In this life, we are encountered with many calls from the Lord that maybe sometimes we don’t want to say yes to. Sometimes this call can be to choose between married life or religious life. One of my close friends from where I grew up in Chesterfield, Missouri, spent her time during high school believing that she was called to the sacrament of marriage and to have kids. She always told me she had this feeling she was called to be a nun, but ignored this call because she thought she knew what she wanted was to be married. One day at our high school, Sister Mary came from the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity to speak to all the women at our high school about her experience and how she listened to God’s call to join the religious life. After Sister Mary had finished her talk, I remember sitting with my friend and she looked at me and said “That’s what I want to do, I want to become a sister, I know it in my heart.” My friend is currently in the stage of taking her final vows to become a nun with the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity.
It can be difficult to follow God’s call when it might be something we don’t want to do. But it seems as long as we avoid God’s call, he places obstacles in our way until the only path left to choose is his. When we end up following God’s plan, nothing stands in the way of achieving his will that he has planned for each one of us. Mother Teresa, as pure as she was, also struggled with following God’s plan for her. In order to say yes to God’s plan, she made a secret vow in 1942. She wrote in her diary “I made a vow to God, binding under mortal sin, to give to God anything that He may ask, ‘Not to refuse Him anything.’ This vow showed that Mother Teresa truly wanted to say yes to anything and everything that God asked of her, no matter how hard it might be. Mother Teresa kept this vow a secret for 10 years and when she finally revealed it, her reasoning was that she made the vow in order show her love for Christ and to show that she would always surrender to His will for her.
We must live our lives as Mother Teresa did. Jesus Christ lived his whole life saying yes to everything that his father, God, asked of him. Jesus Christ gave his whole life for us by saying yes to anything he was asked, so why should we not say yes to what God the father asks of us? When we say yes to God, everything falls into place. God grants peace in our lives when we answer His call. Some might say though they don’t know God’s call and receive any signs from the Lord. There are two steps in order to hear God’s call. The first is to go and visit Him whether that may be in a chapel, outdoors in a quiet place, a church, etc. You must invite Him into your life and open your heart for Him to enter. Spend time with Christ by getting rid of any distractions and just sitting in His presence in silence. The second step is to ask Him for guidance in your life in any particular area you need Him to guide you. What you ask Him to help you with probably won’t happen right away but continue to return to him every day for a short amount of time. When you begin to get discouraged that things aren’t falling into place, spend time also with Mary, saying the rosary and asking her for guidance also. It does take time for things to fall into place in your life, but with God, you will see His plan for your life unravel and you will begin to see little blessings throughout each day. Say yes to God’s plan for you and anything he asks of you. This is the path to spend eternity with Him in Heaven.
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