A Response to the Love With Which God Loves Us

I can’t believe I’ve been in Bolivia for over two months now! I wish I could post here more often, but between not knowing what to write about and not having too much free time, once a month will have to do!

One thing I was really struggling with when I first arrived to Bolivia was trying to figure out what God was calling me to do with my future. I’m not sure why I was trying to figure out every detail of my life when I go home when I have just arrived here, but I’ve been doing a lot better living in the present and being here on mission instead of back home a year in the future! So I spend a lot of time praying about what mission is and its role in my vocation.

Here’s a simple definition of mission: Missionary activity is a response to the love with which God loves us.

Feast Day of Our Mary of the Rosary at the Local Church

Sunday, October 19^th was national World Mission Day, and October is the month of World Mission Month, yeah I didn’t know that was a thing until I got here! I don’t understand too much Spanish, but the priest at the church we go to with the girls tends to focus his homilies for the kids, so I understand more that I think. On World Mission Day, he talked about vocations and discernment, yup our favorite words.

We are all called to holiness; we just have to listen to God to find out how He wants us to reach it. For a while, I thought that choosing a non religious vocation would somehow disappoint God. That if I want to love and the serve Him the best I can, I would have to become a religious sister. But we can’t just make up our vocation; we have to answer His call to what He wants us to do!

The thing is, we’re not choosing between a “good” and “bad” vocation, they’re all beautiful and they all serve the Lord! Also, we’re not the ones choosing. God already chose long before we existed, we just have to listen!

Daughters of the Divine Savior Community with Charlene

So at mass, the priest talked about how we are all called to be missionaries, we are all called to respond to the love the Lord has given us and share it with the world. The priest recognized the religious Sisters of the Divine Savior, then the three lay missioners and lastly, to my surprise, all the married couples at mass. He called them all up before the final blessing, recognized and blessed them before the whole congregation. I didn’t really understand why he blessed the couples on World Mission Day, so I asked Natalie, the other SLM, to ask one of the Sisters about it and translate for me. She said that parents are the first examples of missionaries their kids see. They are the first to teach their kids Love, which comes from God. At daily mass earlier that month, the same priest talked about the influence parents have on their children’s faith lives. He asked couple if they pray together, and if they pray with their kids. Then he asked how many parents talk about the option of religious life as a vocation for their kids. I’m not sure how many parents do, but I know I can be one of them!

Over the past four years, I’ve had the blessing of working, going on retreat and being surrounded with Sisters from different orders that follow different charisms. They’re all so beautiful and radiant with God’s love and joy. I love the Sisters I live and work with here, I love the idea of community life and living a simple life serving others. But the more I bring this to God, and the more time I spend here at the orphanage, God finds ways to tell me that although the word would definitely benefit from more missionary sisters, there’s a need for moms and parents that will spread this love and passion for Him in a different way. Our world needs parents that will raise our future Priests, Religious Brothers and Sisters, and Saints! My work with kids doesn’t have to end in Bolivia, neither does praying in a community. That community can be my family one day! I guess it took me until now to realize that answering His call for family life isn’t choosing a lesser vocation, and it doesn’t mean I love Him less or am disappointing Him, I’m just following what I feel He’s asking me to do!

We are all called to holiness, no matter where we come from or how we think the past has shaped us. Before I knew God’s love, I honestly believed I was never going to get married or have a family, and religious life wasn’t even on the radar! And just four years later, I’m a lay missioner in Bolivia, living with a religious community with the most wonderful boyfriend, a gift from God, waiting for me at home (:

Random picture of me with the Christ of Peace!