This Is One Who "Gets It"
Posted by: tony on 10/05/2007 11:11 PM
Updated by: tony on 10/05/2007 11:11 PM
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Expires: 11/05/2007 12:00 AM
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Adoro te Devote is one of my regular reads. And once again, I have not been disappointed.
As a woman, my goal is not just to be like Christ, but to be like Mary, as my model, for she ALWAYS points to her Son. Today, someone came to me, and I got to point her to Christ, via the one who stands in personal Christi, the priest who was given, via ordination, the power to bind and loose. What a blessing! I never before considered the very Vocation of woman to stand "in persona Mariam". To always point to Jesus.
To all of you priests....do you REALIZE how AWESOME and INCREDIBLE this is, to be able to welcome people home, and by the very authority of Jesus Christ, to WELCOME them back HOME!????
Seriously...if I was a guy, I'd have called the Vocations office this afternoon and asked what I need to do to become a priest.
This is powerful stuff. Having a front row seat to conversion does amazing things.
And as I'm a woman, I'm going to take this to the next level; I'm not going to demand to be a priest; instead, I'm going to work as hard as I can within my state in life to help more men answer the call to the priesthood, and for women, the call to religious life. What woman would settle for being a priest when she could work to answer the need to cultivate a THOUSAND priests? As one person, I can do nothing; but if one day, a thousand priests and religious stand as witnesses at my Judgment and say I had a positive effect on their choosing or reinforcing their Call...well, I choose that. Let me stand "in persona Miriam", and do all within my ability to point people straight to Jesus Christ.
People (especially feminist "sisters" like Joan Chittister) do not understand the power of a holy women to affect vocations to the priesthood. Countless boys have been made to understand God's call to the priesthood through the ministrations of women, especially nuns.
Back when I was a boy, the nuns wore full habits. As a survivor (said in a joking way) of Catholic school, there were nuns I liked more than others. But they all exuded holiness. They were examples of someone who gave up the possibility of husband and children for something greater. As one sister put it: "I knew my future husband was a gift from God, but I came to realize that the gift was not enough. I wanted the giver."
Now we rarely see nuns in habit (or priests in their clericals) in regular society. Once was a time you could look at a priest or a nun and identify them as such simply by looking at them. Now, rather than stand out in their vocation, most seem to want to "blend in".
Sisters like Joan Chittister should take a lesson from Adoro. Stop striving to do what you want to do, and start doing what you ought to do.
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