Real Faith

Sister Mary Emily Knapp, O.P.

Vocation Director - Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, Nashville, TN

While my Sisters participate fully and I dare say, 'radically' in the "New Evangelization" through their faithful dedication to the teaching apostolate, my role as vocation director for our community has led me to evangelize in unique and varying ways. In my travels across the country to vocation events, retreats or visits with prospective candidacy, I often meet people who are surprised to see a Sister in a full-length habit. Sometimes the surprise is pleasant but other times the surprise is, well-a SURPRISE; and I get many strange looks. Often these people keep walking and I never have a chance to talk. It is then that I pray that my smile communicates to them the Love that Christ has for them. Other times however, I have the blessed opportunity to engage in a conversation with the curious on-looker-whose face bear the questions: "Who are you?" or more often WHAT are you?!" When the Lord provides such opportunity, I am always grateful to be able to share with them something of my vocation as a consecrated religious woman-- as one who has deeply experienced God's Love-a Love which has claimed my whole life!

Increasingly, I hear the question from young women: "How is God calling me to live out the New Evangelization?" I am edified by these young people. They have heeded Christ's invitation to be the "light of the world and the salt of the earth" (cf Matthew 5:13-16). They want to give a radical witness-- to be counter cultural. They refuse to go along with the crowd, and, instead, choose to stand up for their beliefs and give witness to Christ. Ultimately they know that their hope is grounded in the triumph of the Cross. They know it is He who calls the human soul to be His alone and He alone can fulfill the desires of every human heart. These young people and have discovered that He is the answer to every question and that He source of all their hope.

While many are open to hearing the Good News of God's love for them, I have faced challenges in trying to help people hear and answer this call. So often it seems the world has not received the "New Evangelization." We seem surrounded by more "bad news" than "good news," and this hostility to the embrace of a God who loves us has seeped into the lives of many young people today. Compounding their questions, are the obstacles to their hearing any answer. Young people today are surrounded by so much noise. Even for believers who are open to hearing God's call, the distracting noise and frenetic pace of our culture often drown out the still, small voice which can only be heard in the silence of prayer. Often, my work as vocation director is to help young people redesign their habits of life so that they can hear God in the silence of their heart. Finally, for those who do hear the call, "Come, follow Me," they must choose the demands of sacrificial love over the world's persuading promise of pleasure.

At the heart of the "New Evangelization" lies a willingness of Christians to witness to the unconditional Love of God in an age that has grown skeptical that such Love can exist. What remains ever "new" in evangelization is that in every generation God invites each individual-personally-to share in His Trinitarian Love. More than anything, I want to share with others that the same God who has called me to give my life to Him offers that same invitation for them--to know Him and to know His love. Each and every person has been called into existence to know God's love. Every life therefore is a call and "every life is a vocation." (Caritas in Veritate 16).

In the end, the vocation question is really just between the one discerning and God, for it is ultimately He who calls. A divine initiative is given which awaits a human response. Through my own consecration, I seek to witness to the richness of Religious Life, trusting that if a young woman has a religious vocation my witness can encourage her to say "Yes" to God's invitation. While clarity often comes to a young woman as she speaks with me and asks questions about our apostolate, our prayer life, our communal love, more often than not I simply step back and watch the Mystery of God's presence unfold---and marvel at its beauty!