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"Non tutte le vocazioni sono all vita religiosa, consacrata o sacerdotale; non basta uno slancio di generosità e di buona volontà. La vocazione alla donazione totale è un dono, ma la vocazione ad essere apostolo, annunciatore del vangelo, portare il Regno di Dio a tutti è per tutti: va' nella tua casa, dai tuoi e annunzia loro..."
This reflection was taken from Messa Meditazione and since it is in Italian, I will try to be as faithful as I can in translating, bearing in mind my limited, poor Italian.
"Not all vocations are to the religious life, consacrated or priesthood; not enough an impulse of generosity and good will. The vocations to total donation is a gift, but the vocation to be apostle, announcer of the gospel, to bring the Reign of God to all, is for all: "go to your house, to your family and anounce to them..."
This past week, I was graced again with the visit of Connie, my friend from Singapore, who was here for a meeting. Through her, I got to know her colleague from Taiwan. This person has a very positive attitude even though I met her only on 2 occasions. Unfortunately on her first day here, she was the victim of the pickpocket at St. Peter's Basillica, right in front of the Pietà, she believed. Instead of getting upset, she smiled to me and said: my passport is still here even though it was beside the wallet. At least it got stolen in the church instead of on the street.
I would have thought otherwise: why of all place it is in the church!
Anyway, as I read today's reflection, I remember her sharing of her faith.
This new friend is a christian and experiences great joy whenever she prays. She has a so-called 'prayer board' when she stick all her prayer intentions and will mark the date on which she thinks it was answered. Then she will stick them into a journal. She make sure she has 5 intentions each day, not just for her own relationship with Jesus (which is one of them), but for others, people whom she does not know, people whom she came across from reading the news. She prayed 13 times before she finally got a house of her own and she said: only 13 times, that is very little. How can we keep saying we pray a lot and God does not answer our prayers? I prayed only 13 times! She felt she did not do much to spread the Gospel, but just coming into contact with her, I feel that she had already shared with me the Good News--through her faith, through her joy, through her positiveness.
This reflection was taken from Messa Meditazione and since it is in Italian, I will try to be as faithful as I can in translating, bearing in mind my limited, poor Italian.
"Not all vocations are to the religious life, consacrated or priesthood; not enough an impulse of generosity and good will. The vocations to total donation is a gift, but the vocation to be apostle, announcer of the gospel, to bring the Reign of God to all, is for all: "go to your house, to your family and anounce to them..."
This past week, I was graced again with the visit of Connie, my friend from Singapore, who was here for a meeting. Through her, I got to know her colleague from Taiwan. This person has a very positive attitude even though I met her only on 2 occasions. Unfortunately on her first day here, she was the victim of the pickpocket at St. Peter's Basillica, right in front of the Pietà, she believed. Instead of getting upset, she smiled to me and said: my passport is still here even though it was beside the wallet. At least it got stolen in the church instead of on the street.
I would have thought otherwise: why of all place it is in the church!
Anyway, as I read today's reflection, I remember her sharing of her faith.
This new friend is a christian and experiences great joy whenever she prays. She has a so-called 'prayer board' when she stick all her prayer intentions and will mark the date on which she thinks it was answered. Then she will stick them into a journal. She make sure she has 5 intentions each day, not just for her own relationship with Jesus (which is one of them), but for others, people whom she does not know, people whom she came across from reading the news. She prayed 13 times before she finally got a house of her own and she said: only 13 times, that is very little. How can we keep saying we pray a lot and God does not answer our prayers? I prayed only 13 times! She felt she did not do much to spread the Gospel, but just coming into contact with her, I feel that she had already shared with me the Good News--through her faith, through her joy, through her positiveness.
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