This week, as we observe Vocation Awareness Week, we are called to reflect on the sacred vocation that God calls each of us to embrace in our lives. We invite you to listen to Chantale, Fr Louie, and Missionaries of Charity, who faithfully serve God through their distinctive vocations, offering their lives in love and service to the Church and the world.
Transcript
How do you find purpose in your vocation every day?
So I think one of the ways that I find meaning and purpose in my vocation is that I know that in the eyes of God and the Church, marriage matters. It’s not just a private arrangement between two people, but it’s something that is made for the community and for the wider world. When I love my husband well and when he loves me well, the grace of God kind of spills over and that really makes a difference. I’ve seen so many other couples because of the strength of their marriage. They’ve started ventures and businesses and ministries. When I look to people like that and I see that at work in my own marriage, that’s one of the things that gives me a strong sense of purpose in my vocation.
When I wake up in in the morning, normally I wake up 5am, physically I’m ready by doing exercise. And after that I would do my morning prayer. And then spending time with the people in the parish that’s where I found my main purpose as a priest. I do really enjoy going out to the schools, joining the staff for their lunch or their breakfast at morning tea. And then just asking people how are they going personally. That’s where I find my purpose.
As Jesus said in the Gospel of Saint John 15:16, you did not choose me, but I chose you. My vocation is an initiative of God. It is Christ who called me to follow Him. Missionaries of Charity our charism is to see Jesus in the poorest of the poor. In my prayer I am connected to Him, in my apostolate too I see Him whom I pray to and not only in my apostolate but in everything that I do in my daily life.
How did you discern your vocation?
The discernment process involve God and myself. So getting in touch with God and with myself is crucial in this discernment process for my vocation. God already has a definite plan and a specific path for me to walk and so getting in touch with God and with myself. To ask God whether that is His dream and His desire for me. I come to love Him more, to know Him more. And I know that this is the life He wanted me to live. This is the path He wanted me to walk for all eternity. And I feel very much at home. I felt much joy and peace. And also I felt a deep sense of fulfillment.
For me, discerning my vocation was pretty easy really as I was growing up, I had lots of great examples, couples around me whose marriages were filled with purpose and passion, and my life was really enriched by just being around them, and so, I wanted that too. I wanted to be a wife and a mum. But even then, when Arthur and I got engaged, we also did some intentional marriage prep so that we could really start our marriage out right from the beginning, really being intentional and investing in our relationship.
I started thinking about priesthood when I was working as a registered nurse in the Philippines. I wasn’t really sure, like why do I want to become a priest? I just start thinking about seriously when I discern and even at a seminary like it wasn’t really clear to me about if I want to become a priest. But I just use that time at the seminary to discern. It wasn’t really easy. I just take it one day at a time. It’s a blessing that God called me despite of my weaknesses to share in His priesthood and sending me out here to serve His people.
How do you serve God through your vocation?
So the first way I serve God through my vocation is first and foremost by loving my husband well. And by together building a life of faith that’s really authentic. We serve God together by raising our four amazing kids who are disciples in their own right and by being active in the community and in the Church. Because of my relationship with my husband, because of his encouragement and because of our life together, I’ve done things as a Christian that I never dreamed I would do otherwise. And so really for me, it has brought me life to the full in Jesus.
Don’t be afraid to take a risk. Because in taking a risk there’s always a opportunity. This is my first year being a parish priest. It’s a big learning curve to be a parish priest, to be the pastor of this community. So I think I’m just relying on the people who are here to support me in my vocation. That’s how I live my life as a priest now to the fullest not because I know everything, I’m learning day by day on how to serve God’s people and listening to them and working with them.
Well, for me, if I am doing God’s will, then that’s serving Him and living my life to the fullest. Through my religious consecration I know for certain that I’m doing His will and that’s what He wants for me. People feel at home here. They feel welcome. We share a little bit of the word of God with them. We do a lot of evangelisation work. I was giving a class on prayer to one class and one of the questions was, who was the first person to teach you how to pray? And one child put up their hand and said, “You did, Sister.” And that made me really think, how important is the little that we do. So for those who are discerning their vocation, I just say to them, listen in your heart. God will speak to you. He will give you that peace.