The First Step to Uncovering God's Plan for Your Life (feat. Sr. Maria Regina S.V.)

who are you most sweet god and who am i every human heart asks that question and it's an important part on our journey of discernment hey i'm father mark mary and i am sister maria regina and i am a franciscan friar of the renewal and i am a sister of life sister maria regina welcome thank you great to have another sister of life with us always a big hit with the fans with myself as well sister maria regina is the vocation director for the sister of life so she knows a little something about discernment and she's going to share a little something with us about the sermon that's great yeah i think the first question is why even talk about discernment and discernment i think is such an awesome thing to talk about because it is about my heart it's about god's heart it's about the path that he has for me of joy and peace and ultimately it's my way to get to heaven which is why we're all here in the first place so i think another question could be like what does it even mean to discern so i want to start with a story one of our sisters was visiting her family and she has a little three-year-old niece named chloe and chloe had just she was at that age where she had just learned how to tell secrets and so she said auntie i have a secret i want to tell you and so sister bent down and she waited for the secret and chloe cupped her hands and she leaned in and she just started giggling she couldn't say it and so sister said what's so funny chloe i thought you were going to tell me a secret and i was chloe giggling but you don't have any ears and i think it's a great way to start with discernment because discernment is about the ears of our hearts the ears of our hearts listening to the lord's word of love over my heart over my life discerning my vocation is about receiving the gift of his plan it's a foundation it's not a problem that i have to solve it's not a riddle i have to figure out it's receiving the gift of this plan so i think the question comes you know how do we dispose ourselves to receive the gift how do we hear with the ears of our heart what the lord desires for us and that's what we're going to shed some light on the context of discernment like the foundation is my relationship of love and trust with our father in heaven so ultimately the lord is going to be the one to reveal his plan you know he loves to do the heavy lifting in our lives and he's going to be the one who has to show it it's like a good parent you know they know when the child is ready to receive a gift and our father is the same way that he's going to reveal it to us when we're ready and so before anything we do we ask him to open our hearts like jesus open my heart open my eyes open my ears to hear the good plan that you have for me it's not something that if i just try hard enough if i exert a little bit more strength it's not something my vocation i can't grasp it i can't control it i can't plan it i don't discern my vocation in an empty room in a vacuum but i come to know and receive my vocation as a gift from my father who loves me it's really through coming to know him and how he created me to love so what does this look like in discernment i think the word vocation is actually really significant in itself i love etymology and vocation comes from the latin word vocare which means to call to name or to summon so a vocation is a calling it's a calling and a call takes two people there's one calling and the one called one speaks and the other listens so it's communication in a relationship which i think is essential and in a relationship the important thing is coming to know the other person that's involved you know who who are they and who am i if i don't know him how will i be able to hear what he's what he's saying to me there's actually a story about saint francis your holy founder that speaks to this you know when saint francis was alive one night he was staying at a monastery and there was a man who wanted to know how this holy man prayed and so he snuck into the chapel late one night and he saw saint francis there in front of the tabernacle and he heard saint francis praying who are you most sweet god and who am i who are you most sweet god and who am i that is the foundational question of every human heart i would encourage everyone to ask this question in prayer who are you most sweet god and who am i the question of identity so a good priest friend that we know is actually one of your friars told us this story he was standing at a bus stop one day and he saw a woman approaching the bus stop who was wearing a shirt with the words it said me bad across the front and he became deeply aware of his spiritual fatherhood in that moment and he approached her to tell her the truth that she's not bad that she's actually good and she motions to him that she actually um doesn't speak english she's not understanding so he tries to say it again a little bit more slowly a little bit louder she's still still not getting it finally he realizes so he decides to keep communicate in a way that she will understand and so he blesses her with a sign of the cross and she understood what he was saying that she was blessed she was good she was loved and i just thought that's an awesome image of who god is god the father is always trying to find ways to communicate to us in a way that we will understand in in my language the language of my heart he is going to communicate he's he's relentlessly creative and communicating his love to me he's always blessing us affirming us loving us choosing us willing us into existence you know the other side of that question who am i you know who who are who are we who am i on a very foundational level you are an icon of a living god you know you are unique and loved in an unrepeatable manifestation of god's creativity and glory you belong to him your deepest identity is beloved you are chosen and willed into existence so this is just basic this is basic truth even before we ask the question of discernment you know to be rooted in who god is and who i am so this question who are you most sweet god and who am i it's really from this place of encounter of asking the lord to reveal his plan to me and learning how to open my heart to him that's where the security and trust come from that i need to move forward with trust and joy and peace onto the path that he has for me but just to kind of set that as the foundation that discernment is in the context of a relationship with a god who created me loves me infinitely and has a beautiful plan for my life and my love and wants me to be with him forever in heaven and i just think that is a great place to start yeah thanks sister yeah and and sisters just be with us for two more videos but for this one i think part of it right is like the first question isn't um what do you want me to do where am i going to end up right these are these first questions are you who are you and who am i it's a question of of identity and right some of the struggles i think and the stresses of discernment and the burden felt is the burden of thinking that we have to figure it out of the burden of urgency of the burden of of an incompleteness where i am but if we actually know who the lord is and know who we are um and lean into that like and be stay rooted in that um the burden like we're gonna the fruit of that will be rest and peace and confidence as the lord unfolds and gives us that gift of our vocation right we want to lean into this lord who are you who am i and we want that prayer to help be somewhat like release some of the stress some of the burden that trying to like uh figure it all out manage it manipulate it things like that and and to receive uh with open hands what he has for us and leaning into some more practicals sister will be back with us next week great well thank you for watching remember we are pilgrims on this earth someone's peregrinos poco poco little by little vampire guy we're gonna make it all right god bless y'all [Music] you

Channel: Ascension Presents

Views: 38,628

Keywords: spiritual gift of discernment, discerning of spirits, ascension, ascension press, ascension presents, catholic questions, discernment of priesthood, religious life vocation, vocation to the priesthood, vocation to religious life, vocation to priesthood and religious life, catholic discernment, how to discern, catholic advice, catholic inspiration, catholic motivation, cfrs, franciscan friars of the renewal, fr. Mark-mary, fr mark mary, father mark-mary, catholic friars

Id: wQ5v-Og8o7g

Length: 8min 48sec (528 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 22 2022