According to dictionary.com, this site describes the term "vocation," as a divine call to God's service or to the Christian life. When I think of this word, I like to break it into two categories: that of my future or current job vocation as well as my personal vocation in terms of marriage, single or religious life.
For me, this term is something I only began to think about more personally in my junior year of high school. One night, I was sitting down looking at schools that I wanted to possibly attend for veterinarian school. For some reason though, I just wasn't excited. Noticing this, my mom came over and asked me two questions that changed my life forever. They were, "what class is your favorite and what is your favorite extracurricular activity?" Taking a moment to ponder these questions, I realized that my love for the Spanish language and my passion for singing in my church choir were things I was actively doing during this time in my life. In this moment though, I felt God nudging me to look deeper. So with the help of my mom, we both discovered the term of "theology," which more or less to me at this time meant the, "study of the Church." I then decided to enroll at Loras College a Catholic liberal arts school, with the majors of Religious Studies and Spanish. Now, this example is just a brief light into my life, looking through the lens of how I first developed my desire to know the Church more.
I share with you this pivotal moment in my life, because I believe that especially during Lent, we shouldn't be afraid to ask ourselves the following: Am I happy with the path I am on? Do I feel that God has ultimately led me here? Or is there a radical change that I need to make? These questions are always meant to be pondered, but during this time of silence and waiting for the Lord, now is the time to really take a few more moments than usual to really personally reflect on our lives. The key to reflection is not to look at the things we are always doing wrong and note what needs to be changed, but to really look at the moments in our lives where God was or now is calling us. So, my challenge for you today is to take 10 or so minutes to ask yourself these above questions, ponder them and then act!
