Vocation often starts as a ‘whisper’ in the heart

    Benedictine Brother Ephrem Arcement regularly turns to Psalm 139 to be reminded of the miracle of life – that wondrous realization that God “formed my inmost being” and “knit me in my mother’s womb.”   “That means it’s not just your parents that created you,” said Brother Arcement, speaking to 1,000 fifth graders from 30 Catholic elementary schools at Mount Carmel Academy May 1. “God created all that is, and when God creates there are two things that are important to know: God doesn’t make mistakes and he creates with a purpose; he creates people in his image and likeness with a destiny.”
   Brother Ephrem, who is preparing to take his final vows next year, was the keynote speaker at “Calling All Fifth Graders,” the annual archdiocesan event offering 10- and 11-year-olds a peek at the vocational callings of priests, sisters, brothers and deacons.

   In Brother Ephrem’s case, God’s call has led him to his current role of helping seminarians at St. Joseph Seminary College at St. Benedict Abbey discern a possible call to the priesthood.
   “How many people have seen ‘Star Wars’?” asked Brother Ephrem, prompting a sea of hands to rise. “I’m not a Jedi – no light saber. Instead, I’m something far cooler, and that’s a Benedictine monk,” he said, adding that like St. Anthony of the Desert and St. Benedict before him, he felt an “internal rumble” to shed the trappings of secular life to grow closer to God. When Brother Ephrem’s mother asked him at age 9 what he wanted to be when he grew up, the young man shrugged, saying, “I don’t know; I just want to make a difference in the world.”
   “When she asked me that question something inside me said, ‘I just can’t settle,’” he said. “I think the Holy Spirit inspired me in that moment to say what is in the heart of every human being, and in your heart, too: Deep down we want to make a difference in the world. We don’t want to just settle.”
   While all are not called to be monks, all are called to be holy, Brother Ephrem noted.
   “It means God wants you for himself,” he said, offering two simple ways the youngsters could train their ears to hear God’s call.
   “First, we’ve got to start praying,” he said. “Jesus had to make some big decisions in his life, and the Gospels tell us that one of the things he would do was to go alone by himself and talk to his father – Abba.”
   Brother Ephrem’s second tip: get a Bible – preferably “The Catholic Youth Bible” – and immerse yourself in the Gospels.
   “Start reading, because then you’re going to get to know what God’s voice sounds like,” he said. “It’s not always easy to hear God talking to us, but God is always calling our name.”

The making of a priest

   The fifth graders, who heard from priests, sisters and brothers throughout the day via panel discussions and interactive games, learned that the adults before them were simply ordinary people who had accepted extraordinary callings.
   Father Patrick Wattigny, pastor of St. Benilde and the chaplain of Archbishop Rummel High, told the youngsters of a childhood in New Orleans and Slidell spent playing marbles, riding bikes and collecting baseball cards. He said he wasn’t a particularly good altar server as a fifth grader, and even shrugged off a dream he’d had in seventh grade that he was a priest.
   “I thought I was going to be a baseball announcer,” said Father Wattigny, a 1985 graduate of Holy Cross High who went on to earn his degree at Loyola and UNO, “but when I was 20 years old, I started asking myself, what am I going to do with my life that’s of most service to God, friends and family and me? I started praying.”
   Three months later he heard a vocations homily from the late Msgr. Vernon Alleman, the longtime pastor of St. Raphael Church.
   “I decided on Dec. 8, 1987 – the Feast of the Immaculate Conception – that I was going to be a priest,” said Father Wattigny, who was ordained in 1994.
   Outside of the daily constants in his life – celebrating Mass and time spent in prayer and adoration – “no day is ever the same,” he said. Helping his parishioners “overcome sins and grow in God’s grace” is his favorite aspect of the priesthood, which will take him to a new parish assignment – St. Luke the Evangelist in Slidell – in July.
   “I love preaching, but I like hearing confessions even better,” Father Wattigny said.

Teachers inspire life paths

   Marianite Sister Suellen Tennyson got the nudge to become a sister as a high school junior, even though her favorite pastime was dancing the jitterbug. Sister Suellen recalls being attracted to the idea of “being a sister to everybody” after being taught by the Sisters of Mercy at Redemptorist Girls High and the Marianite Sisters at Holy Angels Academy.
“I found out some of them were nurses and social workers, but do you know what I liked best of all about the sisters? They were like my sisters,” she said. “You can do any kind of profession (in life), but what is your vocation? How does God want you to live out your life? Does God want you to be married? Is God calling you to live out your life as a single person? Or is he calling us girls, as women, to be sisters to one another, sisters to all people?”
   Sister Suellen, a teacher and former executive director of the archdiocesan Department of Religious, reviewed the three vows of religious life – poverty, chastity and obedience – and her vocation’s main components of prayer and living in community.
   “We make decisions together; that’s what living in community means,” she explained.
   Christian Brother Michael Livaudais, an Archbishop Rummel graduate and teacher, also found himself intrigued by the religious life after observing his teachers.
   “They looked like they were absolutely in love with what they were doing!” Brother Michael said. “They were funny; they had a good time; they were hardworking; they were smart,” he said, noting that unlike Moses, people rarely learn their life’s direction by hearing “God’s big booming voice coming out of a bush.”
   “What I learned is that God’s voice sounds like your mom and dad; it sounds like your teachers; it sounds like your grandma and your grandpa. God’s voice sounds like the people who loveyou,” Brother Michael said.
   “Ask the people you love whether they think you have what it takes to give your life to God’s church,” he added. “Your vocation is like a buried treasure, and you know where God buried it? In your heart.”
  
   At the concluding Mass, Archbishop Gregory Aymond also said the heart is the center of one’s vocational stirrings.
   “(God) whispers in your heart, and what does he say? ‘Come follow me,’” the archbishop said. “If God does whisper into your heart, ‘Come follow me,’ we hope that you will say, ‘Yes, Lord,’ even if you’re afraid, even if you have some questions. Fifth grade is not too early to think about God’s plan for you!”
   The annual event is sponsored by the archdiocesan Vocation Office, the Office of Catholic Schools and the vocation directors of local religious communities.
   Beth Donze can be reached at [email protected]