The third quality essential to authentically search for God’s will concerning one’s life is courage. In surrendering to God’s will and putting one’s own aside in this process is difficult, to say the least. What if God asks something that is difficult and challenging like marriage or the single life or religious life or priesthood or that of a missionary in a foreign land. What if God asks me to consecrate my life to Him in a religious community that serves lepers, criminals, the sick and dying, the mentally ill, ill-literate and unruly children, youth apathetic to His Word? “I can’t let my state of life up to God! What if I’m not up to the challenges? What if I fail? What if….” “Courage! It is I,” Jesus tells the apostles who see someone on the water walking toward them in the boat. Jesus says the same to those at the threshold of choosing a vocation in life: “Courage. It is I calling you to this state in life. Be not afraid.”
Source: Discernment of Spirits by Warren Sazama, SJ, National Religious Vocation Conference, Chicago, IL 60615.
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