God calls us to serve Him...and His Church

Well it seems that it is difficult for me to keep to a weekly schedule on this. Here is the next installment:

Website of the Week:
http://www.catholicyouth.freeservers.com/vocations/single_life.htm

What we pull from this:
Well, I feel that this site has given the best description of what someone in the Single Life is called to do.  The Single life vocation allows the person so give wholly of themselves to the Church. The article points out that the person is not bound to support a family or tied down by the rules of a community to only do certain types of work. This confirms some of my preconceived notions about the single life vocation and strengthens some of the things that I find most appealing about the single life. This vocation allows you to love your job/career for it's ministry to the world and you can give of yourself in all aspects of your career without the fear of being a "workaholic".  The single life asks those in this vocation to devote their lives to the cause of mother church in any way that they feel they can best serve her.

Also, in other news. In the continuation of my discernment, I found a conference that is being held this July for those discerning the religious life and lay ministry. I have applied and should know by mid-June...about the time I head down to Chattanooga with the Youth Group, whether or not I have been accepted. Should be a lot of fun and very informative if I get to go. Pray for me.

How to live as a Single Person...

Well...it has been about a week since my last one. This truly is like homework, I kinda put it off to the last minute, but it will get done. To be fair I started out by looking for a bunch of sites on the single life and I saved them all in a folder. Each week I am pulling a new one up to see what it has to say about this vocation.
          The Research Website of the Week
So there it is. I have mixed feelings about this one, maybe it is just old but either the USCCB doesn't have anything on the single life or I have found yet another dead end. BUT, the site does have some good pointers on how to live one's life as a Single. And these would be good things to look at for someone discerning any vocation. I am going to copy and past the list, and then go through in RED and offer my thoughts.

Nine Ways to Live as a Single Person

1. Make time for prayer.

• Reflect on the blessings and challenges of being single and the gifts you have to offer.
• What do I have to offer as a single to the church. What are the benefits the church and myself will recieve from devoting my life to serving her?
• Make prayer a part of your daily life.
• Use personal prayer, the Scriptures, journaling, meditation, and the Liturgy of the Hours.
• Schedule a personal or group retreat.
• This is something I know I need to do. I love going on retreats, but I don't think I have been on a retreat for me in oh...probably about 4 years...I think it's time.
• Plan a pilgrimage to a holy site. Visit area shrines and other historical religious sites.
• Hmm, never really thought about that. Should prolly look into this, there is a really cool walking stations place about 30-45 mins up the road...should prolly go check that out again.

2. Practice forgiveness.

• Learn to forgive and be forgiven.
• Examine your conscience, and practice fasting and sacrifice.
• Celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation.
• I need to do this more regularly...

3. Celebrate the Eucharist.

• Actively participate each Sunday.
• This almost seems like a cope out...as a Catholic this should be something that we do every Sunday, regardless.
• Register with your parish, and if you've already done so, look for ways to get more involved in the liturgy as a lector, Eucharistic minister, usher, musician, or choir member.

4. Live a just life.

• Work against discrimination, racism, and oppression.
• Treat all people with the dignity they deserve as sons and daughters of God.
• Participate in the national Pledge for Charity, Justice, and Peace
• Look for ways to simplify your life and share what you have with others.
• This is one of the most beautiful gifts that my old roommate Joe gave to me. During our last year living together he showed me how to live simply. He was preparing to enter the novitiate for the Dominicans. We didn't need cable, or a lot of the frilly stuff. It is better to spend that time with others that you would have spent watching TV anyway, and what good is money if you cannot use it to minister. A life of poverty may be difficult but I can understand the beauty and peace that it brings with it.

5. Help the poor.

• Look into local service opportunities or other ways your gifts can be used in service to others.
• Gather others together for group service projects. Practice charity by assisting those living in poverty, and promote community based solutions for injustice and poverty.

6. Be a domestic church.

• Establish personal traditions around holidays, special feast days, and other celebrations or memorials.
• I have not had much luck with this so far, I do not really have anything that is my own tradition, I feel like I should by now. I'll have to work on this.
• Offer your home as a place for friendship and hospitality.
• I feel like my office has become a place to get away from the day to day stuff and just relax. It is nice to leave the door open and see who wanders in.

7. Share faith.

• Talk about God's presence in your life with other people; be an evangelizer.
• Yeah LifeGuides, and to a certain extent as a campus ministeresque.
• Consider getting involved with your parish RCIA program for those learning more about the Catholic faith.
• Look for opportunities to invite others to experience your faith community.
• I think I can pull this off fairly easily...as long as I don't scare anyone off.

8. Join a small Christian community.

• Join a small faith group to receive support to live your faith.
• I know these exsist, and to a certain extent PCS and my friends fill this slot, but there are things out there like Frassati that I should get involved with.
• If one does not exist, form one of your own. Gather regularly for prayer, faith sharing, and community.

9. Know your faith.

• Look for opportunities for adult faith development and education.
• Visit a good bookstore or the Internet for resources on faith and the Church.
• Read the Scriptures.
• Begin a study of saints who lived a single life.
• I have the books, now I need to sit down and read them. There is a neat one I picked up about the Apostles that was written by the Pope. Not unlike the single life vocation it is very difficult to find information on St. Andrew, but I think he would be a good role model to look to concerning the single life.

