Revisiting My Call

God calls some people to give themselves fully to Him in Religious life. As for me, I've been called to the married vocation, to the blessings of children and grandchildren, and to serving in the midst of the world.

So as far as a making a total gift of myself to God, does this mean I'm off the hook?

Oh, I should certainly hope not.  A total gift of self of God is one 'hook' I want to be on; it's a source of unspeakable blessings, it is a 'brass ring' on the ride of life.  I would hate to miss out on it.  And God, in His goodness, would hate for me to miss out on it too. With great love, He calls you - and He calls me.

Those who embrace Religious life have felt tugs so strong they just couldn't ignore them. Have we not felt God's tugs as well?

Are we not called to a life of total (not just partial, but absolutely total) commitment to Him? I provide the following as a tiny bit of evidence of our own calls to live fully for God, right in the midst of the world...... 

"I beg you, through the mercy of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship.  'Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing and perfect.' " Romans 12:2

"I have loved you with an everlasting love... I am constant in My affection for you."  (Jeremiah 31:3)
 

"I am the Good Shepherd.  I know My sheep and My sheep know Me, in the same way that the Father knows Me and I know the Father; for these sheep I will give my life."  (John 10:14-15)

"The grace of God has appeared, offering salvation to all men.  It trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires, and live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age as we await our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Savior Jesus Christ."  (Titus 2:11-13)

"Be intent on things above rather than on things of earth.  After all, you have died! Your life is hidden now with Christ in God.  When Christ our life appears, you shall appear with Him in glory.  Put to death whatever in your nature is rooted in earth:  fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desires, and that lust which is called idolatry....  What you have done is put aside your old self with its past deeds and put on a new man, one who grows in knowledge as he is formed anew in the image of his Creator."   (Colossians 3:2-10)

"You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Men do not light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket.  They set it on a stand where it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, your light must shine before men so that they may see goodness in your acts and give praise to your Heavenly Father."  (Matthew 5:14-16)

“Do not lay up for yourselves an earthly treasure.  Moths and rust corrode; thieves break in and steal. Make it your practice instead to store up heavenly treasure, which neither moths nor rust corrode nor thieves break in and steal.  Remember, wherever your treasure is, there your heart is also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

"Out of love, place yourselves at one another's service."  (Galatians 5:13)

"May I never boast of anything but the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ!  Through it, the world has been crucified to me and I to the world."  (Galatians 6:14)

"I will instruct you and show you the way you should walk; I will counsel you, keeping My eye on you."  (Psalm 32:8)

For more about commitment to God, click this line

This is a slightly edited repost from our archives. It is linked to Reconciled to You and Theology is a Verb for 'It's Worth Revisiting Wednesday.'

My Offering

'I have waited, waited for the Lord, and He stooped toward me and heard my cry. He drew me out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud of the swamp; He set my feet upon a crag; He made firm my steps, and He put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God. Many shall look on in awe, and trust in the Lord'. (Psalm 40:2-4)

'I beg you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God's will, what is good, pleasing and perfect.' (Romans 12:1-2) 

'Jesus, I give You my whole heart and my whole will.  They once rebelled against You, but now I dedicate them completely to you…Receive me, and make me faithful until death.' (St. Alphonsus Liguori) 
 




'Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess, You have given me. I surrender it all to You, to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more.' (St. Ignatius Loyola)


 Painting on this post by James Tissot, in US public domain due to age. Digitally altered and cropped.

I Just Know

'How does one know if the Lord is calling? In varied ways, but as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta responded when asked how someone knows if she is called: 'She knows. She knows.' This is the language of the heart, and often it is difficult to put words to the language of the heart. The good news is, no one discerns a vocation in the Church alone - with the help of a vocation director, you will be able to discern whether the Lord is calling you to one community or another, or to marriage or the single life. All disciples of Christ are called to love without limits...' (from Sisters of Life website)

'She knows. She knows...' 

When I first heard these words spoken by Mother Teresa, I thought my heart would burst into flame. Watching a videotape with my husband, I too felt an inexplicable, unwordable sense of being called.  Not able to understand how that fit in with my life as a wife and mother, still I knew. I just knew.

I have a fuller idea now, thirty years later, of that sense of 'call.' I still can't describe it, really, and obviously I was not being called to Religious life. I was, however, being called to a total gift of self to God, and to living for Him with no ifs, ands or buts, and to be His disciple.

As a layperson with such a call, I am not alone. 'ALL disciples of Christ are called to love without limits.'

Every absolute one of us is called.

If I sit with Jesus and let Him draw me closer, I become more aware of the truth of His call. I may not be able to describe it, really, but I know. I know.

I just know.
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For Reflection: 

'It was not you who chose Me, it was I Who chose you to go forth and bear fruit.' (John 15:16)

'Go courageously to God along the way He has traced out for you, steadfastly embracing the means He offers you.' (St. Margaret Mary Alacoque)

- Do I have an awareness of God calling me? What 'next step' can I take to answer His call?

- What path(s) has God traced out for me? Am I following these steadfastly, or do I need to pray for courage to embrace these means more fully?

- Was there ever a time when I felt 'my heart would burst into flame?' Can I identify at all with these words?

'Intimacy with God is not for the saints only, it is for all of us. God dwells in each soul which is in the state of grace and calls each of us to be united to Him in intimate friendship....We are all called therefore to this life of intimacy, to this communing with the Most High.' (from 'Listening to the Indwelling Presence,' compiled by a Religious, Pellegrini)

Painting: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, The Calling of St Matthew

Our Call

God calls some people to give themselves fully to Him in Religious life. 

