On the nature of Call

[Yaatee]

http://globalsistersreport.org/column/horizons/changing-call-26906

From a Sister of St. Joseph of Philadelphia who also has a v interesting blog.

http://beingmyvocation.blogspot.com/

[4LoveofJMJ]

There’s a tightness in my chest that is hard to explain. I can’t remember when it first started or on what occasion it became noticeable. In a way, it feels like it has always been there, loosening and tightening over time. Like a band wrapped tightly around my chest, it binds up my heart – not in a painful way but as a steadfast reminder of a presence deeper than myself. In simplest terms, it’s the feeling I get when I find myself deep in prayer. And for good or for ill, it’s also what I’ve come to associate with call.

This is so true for me right here. I know it's hard to explain so I've never expected it to be explain so well. Sometimes this feeling can be very annoying.

A friend once told me she’d considered religious life and could see herself becoming a sister except for one small thing: the call.  “I can do the apostolic works, the study, the community, but I don’t know if I know what it means to be called.” she said. “Is it a voice or a feeling or what?”

That’s a hard question to answer. God speaks differently to different people. (My friend would also take issue, I’m sure, with what it means to “hear God’s call” on grounds that call is something far beyond a momentary utterance.)  For me, though, there’s a deep sense of serenity, a steadfast groundedness that signifies that sense of being called.

 Yep. Whenever my mom asked me about what it's like to feel called by God, I never knew how to answer her. I felt like God was calling me to something but I didn't know how to accurately explain it to her. Everything I thought of felt paltry in comparison.

For a long time, I didn’t know what to do with that feeling. In prayer, in writing, in service, in reflection, and in conversations, it would surface. It came and went freely, yet it stayed present enough in my muscle memory that I could never forget it. I recall times as I was discerning religious life that I actively ran from that feeling, and yet each time it came I knew I was in the right place.

Yes again!