So there is the list, now to live it. One of the biggest things I struggle with when discerning the single life is what I would be "giving up". This is where some of the tips they have listed come in, by leaning on others and group to help in your discernment. My struggle though is what I will miss out on; Do I want to be a father? Am I called to be a father? If I discern the single life, do I lose the chance at a comforting hug when I am hurting or alone? Can I find that in a friend. I am still at the "what am I giving up" stage (for the record that is a stage I just made up) am I ready to consciously discern, or have I been discerning well this entire time. When will I know?

Discernment is a is necessary but difficult task, sometimes it is easy, but mostly it is a struggle. "What have I got to lose" should not be the creedo, the focus should be "what do I have to gain". What will my vocation bring me in the end? God has a reason and a purpose for bringing me to a particular vocation. Finding that purpose theoretically will bring peace to my discernment, but finding that purpose is not going to be easy. Prayer, Reconciliation, Eucharist, Living Justly, Helping Others, Being a Friend, Sharing Faith, Community, and Knowing What you Believe are all steps in the right direction.

To Be or Not Able to Be...that is the answer?

Well tonight when I got on I realized I hadn't posted in a week. I promised I would try to do so at least once a week. I looked up Single Life on Google tonight and found this interesting test site: http://www.vocationnetwork.org/match?m=2 We'll see what I get...

Well...we can't decide vocation by a test...Looks like prayer is prolly a better way. I got a list of orders that I should check out...I don't really feel any push to look in to religious life. I love working for the Dominicans, but I don't know that I would be happy as a Dominican...Ironically, no Dominicans on the list.

On to some research...This article: http://www.pathsoflove.com/blog/2008/08/single-vocation-marriage-or-religious-life/ starts out saying that there is but one vocation, a call to love others. However, goes on to say (at least the way I understand it) that there really is no reason that one should enter into single life unless one is not able to marry due to physical or psychological reasons. It seems that if one is able to marry they should, or if one is mentally stable they should join the religious life and not offer their life to the church as a single, but as a member of a community. I do not believe the catechism says anything in particular about the single life as a vocation only that, "Love is therefore the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being".

I need to do these posts earlier in the day...well maybe later this week I will enter another post, with more research. Until then...keep praying...God's will in me be done!

Discerning His Call

Discernment...this seems like a good place to start. What is it? Why should I do it? Is it necessary? To be honest...no, but to be fair and truthful YES! Discernment is the most important part of any decision process, to say we do not discern is hilarious. We use discernment to choose between vanilla and chocolate, hamburgers and hot dogs, waffles and pancakes. I feel like Discernment is a big scary "d" word in the Catholic faith. "If I discern, that means I am going to end up as a priest." While that is possible, it is not a given. You will only end up with chrism on your hands if that is where He wants you.

We discern in almost every aspect of our lives, why should it be scary to discern what we will do for the rest of our life. We make a decision about what college to attend, there are factors at school A that we feel are better than school B, and I really like the campus at school C, but ultimately school F is the school that fits me the best, and that is where I end up. Sometimes the decision is more straight-forward than others, but we still use discernment to make that decision.

Discernment has played a huge role for me in the last few years...it's something I really didn't look at until after I graduated college. Discernment is something I laughed off, disregarded until a big slap in the face showed me that it was going to be a big part of my life. They say God laughs when we make plans; well God must not have been able to catch his breath after I graduated college.

Short run down, I thought I had it planned out. I was graduating, I was now licensed to do what I "knew" I was going to do since the 4th grade. I had a girlfriend of over 3 years, and I was ready to take on the world. That first month humbled me as after over 100 applications I found that almost no one was looking to hire a teacher, let alone a Social Studies teacher. My girlfriend broke up with me, and I was not ready to move back home and live with my parents. I had one good job offer, McDonald's.

I was lucky, I ended up working for the church that helped to give me a great college experience. And to think that coming in as a freshman I was worried I would be able to find/get involved at the Newman Center. I finally had the chance to stop and think about where I was going, and where God wanted me. I realized quickly that He had other plans for me, that He didn't need me as a teacher...at least not yet. I finally took the chance to stop and listen, made my first Come-and-See, something I had truthfully found good reasons not to make or had let schedule conflicts keep me from all 5 years for me. I finally stopped and listened to what discernment really was, and I finally took it seriously. Not everyone gets married, but more importantly I finally took the single life seriously. It started to click why people like Mary Stiller never got married, because they were not called to. They were able to serve Him more fully as a single than tied to a family or a community. I found peace that that one day that could be me, but also that it really wasn't my decision, but His, and I needed to listen closely and carefully. He is not going to shout it at me, "Hey Andy, Go ..." but he is going to give me clues and fill me with an immense happiness and joy in what I end up doing in service to Him.

Homework...

So here it goes...tonight at the final 9pm Mass for the year Fr. Mike gave us homework for the summer. "Find something about the Catholic Faith that you don't know much about and learn about it." I brushed it off at first. I graduated two years ago, I am done with homework right? Well... maybe not.

This blog is going to be my project for the summer. I have for awhile been discerning at the Single Life. But what is it? It is one of the three vocation paths: Religious Life (nuns, priests and brothers), Married Life (husband and wife) and then there is Single Life (???). What exactly is it, how do I get there, and what does it mean to vow one's life to the Church?... We shall find out, this is the mission for the summer! I'm sure the blog will jump around and back and forth...but I'd like to try to post at least once a week in an attempt to find out more about this mysterious vocation that still seems like a viable option.