Today we celebrate the solemnity of St. Joseph. Talk about a guy whose world gets turned upside down! He appears to have his life together, he’s engaged, has a job, has plans...and then his fiance drops a bombshell on him.
Getting a call to religious life can feel somewhat similar. You might have plans; you’re on your career path; you know what you want out of life. And then....something happens...and suddenly your future isn’t so assured and you have these nagging questions. I’ve known women who have been in serious relationships or even been engaged only to have the religious call intervene. I’ve known women who have finished a degree and fully expected to go out job hunting but then realize there is something else knocking on the door of their heart.
God has to get our attention in some way to assure us what our path should be. For Joseph it was a dream that would tell him it was okay to take Mary into his home. I envy Joseph, one dream and he seems okay to follow wherever God leads him. My dreams are usually rather bizarre and not as easy to interpret! However, our dreams can tell us a lot about what is sitting below the surface of our consciousness and this can be a help in discernment some times. We have to be open to whatever avenue God may use to help us in our discernment. We also have to realize that what may look initially like ‘bad news’ may in actually turn out to be a bigger blessing than what the original outlook may have been.
I sometimes wonder how much St. Joseph had to do with my own vocation. Back when I was 25 I was trying to figure out what to do with my life and I happened across a 30 day novena to St. Joseph that I thought I would use to get some heavenly help. It was in the midst of that novena that I felt the strongest pull towards God I have ever experienced and set me on the path to discerning religious life.
So...try asking St. Joseph for a little help, he must have been confused about what to do in his life too!
No comments:
Post a Comment