To Be A Good Shepherd

i would just like to share with all of you, this little big thing we call a "vocation", since sunday was Good Shepherd Sunday, also known as Vocation Sunday. :)

for many ppl, Vocation Sunday is not relevant to them cos:
1) it's only for priests and religious what.
2) i'm sure i'm not called to be a priest or religious.
3) it doesn't concern me, i'm not that HOLY.
4) sianz. always trying to recruit more priests...
5) i'm already married and have kids, not 'qualified'

and yes it is true! many times we have emphasised prayer for vocations to the priesthood, esp the diocesan priesthood. there IS a shortage of potential priests, and it is TRUE that without priests we have no MASS becos they are the only ones who can offer our sacrifice. and no MASS means we (you, me & the Church) will wilt and die. spiritually, emotionally, perhaps literally. :P

HOWEVER, that does not mean that "vocations" mean priestly callings only! :)

according to amanda's opinion, a "vocation" is something that EVERYONE is meant to have! for me, it's more like "self-actualisation" :P  before God formed us in our mother's womb, He already knew us through and through, and made us for a specific intention, a specific place in the world with all the graces, talents, personalities that add up to a cocktail that is uniquely "ME". :)  and as we discover those talents, discover the passions that drive us, we become more and more the person we were made to be. and in the midst of growing into the fullness of who we are in the eyes of God, we may suddenly discover who we've always meant to be. and this, in essence, is our vocation. :)

for some of us, we may discover that the person we're meant to be, is to be found in a total dedication of our lives to the God we love so dearly. for some of us, we may discover that we're meant to give our entire selves to another person in marriage, dedicating our lives to love this person and all he/she entails, like how God loves us. :)  for some of us, we may find ourselves neither "belonging to this category, nor another" and it sometimes becomes uncomfortable when ppl seem to just want to put us in a box and there is no box that seems right for "ME".

to you, i say, do not worry. :) God already has something worked out for you. :) In Jeremiah 29, the Lord says, "¹¹ For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope. ¹² When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you. ¹³ When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, ¹⁴ you will find me with you, says the LORD, and I will change your lot; I will gather you together from all the nations and all the places to which I have banished you, says the LORD, and bring you back to the place from which I have exiled you."

and so my dear friends, my challenge for all of us this week, is to really pause to consider what the Lord has been calling ME to these past 20 years of our lives, and what He might be leading us to for the next 5, 10, 20 years of our lives. :) How has the Lord prepared me to do what He wants me to do in the future? How has the Lord blessed me to be a blessing to others? Will you let the Lord show you His plans for your future full of hope? :P

having a "vocation" is not only having a call to priesthood or religious life or marriage or singleness, but that openness to the Will of God to go where He leads, to bloom where you are planted, to be moulded and chiseled in obedience as He sees fit. God loves YOU, not what you can do for Him :P so don't worry about what you're meant to DO, but rather, WHO you become! :)

and the answer can be found in the quiet depths of your heart. ;)

"Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care." --Isaiah 40:11