |
| d) |
Does
your decision, direction or choice give you life? Is it life-giving
for you and for others? |
6. Confirmation
Reflect on Matthew
12:33-35.
When you put together all
that you have heard through prayer, reflection on scripture,
your feelings, responses from others, work with a spiritual director
and /or vocation director, what do you believe God wants for you?
Process adapted from
material from the National Religious Vocation Conference.
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For
more information on vocation discernment you can write
to |
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National
Religious Vocation Conference: NRVC@aol.com |
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