But what does that have to do with me?  

God called me to marriage, blessed me with children and grandchildren, and has much for me to do right out here in the midst of the world. 

So - as far as a total gift of self to God, does this mean I'm off the hook?

Oh, I should certainly hope not.   A total gift of self of God is one 'hook' I want to be on; it's a source of unspeakable blessings, it is a 'brass ring' on the ride of life.  I would hate to miss out on it.  And God, in His goodness, would hate for me to miss out on it too.

With great love, He calls you - and He calls me.  Those who embrace Religious life have felt tugs so strong they just couldn't ignore them. 

Have we not felt God's tugs as well? 

Are we not called to a life of total (not just partial, but absolutely total) commitment to Him?

I provide the following as just a tiny bit of evidence of our call...... 

"I beg you, through the mercy of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship.  'Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing and perfect.' " Romans 12:2

"I have loved you with an everlasting love... I am constant in My affection for you."  (Jeremiah 31:3)
 

"I am the Good Shepherd.  I know My sheep and My sheep know Me, in the same way that the Father knows Me and I know the Father; for these sheep I will give my life."  (John 10:14-15)

"The grace of God has appeared, offering salvation to all men.  It trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires, and live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age as we await our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Savior Jesus Christ."  (Titus 2:11-13)

"Be intent on things above rather than on things of earth.  After all, you have died! Your life is hidden now with Christ in God.  When Christ our life appears, you shall appear with Him in glory.  Put to death whatever in your nature is rooted in earth:  fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desires, and that lust which is called idolatry....  What you have done is put aside your old self with its past deeds and put on a new man, one who grows in knowledge as he is formed anew in the image of his Creator."   (Colossians 3:2-10)

"You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Men do not light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket.  They set it on a stand where it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, your light must shine before men so that they may see goodness in your acts and give praise to your Heavenly Father."  (Matthew 5:14-16)

“Do not lay up for yourselves an earthly treasure.  Moths and rust corrode; thieves break in and steal. Make it your practice instead to store up heavenly treasure, which neither moths nor rust corrode nor thieves break in and steal.  Remember, wherever your treasure is, there your heart is also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

"Out of love, place yourselves at one another's service."  (Galatians 5:13)

"May I never boast of anything but the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ!  Through it, the world has been crucified to me and I to the world."  (Galatians 6:14)

"I will instruct you and show you the way you should walk; I will counsel you, keeping My eye on you."  (Psalm 32:8)

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For more about commitment to God, click this line

The Invitation

"'Abide in Me!'  What an unusual invitation!  What a plea for sanctity!  What a call to intimacy!  What an assurance of God's thirst for our love!  

"Shall we accept this invitation, respond to this call?  Or shall we let well-enough alone and refuse to make so hazardous a venture....

"This intimate life in God is offered to all.  It is forced upon no one.  It is accepted by few."

These lines have stuck with me since I read them recently.  I find myself pondering the truth of them, realizing how easy it is to let well-enough alone.  After all, I'm comfortable going through my days trying not to rock boats, ruffle feathers, or hand over to God those parts of my life that I'd really prefer to manage on my own.

To abide in God, continues the author of these words, "is the relinquishment of all in order to be buried in God.  We know that God dwells within the soul.  He waits, however, for the soul to give Him freedom to work at her perfection.  The soul decides the amount of freedom she will give to the Builder of Saints.  He awaits her decision."  (Sheltering the Divine Outcast, compiled by A Religious, The Peter Reilly Co, Philadelphia, 1952, pp.160-163)

How much freedom will I give to the Builder of Saints?  The choice is mine.  He awaits my decision.

This intimate life in God is offered to all.

It is forced upon no one.

It is accepted by few.

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Painting by Heinrich Vogeler Frühling, in US public domain

the call

It was as insistent, sometimes, as a telephone ringing.   A persistent “come…come…come..”  that I couldn’t quite ignore.  Walking by the stairs leading up to my school’s chapel, I would often feel that pull.  

I was a student in a Catholic girls’ academy taught by semi-cloistered nuns.  I found, there, just enough quiet to allow the Lord’s gentle “voice” to make its way through.  …Come to the chapel…. Come make a visit to Me…. give Me a few minutes of your time…   These were not words, but a gentle sense of invitation.  I never heard a “voice,” only the secret nudging that seemed (always) to be there.

Sometimes I wondered where this call could be leading.  Everyone I’d known who’d mentioned having “a call” was either in a convent or serving as a priest.  That didn’t seem to fit with what I envisioned for my life.  Marriage, children, perhaps a career in the arts … these were my dreams.  Were they God’s dreams for me?  I don't remember stopping to ask.  One day I WAS stopped, however, and told about another kind of dream …

My Speech teacher pulled me aside after class.  Smiling (knowingly?), she said:  “I had a little dream about you last night.  I dreamed you joined our order here.”   

Many years later, Sister and I talked about that day.   She remarked:  “Nancy, I find it interesting that I didn’t say I dreamed you became a nun.  I said I dreamed you joined our order.”    I had never entered a convent.  I’d married and had children.  Yet, as Sister said these words, I knew she was recognizing my specific answer to God’s call.  Mine was a vocation to marriage and motherhood.  Intertwined with that was (and is) my life as a cloistered heart.

Mine is the call of every Christian.  To give my life to Christ, minute by minute. To keep making the choice, circumstance by circumstance, to live as He wants.  To find ways to be with Him, even in the midst of a busy life. 

 …Come… visit Me…. Come… give your life to Me…. Come…spend a few minutes with Me…. 

May He give us the grace to answer His call.  

Text not in quotes © 2011 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
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