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February
28, 2007
Quoting John Paul the Great, Loverde said that God gave us individual life projects and that there are particular lives that God is calling the students to. "Whatever the particular vocation that God is inviting you to," he continued, "love is at its center—love of God and others… Dear young people discerning, I do not know the life project—the vocation—that God is calling you to, but whatever it is, He desires you to reveal His love to others. My prayer is that you follow his guiding light. Dare to love," he concluded. Founder of Priests for Life Rev. Frank Pavone gave the opening address on Saturday morning entitled "Master Where Do You Stay?" Dealing With Uncertainty in Discernment. "If you get close to God, you are going to want to run away. We have to understand this dynamic if we're going to understand discernment. Somebody feels the initial call, the attractiveness of a vocation…then they start to walk toward this and then they suddenly feel I am not worthy," Pavone said.
"Whatever our
vocation is, it is always shaped by the needs of the Church and society
at a particular point and time," Pavone continued. "Brothers
and sisters, in our time we live amongst a culture of death, no matter
what particular vocation we have, if it is a vocation in the United States
of America in the year 2007, it must be marked by a particularly strong
commitment to defend the sacred dignity of every human life."
"Fr. Pavone's talk was excellent," Sophmore Ali Schuberg said. "It was a really interesting experience speaking with the different nuns." Freshman Katie Erwin agreed. "It was so nice to have all the different orders there. You could just walk up to any of them and ask questions. I especially enjoyed the talk Gerard Anthony (College Alumnus '02) gave." "I told Fr. Pavone before his talk that if there were more than 100 students at his talk at 9:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning, he should take it as a huge compliment," Director of Alumni and Career Development Tom McGraw said. "I think there were at least 200 students there, maybe 250. The Commons was packed and people were standing in the back." Director of Vocations for the Arlington Diocese Fr. Brian Bashista was there and affirmed, "If we could have wished for a talk for the college students to hear, this talk was it." Saturday night, after the events, priests and religious joined students in The St. Kilian's Café, playing cards, and unwinding after the big weekend. "It was very clear that the Holy Spirit was the main designer and planner of this weekend!" McGraw said. To listen to Fr. Frank
Pavone's talk visit Christendom College's new Podcast website: http://christendom.mypodcast.com.
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Christendom
College hosted a newly revised Discernment Weekend for students on 23-25
February. Students gathered in record numbers with priests and religious
from across the country for a time of discussion and prayerful reflection.
"Brothers
and sisters, we have to feel I am not worthy, but that does not mean I
am not called," he continued, "Any journey of discernment is
going to have that tension in it… What this tension means is that
I am called to be purified and to accept something of which I will never
be worthy… No matter the vocation, every human being is called to
life-giving self-sacrificing love."
The
afternoon featured a series of Breakout Sessions on a variety of vocations
topics including: Marriage as a Vocation, The Diocesan Priesthood, How
to Foster Priestly Vocations in Your Family, Discerning Your Vocation
While Still Single, The Consecrated Religious Sister and many others.
