This morning, I recalled something that a nun told us in a vocation retreat in 2005:
"The priests and nuns are not suddenly holy. As I entered convent, the horns on our head fell off one by one. We all came with lots of horns on our heads."
The first time I heard that everyone was called to be holy was in that vocation retreat. It's very interesting. The thing is last time, when I heard the word "vocation" or "calling", it was used in this context, "I was called to be a priest or a nun". I've never heard things like "my vocation is to marriage".
Of course, the tricky part is naturally people want to get married! So how do you know that you are "called" to marriage or 'something-else'?
I guess this is where the spiritual direction and prayer come in. :) One thing that a friend of mine told me when I started praying about my vocation was to pray of the blind's prayer, "Lord, that I may see". Until now, this is my favorite aspiration. It's because seeing your path or vocation is not an end. Be it a priest, a lay person who lives celibacy, or a married person, these are means for sanctification. Along the way, we need to make lots and lots of important decisions. I used this prayer too when I prayed about whether I want to stay on in my job or not. Sometimes, I added another line, "Lord, that I may see, even though it's painful." Some other times I change the "I" to another person that I'm praying to, e.g., "Lord, that my best friend may see."
One thing my spiritual director told me was to keep serenity and to pray in the presence of God (e.g., in front of Tabernacle).
So yeah... at the end of the day, when difficult times came, I tried to remember this "Lord, I know you are trying to pull off the horns on my head. It hurts!!!" Sigh!
But I thank God that He wanted to 'prune me' :)
"The priests and nuns are not suddenly holy. As I entered convent, the horns on our head fell off one by one. We all came with lots of horns on our heads."
Of course, the tricky part is naturally people want to get married! So how do you know that you are "called" to marriage or 'something-else'?
I guess this is where the spiritual direction and prayer come in. :) One thing that a friend of mine told me when I started praying about my vocation was to pray of the blind's prayer, "Lord, that I may see". Until now, this is my favorite aspiration. It's because seeing your path or vocation is not an end. Be it a priest, a lay person who lives celibacy, or a married person, these are means for sanctification. Along the way, we need to make lots and lots of important decisions. I used this prayer too when I prayed about whether I want to stay on in my job or not. Sometimes, I added another line, "Lord, that I may see, even though it's painful." Some other times I change the "I" to another person that I'm praying to, e.g., "Lord, that my best friend may see."
One thing my spiritual director told me was to keep serenity and to pray in the presence of God (e.g., in front of Tabernacle).
So yeah... at the end of the day, when difficult times came, I tried to remember this "Lord, I know you are trying to pull off the horns on my head. It hurts!!!" Sigh!
But I thank God that He wanted to 'prune me' :)
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