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a vocation thread


chrysostom

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Please say some prayers - there's a job opportunity for me which would help out quite a bit financially and hence for paying off what I need to in order to move forward vocationally. They are deciding between me and someone else in the next few weeks. May God's will be done. Thank you!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks for the prayers. I got it! It won't get me all the way there but it's a good step forward and will help.

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  • 6 months later...
chrysostom

More prayers again please. This whole virus/quarantine thing has thrown me off, I guess, with neither regular sacraments nor regular life in the world, and it feels like my direction is spinning off balance. I really want to do an extended retreat/visit to figure out my direction...solidify it...what have you... but 1. I can't afford not to work for a month or to travel for the visit, and 2. I can't because quarantine. So I gotta hunker down and pray, and it's hard all on my own. So prayers would be lovely so I'm not on my own. Thanks.

Edited by chrysostom
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Antigonos

You are never on your own.  Keep saying that to yourself.

Do you live by yourself? If so, I suggest establishing a schedule for yourself, with times specifically set apart for prayer or meditation (a bit of “lectio divina” if you’ve got a library), but not forgetting that you have to eat and relax as well.  That’s important.

try to imagine that you are in spiritual connection with a community, if you can — just as you are with us here.

If you are living with other people, try to arrange that, at specific times, it’s understood you will have some undisturbed privacy (hopefully your own room) and create for yourself an “island in time” in which to obtain spiritual refreshment.  If, in a monastery, there would be bells announcing different sections of the day, set yourself an alarm clock, and don’t mix the “sacred” and “profane” parts of the day.  That way there will be a balance in your life.

Remember that “this too will pass”.  Try for patience.  Hope this helps a bit.

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  • 4 months later...

I believe Antigonos' suggestion of having a personal horarium is excellent.

Lockdown is impacting most of the world. I can imagine how difficult it must be, to be without retreats, meetings, and common worship and sacrament, when one is discerning a vocation. (I'm too much a sort who is thinking in terms of millennia - and of how the Church survived persecutions, Plagues, remote mission assignments, penal laws.) :bible:  Let's just hope it is not for much longer. 

In the meantime, be careful not to turn it into some personal trial or exceptional blessing. It is a pandemic - we deal with it by personal prayer, hoping for sacraments, whatever, but it's neither a special blessing nor a curse. You'll find your way.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This latest set of crossroads are kind of being crossed this week. Please double up on those prayers, it feels like a rather important moment.

And prayers for God's providence regarding a job I am applying for which, if obtained, could within a year clear me of financial ties.

The road has been rocky. Mostly my fault. But God perfects the called, not the other way round...

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Crossed it. It was difficult to let go of some things but I feel at peace now. The job thing will happen over the next few weeks. Thanks for the prayers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

With some very strange and disturbing news I received, I have taken comfort in the fact that my future is really in God's hands. Though I have tried to follow God's will as regards actions concerning my future, the peace of heart achieved in those actions is not some kind of oracle about what my future will actually be. That is, if I let go of a lot of things in order to abandon myself to the will of God, that is all well and good but the peace in my letting go, I think, is from the abandonment and detachment itself, not from a new attachment to my ideas about the particular future of a possible life in religion.

I really did let go of a lot of things. I think that is why despite how strange and odd the news is - despite the fact that it could change the trajectory I have planned out - I still feel at peace.

I say these things without going into details - as this is the wrong place to look for specific spiritual direction - but in this moment writing here is helpful to me to crystallize some thoughts, and I wanted to share a piece of them for this friendly anonymous community for which I am thankful.

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So yes, once again I'm kind of clueless about the future, though very much aware of the kinds of discernment necessary and the steps to take. Nothing happens till it happens, and God can throw you curveballs at any point - like this past week. I just want to be doing His will whenever those happen. ;)

Edited by chrysostom
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Thanksgiving prayers for having received some very helpful spiritual direction today.

Edited by chrysostom
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