Vocation Discernment Retreat Notes: Year of Faith with Franciscan Focus

Here are just a few notes from a September 21-23, 2012  Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Vocation Discernment Retreat that anticipates the beginning of the Year of Faith proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI. A past letter of John Paul II and Scripture support the call to conversation called by our current Holy See at this time of concentrated emphasis on the gift of faith..

"The Year of Faith is a 'summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the One Savior of the world'".

• John Paul II Letter to All Consecrated Persons - May 22, 1988

...vocation for all Christians is realized in time by means of Baptism, which buries us in Christ's death. Baptism also marks the beginning of our being "hid with Christ in God"-a reality inscribed in the life story of a particular baptized person.

• Paul's words, especially in the Letter to the Romans, show that all of this "newness of life", which is first shared with us through Baptism, includes the beginning of all the vocations which during the course of a Christian's life will call for a choice and a conscious decision in the Church.

• Scripture

Matthew 6:19-21 Store up treasures in heaven.
Luke 21: 34-35 Be on guard that your hearts may not be weighed down.
Matthew 8:20-25 The Son of Man has no where to lay his head.