The Religious Vocation

What does God want you to do with your life? Whether you're ordained, professed religious, single, or married, Personal Vocation will show you how to: discover the elements of your vocation; commit yourself to that mission; and remain faithful to your personal call from God. For the young adult making education and career decisions... For the older individual coming to grips with vocation concerns... this book offers information and a perspective that can encourage, inspire, and re-energize.

Understanding the rewards of a lifelong commitment to Christ is the most important goal of a new high school religion textbook from Ave Maria Press. Your Christian Vocation helps students learn how to live their lives to the benefit of others as they consider a vocation of service--in marriage, priestly or consecrated life, or the single life--to the Church and their own communities. Students will explore a variety of topics in each vocation, including friendship, dating, and courtship related to choosing a spouse; family planning and raising children; the importance of the Sacrament of Holy Orders to the whole Church; priestly celibacy; and other forms of religious life including religious institutes, eremites, consecrated virgins and widows, secular institutes, and societies of apostolic life. Students will find the encouragement and practical skills to practice discernment for their lifelong vocation. They'll also learn how to consider the differences between vocation, jobs, and career. A bonus chapter on the single life is available online, along with a variety of teacher resources. Your Christian Vocation replaces the Marriage and Holy Orders textbook. Developed in collaboration with experts in theology, catechesis, and pedagogy, Your Christian Vocation is part of the Encountering Jesus textbook series and features the same pedagogical design and features that have made the series popular with both teachers and students: Chapter Focus Questions: Each chapter's main idea is posed as a question to the student to provide a broader context in which new ideas can be integrated and understood. Infographics: A wide variety of visual and interactive designs throughout the text help students understand theological concepts in ways they will remember. Currents Events: Each chapter opens with a story from the contemporary world that teens can relate to their own lives. Educational Photos: Images throughout the text have been carefully chosen not only to illustrate the chapter but for teachers and students to use as educational tools. Note-Taking Graphic Organizers: Designed to help students organize, summarize, and sequence the text, various types of organizers were customized for every section of the book. Section Assessments: Each section includes pedagogically designed assessment questions with labels that show how the questions serve a variety of different learning styles. Online Resources: As always, teachers can access a wide variety of online resources at the Ave Maria Press website, including videos, PowerPoints, handouts, crossword puzzles, reading guides, and tests. The enhanced digital edition of Your Christian Vocation includes exclusive access to videos from the Apostleship of Prayer, America Media, Catholic Relief Services, the Congregation of Holy Cross, and Word on Fire Catholic Ministries. These videos enrich the written text with expert explanations of key theological concepts, sacred people, and sacred places by Bishop Robert Barron, Dr. John Bergsma, Rev. Kevin Grove, C.S.C., Rev. James Kubick, S.J., and Rev. James Martin, S.J. A Teacher's Wraparound Edition (TWE) offers strategies and lessons to facilitate several different learning styles. Guides, approaches, rubrics, questions, and answers all ease a teacher's planning and coverage of each student text chapter. The text has been approved by the Subcommittee on Catechism for use with Elective D, Responding to the Call of Jesus Christ, of the USCCB curriculum framework.

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

Formation in religious life is a very complex matter. Indeed, it has become even more so since we live in a time of doubt and uncertainty when religious houses are closing and more than a few religious communities are facing the possibility of extinction for lack of vocations. Yet, while it is neither popular, nor easy to speak positively of religious life, and much less of formation for religious life, we must find the courage to do so! The formation plan has to be clear, yet, in its clarity, it must not become too rigid. The author sets out a number of priorities and responsibilities in which the first person responsible for discernment and growth is the candidate himself. Without devoting special chapters to each group, he considers the differences between monasteries and apostolic congregations focusing a remark here and there, for example, on the difficulties met in contemplative monasteries where those in formation are few and formation can last 6 to 8 years without a change of spiritual guide. This book is extremely valuable for the way in which it draws our attention to details frequently assumed (and thus often forgotten), reminding us that the young candidate to religious life is truly representative of his or her generation. The work also points out a number of snares into which formation communities may fall, e.g., harshly critiquing the candidate or using those in formation as household servants. These pitfalls are easily and best avoided! In short, this is a solid, straightforward and faithful book that avoids indulging in illusions as it outlines conditions for a positive journey along the path of formation in religious communities today. Book jacket.

Together, the essays that constitute Exploring the Religious Life offer an engaging introduction to Rodney Stark's provocative insights and a fearless challenge to academic perceptions about religion's place in history, society, and private life.

When you understand it properly, the doctrine of vocation—"doing everything for God's glory"—is not a platitude or an outdated notion. This principle that we vaguely apply to our lives and our work is actually the key to Christian ethics, to influencing our culture for Christ, and to infusing our ordinary, everyday lives with the presence of God. For when we realize that the "mundane" activities that consume most of our time are "God's hiding places," our perspective changes. Culture expert Gene Veith unpacks the biblical, Reformation teaching about the doctrine of vocation, emphasizing not what we should specifically do with our time or what careers we are called to, but what God does in and through our callings—even within the home. In each task He has given us—in our workplaces and families, our churches and society—God Himself is at work. Veith guides you to discover God's purpose and calling in those seemingly ordinary areas by providing you with a spiritual framework for thinking about such issues and for acting upon them with a changed perspective.

5 year-old Molly McBride dreams of becoming a nun when she grows up, so Momma sewed her a purple habit just like the ones worn by her special friends, the Children of Mary Sisters. And she never wants to take it off! Until now, this hasn't caused the McBride family any major problems. But Molly's big sister Terry has a very, very special day coming up, and Momma bought Molly a fancy new dress to wear for the occasion. Will Molly find a way to wear her purple habit to The Big Day? And why do nuns wear habits, anyway? Molly McBride and the Purple Habit is more than just a cute and colorful story to entertain Catholic children of all ages. Dr. Egolf's book explores important tenets of our beautiful Faith such as the Sacrament of Holy Communion and the Holy Mystery of the Mass in a simple but beautiful way that takes the whole family into a deeper understanding of Christ's Love.