Vocation

 

“Dear young people, do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away and gives you everything. When we give ourselves to Him we receive a hundred-fold in return. Yes, open wide the doors to Christ and you will find true life.” -- Pope Benedict XVI

The discernment of a vocation is a journey of love, in which a person seeks to discover the mysterious plan of God for her life. The call to Carmel can be understood as a “pearl of great price” which is both precious and rare.

To discover this call, this vocation, is to realize that Christ is looking on you and inviting you by His glance to give yourself totally in love. Before this glance, before His love, the heart opens its doors gradually and is capable of saying yes.

Signs of a Religious Vocation

1. A desire to have a religious vocation, together with the impression that God is calling one to His service. This desire is most strongly felt when the soul is calm.

2. A growing attraction for prayer and holy things in general, together with a longing for a hidden life and a desire to be more closely united with God.

3. A conviction of the emptiness of the world and of its insufficiency to satisfy the soul. This feeling is often strongest felt in the midst of worldly amusements.

4. A longing to sacrifice oneself and abandon all for the love Jesus Christ.

5. A longing for God's glory, a realization of the value of immortal souls, and a desire to cooperate in their salvation.

6. A willingness to be received in any capacity is a proof of a real vocation.

7. The happiness which the thought of religious life brings, its helps, its peace, its merits, and its reward.

8. A desire to atone for sin, to make reparation.

9. A desire to devote one's whole life to obtain the conversion of sinners.

10. It is sometimes the sign of a vocation when a person fears that God may be calling her; when she prays not to have it and cannot banish the thought from her mind. If the vocation is sound, it will eventually give place to attraction. Though St. Thomas explains that one need not havce a natural inclination for the religious life; on the contrary, a Divine vocation is suitable with a natural distaste for that state