Vocation Stories

Comboni vocation promoter Fr Marnecio Cuarteros shares the stories of four ordinary young people, and how they grew in faith and a sense of being called.

Those special childhood Sundays

There were just little children when they started to enjoy what life offers. And they were playmates, too: Boboy, the youngest and smallest, Mario, Roger and famous Mary Ann. They were all hyperactive. The boys were naughty. They were brought by their families to church every Sunday - but while Mass was still going on they liked playing in the yard outside. Their parents never tired telling them to get inside the church and behave properly, but for them Sunday was a day to get together. They were so alive, jumping and running here and there, and discovering new things out of their curiosity. They shared their few coins and usually bought an ice cream and shared it with each another.

It seemed to them that there was never enough time for this beautiful so in the afternoon they tried to visit each other. They would make their own toys out of local materials like bamboo, banana leaves, and part of coconut trees, even scrap materials like plastic, papers, empty tins. They were very innovative and could make kites, miniature cars, buildings, bridges…

Growing up together

As they grew older, they kept up their regular visits. One day, they found themselves asking, “What shall we become?” Roger answered quickly, “I want to be a doctor because I want to restore the physical health of sick people. I want to share God’s compassion by being attentive to the needs of the people especially the dying and the underprivileged. I want to be a doctor someday to carry on the work of Jesus. When people=have a healthy mind and body, they become assets for society. God’s presence would be felt in my presence as I come to them.” Wow! Everyone was delighted and gave Boboy a big round of applause.

Then Roger chipped in, “When I grew up I just want to be a happy, successful engineer, thinking of our development in the countryside. I want to build schools, hospitals, roads and bridges. Through my profession, I will be able to let the people come together. I can gather them from different far distant isles and they can experience the beauty of nature, and transact business, social relations and diplomacy. God wants me to bring them into the wide open horizons of the universe, with all its grandeur, beauty and surprise. They will travel and realize the presence of God here and now.”

Beautiful hands

Mario was the quietest among them. He just smiled and thought, but then said with assurance, “I want my family’s land to be more productive. I want to be an agriculturalist. I will produce more through my hard work. I want to supply food for the nation. I do not want people to starve. With my curiosity, I will try also to study the integrity of creation.”

They were all shocked by Mario’s explanation and pulled his leg, “So you want to be like St. Francis of Assisi. Can you bear working with dirty hands?” Mario answered, “It does not matter whether my hands become dirty with mud so long as I do it with dignity as a person and share God’s blessings with people through God’s providence in producing something for the good of the others.”

He continued, “It’s not from the outer appearance you can see the fulfillment. You can only feel the joy when you sweat for something, when you make an effort and when you know why you are doing such work. Beautiful hands are hands that work.” They nodded their agreement.

A torchbearer

Mary Anne, the only girl in the group, always showed an interest in education. She always played the role of being a teacher, like one afternoon when the group was making a kite, Mary Anne wanted things done in a very systematic way. As usual her favorite words were, “Do this, do that, just concentrate on one thing at a time.” She was flexible too, thought, and encouraged her friends to think and to express their own opinions. She tried to teach them the newest style of dancing. Everyone enjoyed her company.

“I want to be a professional teacher someday,” she said. “It is the noblest profession. I would like to be a torchbearer lighting up the darkness. I could bring new skills and knowledge to the people of the world. I will eradicate ignorance. Through my effort when I grow up I can discipline the people to be good citizens of the world. I can teach them the basic skills of writing, reading, counting and more importantly to promote and enhance good Christian values as our parents do for us in the family.”

Living the Gospel

The four grew up together. They all studied in public elementary and high school. They were all involved in their parish youth choir. As they reached their adolescent years after graduation in high school, each one of them pursued their different professions.

Boboy and Mary Anne went to Manila and studied in well-known universities, while Mario and Roger just studied in their home province. During their semestral break they would go home and share experiences in life. Amidst the city’s noise and fast pace of life, Boboy and Mary Anne joined the campus ministry group. They became active, more and more rooted in prayer and the experience of the sacraments. Gratefully, they recognized that they belonged to the Church even though far away from their home province. They had rich experiences of volunteering themselves during their free time, having their apostolate to visit the sick, the elderly, special children, home for the aged.

Mary Anne explained, “The more I get into this activity, the more I witness Christ’s love to the people, to be of service to God.” While Boboy shared that his faith became strong and active despite the consumerism around him. For him joining the campus ministry provided an avenue to express himself as a true bearer of God’s mercy and love to people, and showed him what it means to be human, and the meaning of living Gospel values in the difficult situations of life.

In the province, Roger and Mario became active too in the Bible Study group. It enabled and encouraged them to know themselves better and deepen their relationship with Christ. It helped them realize that faith in God includes sharing faith in community and carrying out the Church’s mission in their own state of life.

Being with God

As years passed by, they all successfully graduated in their own fields of expertise. All of their parents were proud of them. They all landed good jobs. They have promising career development including the money talks in terms of compensation. They continued to be active Catholics. Despite of their hectic schedules, they find time to be with Jesus, to pause for a moment and have some time to be alone with God in prayer.

It was summer when they had the chance to meet together in their province. As usual, they shared what was going on in their lives. To their surprise, all of them were in constant discernment about entering religious life. Mario who was a very reflective man said, “I enjoy providing crops, but there is only one thing more joyful for me - to be with God with all my strength and my being.” Mary Anne too shared that many young men had been attracted to her and planned to marry her, but as she said, “I want to follow God’s call to be a nun. It will be challenging to be a teacher, no longer just in a classroom, but with different people of different walks of life, teaching the word of God.”

Likewise, Boboy and Roger shared that the exercise of their profession had awakened in them the seed of a vocation - they wanted to become priests. Boboy said, “If God wills that I become a priest I will not only attend to the physical health of people, but I will also be a doctor of their souls.” Roger added, “If I become a priest, I can connect the people through building Christian communities, linking them to God.”

As they continued their sharing, they realized that to understand the Christian vocation, you have to start with God. Our faith is a personal response to and relationship with Jesus. Vocation is beyond our own profession. God uses our talents and gifts to spread the good news to everyone. What we need is to be open and humble to God’s call to us.<WM

Write to

Fr. Vincent and Fr. Marnie

Vocation team

Comboni Missionaries 282Roosevelt Ave

1105 Quezon City M.M

Philippines

Tel. 414-3164/372-5859

or E-mail:

postasia@i-manila.com.ph

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