A little over two years ago a friend of mine got married and
had little packages wrapped with blue paper and white bows as the centerpieces
for the tables at the reception. The
wedding cake looked exactly the same with three tiers and a big white icing bow
at the top. As they entered into their vocation that day
the theme of being a “gift” was beautifully evident and the phrase from Guadium et Spes continued reverberating
in my heart, “Man cannot find himself except through a sincere gift of
himself”.
I remember hearing once that the greatest grace after
Baptism is the gift of a religious vocation. Religious vocations are gifts that
are directly received from the Heart of Christ pouring itself out in a complete
gift of love on the Cross. Gazing upon
the crucified Lord, our hearts are compelled to be poured out as His was, that
we may be more fully conformed to Jesus, who “fully reveals man to himself and
makes his supreme calling clear” (Guadium
et Spes).
Something that has struck me in my short time here has been
how authentically the Sisters receive the blood and water which flows from the
Heart of Christ into their own hearts in prayer and then pour themselves out
for others in a sincere gift of self.
St. John Paul II once said, “Become who you are.” If we are made in the image of God, then the
more fully we conform ourselves to Jesus by giving ourselves as gifts like He
did, the more fully we in turn become who God made us to
be. I think the word that best sums up
the disposition of my heart during these months would be “gratitude” -
gratitude for the gift of the Sisters and their vocations and that the Lord has
invited me to be a part of this community.
And isn’t gratitude the proper response when one is given a gift?
- Kristen Rainey, Postulant
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