This week we have the joy of receiving a new postulant into our community. With this beautiful event comes a new impetus to examine one’s own vocation, and the meaning of vocation in general. How true are the words of St. John Paul II: “A religious vocation is a gift, freely given and freely received. It is a profound expression of the love of God for you, and, on your part, it requires in turn a total love for Christ. […] If someone among you hears Christ’s call to a complete gift of self in the religious life … have the courage to say yes generously and firmly…” (Address to Youth, Rome, Italy, 1989).
Our foundress, when she was still alive, often gave conferences to the Novitiate. She would sometimes say that it was not enough to rest on one’s entrance into monastic life and the memory of the good will that it required. The following of Christ had to be embraced anew every single day, as though it were the first and only day.
May all of us, both those already consecrated in religious life and those discerning the religious vocation, be renewed in Spirit to give—and live—our unwavering yes to Christ!
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