I had a conversation with a near-50-year-old prospective candidate for our seminary a few months ago. When I asked why he was pursuing a vocation to religious life and the priesthood at such an advanced age, he replied, “Father, I have been very confused about my vocation in life all these years. I have tried so many things, but I have always been confused and restless. I thought I should also try the religious life and priesthood.” I had to gently reject his application because he was well above our age limit for admission.
However, on reflecting upon his story—a fifty-year-old man who has no idea about his vocation in life—I came to realize deeply the amazing grace of being called to belong to Jesus completely as a religious. What a powerful grace to sense the prompting of the Holy Spirit to enter this way of life. What a grace to actually follow this prompting of the Spirit and embrace such a way of life.
But are we truly grateful for this grace in our vocation? Do we express this gratitude in words only? Don’t we tend to take it all for granted?
The Apostolic Exhortation, Vita Consecrata, emphasizes that the call to consecrated life is a powerful grace of the Holy Spirit:
It is the Spirit who awakens the desire to respond fully; it is He who guides the growth of this desire, helping it to mature into a positive response and sustaining it as it is faithfully translated into action; it is He who shapes and molds the hearts of those who are called, configuring them to Christ, the chaste, poor, and obedient one, and prompting them to make His mission their own. By allowing themselves to be guided by the Spirit on an endless journey of purification, they become, day after day, conformed to Christ, the prolongation in history of a special presence of the Risen Lord. (par. 19)
So, the Holy Spirit is the One who awakens in us the desire to be religious. He is the One who guides the growth of this desire, matures it, and sustains it throughout our vocation. He is also the One who molds our hearts to become like that of Jesus. He is the One who prompts us to follow Jesus in His mission and continuously purifies us in our vocational journey.
If we are not truly grateful for the abiding presence, promptings, gifts, and graces of the Spirit in our religious vocation, there is no way that we can hope to fulfill the demands of the vocation. Only truly grateful souls, who see their vocation as a pure gift from God through His Spirit, can be hopeful souls.
The story of the Presentation of the Lord in Luke 2:22-32 shows us three grateful souls that are involved in making the light of Christ present and visible in the temple.
Gratitude that accepts all from God
First, we have the Blessed Virgin Mary whose gratitude accepts everything because she is hopeful. She was truly grateful that God had lovingly revealed her vocation as Mother of God: “He who is mighty has done great things for me” (Lk. 1:49). She was grateful for the abiding presence and action of the Holy Spirit in her vocation, as described by Gabriel, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Lk. 1:35). Her gratitude was not in words only. She also trustingly accepts all that God offers and permits in her vocation.
At the Presentation of the Lord in the temple, she humbly accepts both the blessings of Simeon and the unjust suffering of Christ to come: “He will be a sign that would be contradicted.” She also courageously accepts her own suffering as she follows her vocation (“And you yourself a sword will pierce”).
She accepted all these without any drama, protest, questioning, or disillusionment. In complete silence, that attests to her inner strength, she accepted because she had strong hope that the God who had lovingly called her to this vocation would not abandon her.
Gratitude that perseveres
Secondly, there is Simeon, who shows gratitude that perseveres because he is also hopeful. He was grateful for his calling to serve the Lord: “Now Master, you can let your servant go in peace.” Again, his gratitude was more than words.
Simeon continued to follow the promptings of the Spirit after so many years of waiting and longing for the light of Christ, “He came by the Spirit into the temple . . .” After many years of not seeing the Messiah, getting old and weak, he did not give up on following the prompting of the Spirit for any reason.
On encountering the Lord in the temple, he did not just speak to others about Him; he was ready and willing to face death.
Gratitude that prays and sacrifices continuously
Lastly, there is Anna who showed gratitude that prays and sacrifices continuously because she is hopeful, too. Anna prayed and sacrificed herself in all the conditions of her life, whether she was single, married, or widowed, “She never left the temple but worshipped night and day with prayer and fasting.”
She recognized and proclaimed Christ to all with deep gratitude; “She gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.”
My dear brothers and sisters, religious men and women around the world, especially those who profess or renew their vows this World Day of Consecrated and Religious life, we must pause and carefully examine our gratitude today if we are going to embrace our vocation with hope.
How deep is our gratitude? How is this gratitude the basis for our hope? How firm is our trust that the God who gave us a gift of vocation will surely not abandon us? How have we allowed our past sins, faults, bad experiences, failures, hurts, present struggles, dwindling number of vocations, etc. to diminish our gratitude and kill our hope?
Are we still grateful enough to accept all that God permits in our vocation? Are we accepting of the many unfavorable conditions we cannot change in our families, communities, and Church? How accepting are we of the religious superiors we cannot seem to get along with, the difficult relationships we cannot resolve, the commands that sometimes do not make sense to us, the assignments that are not to our taste, the communities that are not favorable to us?
Are we grateful enough to persevere in following the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our vocation? Or are we following our personal preferences, emotions, imaginations, or public opinion? Do we give in to disillusionment when what we experience is not what we had expected?
Are we grateful enough to pray and to sacrifice ourselves to bring the light of Christ to others? Are we committed and disciplined in our prayer life, ready to pray always, even when we do not see the benefits of prayer? Do we remain in communion with God through prayer and sacrifice in all the conditions of our lives? Are we still listening to the voice of the Spirit that called us or are we futilely trying to adapt and conform to a constantly changing world?
Jesus is forever the light of the world. We are not the light of the world; we only reflect the light of Christ. This light is actually His very life within us, as St. John confirms, “In Him was life and this life was the light of men” (Jn. 1:4). Jesus makes Himself present in this and every Eucharist to give us this life and light through His Spirit, that same Spirit that graciously inspires, moves, sustains, purifies, and prompts us to be religious men and women on mission for Jesus and with Jesus.
As we begin this jubilee year with the theme “Pilgrims of hope,” let us remind ourselves of this fact: We cannot be pilgrims of hope today if we are not truly grateful for the life of Christ that we bear within us and our calling to bring that life to the world as religious men and women. Our gratitude must go beyond words, accepting all that God permits and offers us, persevering in our fidelity to the Spirit, and being ready to pray and sacrifice for the sake of Christ.
As we receive the gift of life and light through the Spirit of Jesus, let us name one thing that hinders our gratitude and obstructs our hope today. Bring that thing to Mama Mary and beg her to share with us her profound gratitude for being called, for having our vocation revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. Only when we become grateful souls with hearts full of hope can we truly bring the life and light of Christ to our world.
Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!
