Just this weekend I celebrated my 7th year anniversary in this CFC-Youth community. From where I started out to where I am now, it is hard to believe how far I’ve come. Fifteen year old me could never have guessed that I would be a Mission Volunteer. Even now, it is still hard for me to fully grasp the idea of being a Missionary. So as a reminder to myself, and as a way to share a part of my discernment to join the MV program with you all, I want to share with you an excerpt from my application to the MV Program. I pray that when you read this, you look at your own vocation, and pray deeply and actively about where you are called.
I write this letter to you to express my willingness to enter the Mission Volunteer Program. I have been praying about this for the past couple months and I feel that the Lord is pulling me towards the Mission Volunteer program. It is definitely what I need in my life at the moment.
At this time in my life, I am nearly graduated from BCIT as an Architectural and Building Technology student with a 2-year diploma. January-May 2015 will be my last semester. This is where the discernment is needed. I honestly do not know what to do after I graduate. There are many, many, paths that I can take, but I do not know how to properly discern for each path. Listed below are each:
- The most practical path that I can choose is to graduate, find a job here close to home, work to pay off student loans, help family with bills etc… However, I do not find fulfillment in my life in just doing that.
- Another option is to work abroad over in the Middle East. This way I am able to travel and see different places of the world. However I feel this is a selfish option because it caters to my own wants of travelling and does not really benefit me in any ways.
- This option is for me to go off and do mission work. This is whether as a Full-Time Pastoral worker or a Salesian Lay Missionary. I have always felt the call from the Lord to be a missionary and have lived it out as best I could. This is from my work with the poor to my evangelizing to others. However my concern with this is financially. I may feel fulfilled becoming a missionary, but a part of me knows that I need to be able to financially support my parents. They put me through school hoping that I would be able to graduate and help them out in their old age. I just wouldn’t feel right leaving to do missionary work and fulfilling myself while my family is back home still working as hard as they do to provide for themselves.
- This last option has only become more evident to me that I need to really discern for during a recent trip that I took to visit my friend frater Emmanuel in St. Michael’s Abbey in California. During this trip, frater gave me a hint of advice for my discernment to the Priesthood by saying “How will you know unless you give God the chance to work? What ever you give up for Him, He will give back ten folds. He is not outdone in generosity.” With this, it led me to discern the religious life, namely the Priesthood. However, once again, the problem with this is that I will not be able to help my parents financially. Because of that, I do not feel comfortable in entering at this time.
As you can see, I have much to discern for in my life. At first I planned to discern this on my own, and try to figure it out with my own understanding. However, the Lord drew me towards the Mission Volunteer program. With this program, I will have a concrete and proven way of discerning. Also, most importantly, I will have people guiding me and mentoring me on my spiritual journey in discernment. If I am able to receive help and guidance from those before me that has been through this discernment process and know what it is like, it would help ten folds.
With this letter, I pray that you consider my application to the Mission Volunteer Program. I hope that it was able to give you a glimpse into my life and how much the Lord really calls me toward better discernment. Please pray for me and my discernment.
May God be praised