Discerning God’s Call
More than 100 young men from Province High Schools attend the latest Operation Fiat program!
The cultivation of a religious vocation is a process requiring many factors. God calls in infinite ways, but that call needs to be discerned, welcomed, understood and responded to, all over time. We have seen that there is no shortage of young people being called. The presence of more than 100 young men, all of them students from Chaminade High School or Kellenberg Memorial High School, gives testimony to that fact. Yet, hearing, discerning, welcoming and responding requires prayer, accompaniment and much grace. It also requires a growing understanding of what a religious vocation entails. All of these are part of the vocation ministry in the Province of Meribah. Operation Fiat is designed to be an initial step in this direction, allowing a person to begin to think about his own vocation, and to encourage his entering in to dialog with God and others on the question.
Operation Fiat begins with Evening Prayer. In a sense, it is the Marianist religious inviting these students to join them in their praying the universal prayers of the Church, which they pray every day. Then, there is a short talk about some aspect of a religious vocation. During this recent program, Bro. Joseph Bellizzi, SM, Provincial, share his own vocation story, while at the same time calling everyone present to further discernment of his own vocation, using the acronym “CSI” (Clues, Service, and Inquiry). Since we all know that the way to a young man’s heart usually passes through his stomach, a wonderful barbequed meal followed in the Guadalupe Plaza of Kellenberg’s Firebird Center. This time together allowed the religious and students to continue to discussed the themes presented, in small groups.
Finally, there was time for some quick bowling in the Firebird Center’s new new bowling center. The evening concluded with the sining of the “Regina Caeli” and, of course, some ice cream
Let us pray for these young men, than God’s grace, already present in their lives, would help them see more clearly their own calling in life, and perhaps some will pursue a calling to religious life and/or the priesthood.
