Drumroll Please!!

The long awaited vocation story:

I never once thought in all the time of my childhood or adolescence that I would be where I am today.  It wasn’t even really permitted – to think of religious life: poverty, chastity, and obedience in the service of God.  I cannot take credit for anything other than my “Yes” to God nearly four years ago.  It had been in private prayer to God when I came across a psalm verse that stated that God will fulfill His promise when we keep our vows.  I promised to Him then and there, before I ever became aware of the import of my prayer, that He could use me however He wanted, whenever He wanted.

While there were many people who pointed me over the past four years towards religious life, there are a few who stand out the most.  These are not the people who said “Megan, you look like a nun” or stated “You sound like a nun,” or even “God’s army needs you.”  No.  There are people who have shown me in their life, in their taking and living of religious vows what it means to see Christ in other people.  The greatest example I have personally experienced of that level of love and sacrifice can only come from a true zeal for Souls.  A friend of mine, Fr. Aaron Kuhn, was not the one to say that I looked or sounded like a nun.  He’s witnessed religious life and the suffering love that is so inherently desirable.  If there were to be one ideal, one moment that could be taken to say that encouraged and demonstrates the very nature of vocation – it is that he cared for a person and a soul that he had not met and barely knew.  As he has written recently, “These moments carry heavy opportunities to love, to suffer in humility, in magnanimity, in charity, to follow Christ as he is misunderstood, slandered, and crucified.”

I do not know where my “Yes” and my Love for God will take me; I don’t know where Christ is leading me, but I know that He has me by the hand.  I know that He’ll teach me an ever increasing Love and Zeal for Souls.  He has led me to a spiritual Home here with the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.  For it is here with the Sisters of Mary that I will be daily impacting Eternity through supplication, praise, and belongingness.  As Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta stated, “I belong to Jesus. He must have the right to use me without consulting me.  The very life of our vocation is belonging and being used.”  A Bride stands beside her Divine Spouse; they endure all things together.

Working towards Loans

I've been listed and started to work with the Laboure Society to pay off my student loans.  But hold your horses - not everything is fully set up just yet.

http://www.labourefoundation.org/index.html#Aspirants

Up and Coming II

+JMJ+

So you're sitting there, waiting with bated breath.

I'm trying to consolidate my loans. And then, I've got to tell you my vocation story.

Well, I sit with Jesus day in and day out. I talk to Him, sit in silence. Silence. I'm not the one who's being selectively mute right now.

Hopefully by next week I'll have more for you to go on.


In Christ, through Mary,

Megan

Up and Coming

+JMJ+

Soon I will be posting up here my vocation story and details on how to donate, to help me pay off my student loans.

It is on the 15th of May that I will graduate with my Masters in Social Work, and in order to better pay off my loans am seeking work until I have to leave to enter the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in late August.

But don't fret, all the details about donating, dates, etc will be in the upcoming posts!

In Christ, with Mary,
Megan

Feeling the Pinch

Today, if I say that I am feeling the pinch, naturally you would think that I am talking about the economy, and in part that would be correct. I am, of course, in graduate school, living at home with mom and dad, beg for money to drive to school and internship, and have $525 in the bank.

*Ouch* That does hurt. But I've got a different pinch in mind.

I was recently surfing the web last week while a professor gabbed about leadership skills, and found a number of sites where proud parents gushed with pride about their child. Their son/daughter had chosen to be a religious or a priest. They faced negative statements from relatives and strangers who did not fully understand that vocational callings are not limiting but actually widen horizons.

That wasn't what I was looking for. All these sites and articles were published by mothers and fathers who were aware of their child's vocation, found it valuable and worthy of support.

What about the hundreds (thousands?) of others just like myself who venture to follow God without any familial support? Where were the frustrated musings and postings of parents who denied their child's faith and religiosity? Did the thought of publicly stating such sentiments keep them silent? Why then do parents find it acceptable to say such things privately to their child, but not in public?

If it's not acceptable to state on the internet, why should it be uttered to an adult child?

Then again, I'm not entering and neither are my brothers and sisters in Christ entering on the basis of others' opinions, but for God. But it sure would be nice if we could enter in the hopes of parents and family members sending the occassional letter or helping out with student debt and the clothing list.