Q & A on Discernment
Waiting for a Sign
Questions
Do I have a Calling?
What should I look for?
What should I do to find out?
Often times we are waiting for a sign from God to tell us God is
calling us. But this Call is not as dramatic as we might believe. Many of those
who have been ordained or professed for years point out that rather than a voice
from heaven, there are certain indications within our ordinary lives, and some
personal qualities that confirm the signs of a religious missionary life
commitment.
These indications or clues vary from person to person. “I was always interested
in working with the poor – one bishop once said – but I didn’t feel at all
worthy to become a priest. So I waited for a sign and when it didn’t come, I
figured wanting to work with the poor was a sign.”
Know yourself
Your interests, the gifts you have and want to share. Ask yourself: what do I
dream I would like to be and do in my life? What are my talents? What do my
parents, teachers, or friends say about me? What are the things I do well and
they often point them out to me?
"Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house"
[by Antonella del Grosso, xmm]
Know the ways to serve in the Church
Lay ministry, volunteering in church surroundings, brotherhood, priesthood, etc.
Know groups or organizations
Often groups and organizations offer the type of ministry you are most attracted
to. Contact them and find out the differences in their own approach, goals and
lifestyle (what and how they live and work) as well as the challenges they face.
Nurture your relationship with God
A Vocation is always a mysterious thing because it involves people in
relationship with God. Taking a closer look at our lives and at ourselves, we
can discern our vocation. So we aren’t just guessing wildly.
"So I waited for a sign and when it didn’t come, I figured wanting to work with the poor was a sign"
THE NEXT STEP
1 - Read one of these Vocation Calls:
Moses - Exodus 2-4
Ruth - Ruth 1:1-18
Zacchaeus - Luke 19:1-20
2 - Conclude your Meditation with:
Prayer of Discernment
3 - Put these thoughts into action by:
Visit your parish church or a local Shrine during a time that is not a Sunday
Mass... just because.
The Call of Moses
Exodus 2:1-18
Now a certain man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, who conceived and
bore a son. Seeing that he was a goodly child, she hid him for three months.
When she could hide him no longer, she took a papyrus basket, daubed it with
bitumen and pitch, and putting the child in it, placed it among the reeds on the
riverbank. His sister stationed herself at a distance to find out what would
happen to him.
Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river to bathe, while her maids walked along
the riverbank. Noticing the basket among the reeds, she sent her handmaid to
fetch it. On opening it, she looked, and lo, there was a baby boy, crying! She
was moved with pity for him and said, "It is one of the Hebrews' children." Then
his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call one of the Hebrew
women to nurse the child for you?" "Yes, do so," she answered. So the maiden
went and called the child's own mother. Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take
this child and nurse it for me, and I will repay you." The woman therefore took
the child and nursed it.
When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him as
her son and called him Moses; for she said, "I drew him out of the water."
The Call of Ruth
Ruth 1:1-18
Some time after their arrival on the Moabite plateau, Elimelech, the husband of
Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women, one
named Orpah, the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both
Mahlon and Chilion died also, and the woman was left with neither her two sons
nor her husband.
She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab because word reached her
there that the LORD had visited his people and given them food. She and her two
daughters-in-law left the place where they had been living. Then as they were on
the road back to the land of Judah, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go
back, each of you, to your mother's house! May the LORD be kind to you as you
were to the departed and to me! May the LORD grant each of you a husband and a
home in which you will find rest." She kissed them good-bye, but they wept with
loud sobs, and told her they would return with her to her people. "Go back, my
daughters!" said Naomi. "Why should you come with me? Have I other sons in my
womb who may become your husbands? Go back, my daughters! Go, for I am too old
to marry again. And even if I could offer any hopes, or if tonight I had a
husband or had borne sons, would you then wait and deprive yourselves of
husbands until those sons grew up? No, my daughters! my lot is too bitter for
you, because the LORD has extended his hand against me."
Again they sobbed aloud and wept; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye,
but Ruth stayed with her. "See now!" she said, "your sister-in-law has gone back
to her people and her god. Go back after your sister-in-law!" But Ruth said, "Do
not ask me to abandon or forsake you! for wherever you go I will go, wherever
you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Wherever you die I will die, and there be buried. May the LORD do so and so to
me, and more besides, if aught but death separates me from you!" Naomi then
ceased to urge her, for she saw she was determined to go with her.
The Call of Zacchaeus
Luke 19:1-14
Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there
named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was
seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for
he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to
see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus
looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay
at your house." And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to stay at
the house of a sinner." But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Behold,
half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted
anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over." And Jesus said to him,
"Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of
Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."
Prayer for Discernment
All Loving and Gracious God,
You know my inmost thoughts
and You are familiar with all my ways.
You have blessed me
with many gifts and talents.
Give me a share of Your wisdom,
show me Your truth,
and reveal to me
the secrets of my own heart.
May I have the courage to look,
honestly and deeply,
at the reality of my life,
so that I can faithfully follow You.
Help me to see in myself what You see,
and give me the courage to uncover
both my strengths and weaknesses,
to know and follow Your will for me
each and every day of my life.
Bless Your Church with generous hearts,
eager to serve Your people
and to spread Your Word.
Amen.
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