‘Come and see,’ Jesus said to the disciples John and Andrew (John 1:39). As they actually put one foot in front of the other to follow along, they moved step by step towards a life-changing encounter with Jesus.
Have you ever wondered what it was like for them to cross the threshold of the place where Jesus was staying? What exactly did they see at ‘4 o’clock in the afternoon’? How many times during the later years of their lives did they have to answer that question?
There is a certain sense of mystery that surrounds every vocation. We might, like those disciples, remember the time and place of the call, and how nothing could silence the conviction it left burning in our hearts: ‘We found the Messiah!’ (John 1:41). But when it comes to the heart of the mystery of that moment, we are simply compelled to repeat the invitation, ‘Come, and see’ (John 1:46).
As a religious sister, I am always moved when someone sidles up to whisper that question, ‘How did you know God was calling you?’ It’s always a moment of grace as I am drawn back to remember that moment in Year 7 religion class when, seemingly out of nowhere, I was seized by the love of God and became convinced that my life was for loving him in return and bringing others to love him.
The heart of every vocation is love ... God calls each of us out of ourselves and into a life transformed by his generous love.
At the same time, there is also a great joy in recognising God’s grace at work in the person asking the question, moving them to seek the traces of his fingerprints in the world. The consecrated life is one of those visible signs of God’s grace at work in the world. In his letter on consecrated life, St John Paul II captures the fruits of the encounter of a consecrated person with Jesus:
In the countenance of Jesus, the ‘image of the invisible God’ (Col 1:15) and the reflection of the Father’s glory (cf. Heb 1:3), we glimpse the depths of an eternal and infinite love which is at the very root of our being. Those who let themselves be seized by this love cannot help abandoning everything to follow him (cf. Mk 1:16–20; 2:14; 10:21, 28) (Vita Consecrata, §18).
Yes, the heart of every vocation is love. When I ask married couples how they met, they share a similar moment of grace. The bustling of their children around the table gives evidence to the radical changes in their own lives as a result of their faithful ‘yes’ to loving each other. God calls each of us out of ourselves and into a life transformed by his generous love. Cleaving to him, we become more like him and therefore also closer to each other.
She continues to pour herself out moment by moment. The house is filled with the fragrance of her life spent loving the Lord and whoever he brings into her ambit. At any moment of the day, you can find her saying a kind word, washing an abandoned dish and pre-empting the needs of those around her.
Recently, I had the blessing of spending some time in our mother house with more than 300 of our sisters. On returning to Melbourne to begin a wonderful year teaching in one of our Catholic schools, my mind keeps wandering back to the witness of an elderly sister.
Having spent her life teaching and administering at various schools, she continues to pour herself out moment by moment. The house is filled with the fragrance of her life spent loving the Lord and whoever he brings into her ambit. At any moment of the day, you can find her saying a kind word, washing an abandoned dish and pre-empting the needs of those around her. Eagerly listening to the younger sisters’ stories of their work in the schools, she makes their needs her own, pondering the best way to address them and dropping off just the right resource or idea to help. When the chapel lights go down and the other sisters head off to rest, she silently, discreetly, treads a worn path along the marble floor in front of the stations of the cross.
Reflecting on her life, it strikes me that she has truly become what she is called: Sister. Her life illustrates the marvellous way God’s call to draw someone away from their home and family to belong entirely to himself in the consecrated life overflows in making that person open and shared out to all of us, as our own Sister or Brother.
As we celebrate the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life on Sunday 2 February, what we are really celebrating is God’s grace made visible in the witness of a life transformed by the Gospel. Seeing this transformation reminds us of our own upward calling, spurring us on to ‘live a life worthy of your calling’ (Ephesians 1:4).
