Called By God Discernment And Preparation For Religious Life

In Called by God: Discernment and Preparation for Religious Life, Rachael Marie Collins provides an overview of the spiritual life—both its joys and its challenges—and guides women as they discern whether they are called to be religious sisters or nuns. In a series of letters written by the author to a trusted friend discerning whether to enter religious life, Called by God explores both discernment and spirituality. The key to discernment, Collins argues, is to prepare for religious life by entering deeply into a life of prayer and sacrifice so that one experiences and begins to understand the “work” of a religious before entering the convent. Called by God draws heavily on the wisdom of great Catholic women such as Teresa of Ávila, Thérèse of Lisieux, Zélie Martin, Edith Stein, Teresa of the Andes, Elizabeth of the Trinity, Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, Elizabeth Leseur, and Caryll Houselander, among others. Women discerning a vocation will benefit immensely from the discussions about the difference between religious life and marriage, the nature of a vocation, the supernatural superiority of religious life, and spiritual motherhood in Called by God.

A guide to help Catholic women discover a vocation to religious life.

Religious life is vitally necessary to the Catholic church today. But it will exist in new and varied forms which speak to the spiritual hungers of different societies, ethnic cultures, and generations. God’s Call Is Everywhere is the first comparative analysis of research in six countries investigating women who have entered vowed religious life in Catholicism in the twenty-first century. The data include survey responses from institute leaders, formation directors, and the women themselves, conducted in the United States, Canada, Australia, and France, along with focus groups and interviews in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and France. Through a careful summary of these studies and comparing differences, readers of this book will have a better understanding of the hopes and concerns of those discerning a vocation to religious life and learn how to move forward in the future. God’s Call Is Everywhere includes six major points of comparison: Demographic characteristics of the women entering religious life and their personal and familial backgrounds What attracted them to religious life and to their specific religious institute What they find most satisfying and most challenging about religious life Their hopes and concerns for the future Experiences and programs that were helpful in their vocational discernment Aspects of the larger society, of the Church, and of the religious institutes which make vocational discernment difficult for women today The analysis is followed by six reflective essays, two of which discuss the implications of the findings for future vocational discernment programs and four of which compare the findings to religious life in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

All of us have a yearning to understand where we belong in this world. As Christians, most of us understand from Scripture that God has a purpose for each of us and has gifted us differently. But discovering our unique giftedness and where God calls us to use those gifts eludes so many. In his new book, Discover Your Calling: The ABC of Vocational Discernment, Soo-Inn Tan provides biblical and down-to-earth support for those who seek to better understand how God is shaping their lives. Whether you’re a student, entering the workforce, a homemaker, a mid-career worker, or a retiree, discover how God may be preparing you for the continuing challenge and joy of a lifelong walk with Jesus Christ across all aspects of vocation.

Religious life is vitally necessary to the Catholic church today. But it will exist in new and varied forms which speak to the spiritual hungers of different societies, ethnic cultures, and generations. God’s Call Is Everywhere is the first comparative analysis of research in six countries investigating women who have entered vowed religious life in Catholicism in the twenty-first century. The data include survey responses from institute leaders, formation directors, and the women themselves, conducted in the United States, Canada, Australia, and France, along with focus groups and interviews in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and France. Through a careful summary of these studies and comparing differences, readers of this book will have a better understanding of the hopes and concerns of those discerning a vocation to religious life and learn how to move forward in the future. God’s Call Is Everywhere includes six major points of comparison: * Demographic characteristics of the women entering religious life and their personal and familial backgrounds * What attracted them to religious life and to their specific religious institute * What they find most satisfying and most challenging about religious life * Their hopes and concerns for the future * Experiences and programs that were helpful in their vocational discernment * Aspects of the larger society, of the Church, and of the religious institutes which make vocational discernment difficult for women today The analysis is followed by six reflective essays, two of which discuss the implications of the findings for future vocational discernment programs and four of which compare the findings to religious life in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Kingdom Calling offers a compelling theological grounding for the vocation, ministry and discipleship of the whole people of God. Building creatively on previous studies, it challenges all of us to change so that the whole church can serve the whole mission of God in the whole of life. Kingdom Calling provides a thorough diagnosis of the theological factors that have prevented such a vision being realised over previous decades. These factors are embedded in the social realities of our everyday life and in the sometimes hidden assumptions that shape our thinking in the church. By setting out a sustained proposal for the renewal of our theological imagination, the report points the way to address some deep running fault lines in our common life. Written in an accessible style, Kingdom Calling looks in turn at the vocation, ministry and discipleship of all God’s people, asking what kind of theological thinking and imagining might most help us to flourish together. It affirms and celebrates the vital lay and ordained ministry roles that support the church in God’s mission, and it identifies changes in practice that can better foster the vocation, ministry and discipleship of the whole people of God.

Father Thomas Dubay, one of the foremost authorities on the religious life, discusses one of the most important but not fully appreciated or understood charisms of the consecrated life, the charism of virginity. Although the idea of virginity is unpopular and even despised in modern society, Dubay emphasizes that the importance of evangelical virginity is rooted in its Biblical foundation, both in the Old and New Testaments. Examining in detail what the call to virginity is and how it is integrated into the whole of consecrated life, Dubay presents his study in such a way as to be of importance to men as well. Noting that a woman, because of her feminine nature and traits, can image and live the Church's wedded relationship to Christ more realistically, Dubay points out that men with the celibate charism are also members of the virgin Church that is wedded to Christ, just as in the Old Testament the People of God was a virgin bride wedded to Yahweh. The common and distinct elements of male and female consecrated love are fully captured in these pages.

The Protestant doctrine of vocation has had a profound influence on American culture, but in recent years central tenets of this doctrine have come under assault. Vocation: Discerning Our Callings in Life explores current responses to the classic view of vocation and offers a revised statement and application of this doctrine for contemporary North American Christians. According to Douglas Schuurman, many Christians today find it both strange and difficult to interpret their social, economic, political, and cultural lives as responses to God's calling. To renew this biblical perspective, Schuurman argues, Christians must recover the language, meaning, and reality of life as vocation, and his book helps do just that. Developed in dialogue with audiences as diverse as college students, industrial workers, business leaders, church leaders, and professional theologians and ethicists, the book examines the theological and ethical dimensions of vocation as these have been understood historically and in relation to our modern social setting.