Judging
In objecting to the Church speaking out on moral issues, a friend recently quoted the “Judge not…” line from Scripture. It made me think of this…
Tag: Discernment
TOT: How to live the single life
Yesterday we had another “Theology On Tap” session at Phil’s BBQ. In previous weeks we’ve heard from Fr. Matt Spahr and Cy Kellett and this week our speaker was Dr. Karen Saroki:
Aug 7: “What is your purpose? What is your call?”
Learning to listen to God’s voice and follow it. -Fr. Matt Spahr
Aug 14: “Citizens and Disciples”
Voting your conscience! What does that look like?- Cy Kellett
Aug 21: “How to live the single life AND meet Mr/Mrs Right”
Living the single life according to God’s will.- Karen Saroki
Aug 28th: “Love, dating and relationships”
Calling all people wanting to love and be loved according to God’s holy desire.” – Jackie Francois
Here’s Karen’s biography:
Dr. Karen Saroki received her medical training at University of Michigan Medical School in 2005 and she is now a family doctor at Culture of Life Family Services. She is one of six children and is the sister of Fr. Anthony Saroki, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and also has another brother in seminary. She is an avid hiker.
Here’s the audio:
Main Talk (Download)
Q&A (Download)
(The intro/outro music is Public Domain and available here)
Three Images of Discernment
Today I would like to return to the topic of discernment.
I concluded my last entry by mentioning the common thread I noticed within virtually all vocation stories. Whether in the priesthood, religious life or married life, I would invariably hear described in each story a personal moment when the discerner began to notice something drawing him or her towards a certain vocation. Sometimes this “something” was a great event, but more usually it was something small, something which an outsider wouldn’t notice or would regard as insignificant.
For some people it was a moment in prayer. For others it was a throwaway comment from a friend or stranger. For yet others, it was the reading of a familiar piece of Scripture, but in a new, personal way. This deep intuition, one awakened, put their life into focus and they began to feel an attraction towards a particular vocation in the same way a magnet is attracted to metal.
Discernment Frustrations
At the end of last week I scribbled a very short post about my recent discernment efforts. Today I’d like to say something about my discernment frustrations…
Definitely older, maybe even a bit wiser…
As I mentioned in my earlier post, the discernment in my mid-twenties wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience. I tied myself in knots and got extremely frustrated.
This time I approached things a little differently. I had a rough plan of attack, a shortlist of people with whom I wanted to speak and an approximate timeframe. In rare moment of decisiveness, I even managed to bypass my usual extended period of procrastination and got on with the task in hand…
Discerning Thoughts
As some of you know, since returning from England, I have embarked upon a period of discernment concerning the major areas of my life: vocation, location and occupation. I have been taking some time out to re-examine where I am, what I’m doing and asking if I’m where I’m meant to be…
In my early/mid-twenties I had set aside some time to specifically look at the question of ordained ministry. After getting frustrated and tying myself in knots, I received some good direction from a priest and after much prayer finally concluded that I was not being called to ordained ministry, or at least not for the time-being.
A lot of stuff has happened in my life since my mid-twenties, so it seemed like a good idea to return to this question.