Five signs religious life might be right for you

Article from the Vision Vocation Network, by Sister Colleen Therese Smith, A.S.C.J.

3. With God all things are possible

Another sign that God might be calling someone to religious life is that gradually the impossible becomes possible. If God is calling you, then would God not give you whatever graces and gifts are needed for that to happen? Nonetheless that does not mean the road is always perfectly smooth. Sometimes there are obstacles—some of our own making and some from outside of us.

When Mary gave her yes to God at the Annunciation, there were clearly some obstacles to overcome: what to tell Joseph; how the community would respond; the need to register for the census. Yet to show Mary that “nothing will be impossible for God” (Luke 1:37), the angel told her that even her cousin Elizabeth had conceived a child in her old age.

Repeatedly I have marveled as God has seemingly moved mountains in the lives of those who are called. One young woman did not have the means to pay for her own health insurance during the postulancy period of entering my community, but on her last day of work she was amazed when her former employer announced that her parting gift would be a year of health insurance coverage!

Another young woman struggled interiorly with accepting that she would never bear her own children. Acknowledging this painful inner conflict before God while at Eucharistic Adoration, she suddenly realized that though she would not bear children of her own she would be called to “mother” many of God’s children. The amazing gift was that this insight brought great joy and suddenly she was ready to embrace her vocation. Once again the impossible became possible.