n the depths of your heart, the place where your true feelings
live - and the place where God's Spirit touches yours - you hold
your decision about your life choices. See if you can become very
quiet and move your focus down to your heart's center. And then
listen; perhaps pose these questions to yourself.
- What do I want most in life?
- What are my greatest fears?
- What are my deepest hopes?
- What makes me most alive?
- What is God like?
- Can I name my feelings about God, myself, the world?
- When I imagine myself in religious life, what feelings arise in
my heart?
- When I imagine myself married or single, what feelings
arise?
- What gifts would I bring to religious life, married life,
single life?
- Can I see myself studying theology and enjoying it?
- Can I see myself living and working in a group?
- Which do value more: interdependence or independence?
- When I picture myself five years from now in each life
vocation, what images arise? What feelings come to me?
Ask God's Spirit what steps you might take toward a life choice.
Listen to your heart and to God's response. Take your time with
these questions. Use weeks or months to consider them. Keep notes
on what you hear when you prayerfully listen to your heart. Trust
God's presence and love.
Clare Wagner, O.P. Copyrighted @1995 NCCV