Confused religious brother?




A friend of mine who just graduated from a theological school here in Manila sent a message on my mobile phone asking me to pray for him for his final decision to embrace a religious life perpetually.

"Bro pls pray 4 me. yes or no ba me sa buhay relihiyoso."

What can i say? I believe religious life is a gift. It is something that is given to you by God just like any other vocations - single blessedness and married life. None of these vocations supersede the other, these are equal calling from God. And this guy is responding to the call of becoming a priest. Was the text expressing his confusion? Can he make that decision? Or maybe he just want my prayer.

I would be happy if he's confused. It only shows how serious he is in whatever life ahead of him. This will make him think over and over to a lifetime decision he has to make. We need priests right now, and not just priests, but good priests. And i just hope he will be able to go over and reflect his vocation story. It is God who initiated the calling, and it's up to us to respond to that calling. I just hope he will go back to the very first encounter where in he felt he was first called by God. Hopefully i can find time to talk with him the matter. For the meantime, all i can offer right now is also a text message replied to him:

" Try to reflect what makes you think otherwise and identify those things. Kaya ba nimo i-let go? Can you also picture out yourself 30 years from now? Would you be happy by that time then to whatever decision you will make today? "


-melskiens-

Comments

littlemisshomosapien said…
I have my reservations when it comes to talk of priesthood being a "calling". I think it's more meaningful to be a man for the people (Gawad Kalinga, World Vision) rather than just a man of God (being a man of the cloth). I believe God is the good in us, and if we are to unleash it through actual helping and not just preaching then that's what you call true calling.

Hope your friend gets all the enlightenment that he needs.
April 1, 2011 at 9:12 AM
-melskiens- said…
I should say they prefer to say the word "calling"/vocation (vocare -to call) in order to give emphasis also to the one "Who calls" and the "response" of the one who is called. And I myself have reservations too because sometimes they give much importance to the "one who is called" thus making themselves especial among the rest forgetting the "responsibilities" coupled in the life they have chosen.

Yeah, let's just pray he will be enlightened. I know he will..
April 1, 2011 at 11:24 AM
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