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How to Know You Have a
Vocation
To The
Religious Life
Martin
Pable, OFM Cap.
I was asked to share with you some thoughts on how a person
knows he has a vocation to the religious life. It is difficult
to pin that down because a vocation is first of all a mystery.
God does not just jump out of the sky and tap us on the shoulder
or knock us off a horse the way He did some people in the
Bible. Ordinarily, God uses very ordinary instrumental means
to let us know that He is calling us. This is always a mysterious
thing. It is always very personal to each one of us. I can't
give you any absolute rules for this. I guess in one sense,
that's a wonderful thing - - that God respects our individuality
and treats us all as persons. He respects our freedom and
He wants us to use our heads in trying to discern our vocation.
In the history of the Church you will consistently find spiritual writers
and theologians saying that there are certain natural signs that God uses
by which He inclines us and draws us toward a vocation. The Church has
always looked for these signs. If a person has those signs to some degree,
then there is a good chance he is being called. You never know for sure...but
all the way along the line you will be asking yourself if there are present,
several discernible signs by which you can judge whether or not you are
called.
Three Basic Signs of a Vocation
There are three basic signs and they are really very simple. The three
signs are (1) a desire for the life, (2) the right motivation for the life,
and (3) fitness for the life. Let us take each one separately.
The FIRST SIGN I
look for in myself or in anyone else looking for a vocation
is "Do I have a desire for the life?" Am I inclined, am I drawn
toward it? Does it give me a certain amount of satisfaction
to think about it...a certain amount of enthusiasm or joy or
some kind of positive feeling? I want to stress that, because
God does not want to draw us to a vocation against our will;
it is something that is extremely important. I have talked
to people who said "I want to be a priest, or brother, or sister,
not because I want to go but because I think I should, because
I think God wants me to." If I don't go, I'll be punished in
some way or I will be miserably unhappy -- something like that." God
does not operate that way. He draws us according to our natural
inclinations and if we are inclined to a religious life, that
is a good sign. If we are repulsed by it and are thinking about
it only because we have to, I call that a "monkey-on-your-back-vocation" and
you carry it around like some kind of heavy load -- that somehow
God is zapping you and you "gotta go or else." God doesn't
zap people that way. The one thing God wants us to be is free.
He wants attraction ... and it is one indication that a person
is called. But that is not enough, because a lot of people
have an attraction to religious life --so that other two signs
are also important. BACK TO TOP
The SECOND SIGN is "I
want the life for the right reasons." This is a question of
motivation. What motivation is behind my interest and attraction?
Here the Church looks for some positive spiritual reasons.
For example, "I want the religious life because I want to serve
God in a very direct way or I want to further the love and
knowledge of God or I want to extend the Kingdom of God or
I want to live the Gospel life as fully as possible or I want
to work for the betterment of the world or I want to share
a common vision of faith and spirituality with other like minded
people and somehow further the project of God's designs." Any
or all of these spiritual religious reasons are adequate motivations.
That is what we look for -- something based on faith, not just
some kind of natural desire, but something based on faith --
that is, a spiritual motive -- not because I see this as a
very groovy outfit which I want to join -- like joining the
K of Cs -- or because they are a neat bunch of guys and I'd
like to be a part of them. That is not yet a faith vision.
Something has to touch us at the level of the Gospel -- that
we want in some way to profess a life based upon a core of
very solid Christian religious principles.
BACK TO TOP
A number of inadequate reasons can creep in here. For
example:
1) A person sees religious life as some kind of security blanket.
Religious life does have some security: you know where your meals are coming
from, you have a bed, a certain kind of life insurance, social security
in your old age, a place to live, a roof over your head, lots of things
that people in the world have to grub for. If a person has lots of doubts
about whether he can hack it in the world and therefore he thinks the monastery
is the place to go, chances are he is not called. That is not an adequate
reason for applying. As life gets more complicated and more demands are
made upon us in the world out there, some persons may be drawn to religious
life for that reason, but security is not an adequate motivation. BACK TO TOP
2) Another inadequate reason is loneliness.
A person has a very difficult time making friends and he feels very alone
most of the time. He might see religious life as an instant friendship
establishment, where all he has to do is walk in and he has a whole bunch
of instant friends and that protects him from all the hard knocks of being
a lonely person in the world. Again, that is not a faith or spiritual reason;
a very understandable reason, but not enough. BACK
TO TOP
3) Or say a guy has had some unhappy love affairs or difficulties
with girls and he figures women are no damn good and so the best thing
to do is get away from them and flee to the monastery. "If I can't be happy,
at least I'll save my soul." So if a guy is afraid that he can't hack it
with the opposite sex, he might be inclined to look to the monastery for
salvation or protection or something. Again, that would be an inadequate
reason.
BACK TO TOP
4) Another inadequate reason: instant status symbol. It's
kind of neat if you were a religious with built in status of
recognition. Think of all the gratification you get for being a priest.
You stand up there and say "The Lord be with you," and the whole Church
has to say "And also with you." Look at all that power-experience! You
can control the whole group out there just by your presence. So if you
are an ego-tripper, that's a neat way to do it. To be the center of attention
at the altar is really kind of satisfying. If that's what motivates a person,
the Church will blow the whistle and say that's not enough. Instant status-seeking
or instant ego-tripping or controlling people is not an adequate motivation
for the religious life. BACK TO TOP
Mixed Motivation
It should be obvious that we can have some of these reasons somewhere in
the back of our minds. None of us have pure spiritual motives for most
things we do. There is always a mixture of this kind and inadequacy in
our lives and that' s O.K. There may also be a mixture of motivations in
one's desire for religious life too, but the primary driving force ought
to be something deeper. It's not always easy to discern our motives and
that's why it is important to have a spiritual director who can help us
sort out things. BACK TO TOP
The THIRD SIGN is fitness, the ability to
live religious life, to live it comfortably, cheerfully, generously, without
going to pieces or without a constant drain on your inner resources or
without a whole lot of tensions. Somehow the life must suit you and you
must suit the life. Somehow there must be a meshing of your interests,
ability and competency with those of religious life. Lots of good people
have tried the life but found they just didn't fit. Some people are just
not cut out for it anymore than some people can't teach or be airline pilots
or engineers or whatever. God does not do violence to the person and He
respects the individual gifts each person has. BACK TO TOP
Likewise, there are lots of people fit for religious life but who don't
want it - they are not attracted to it. A lot of your married friends or
your brothers and sisters could live religious life but they are not drawn
to it. The fitness is there but the desire isn't. All three requirements
have to be there at the same time: attraction, motivation and fitness. |
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