When a young man comes near the end of his schooling-
whether primary or secondary school, technical institute or teachers' college,
polytechnic or university, he has to ask himself a question; "what shall I
be?". God has given me but one life to live: what shall I do with it? One
way to look for an answer is to say: "what would I like to do?". A
better way is to say: "what does God want me to do?", or, "what
is God calling me to be?". Another word for 'CALL' is 'VOCATION': the
young man is facing the question of his vocation. The 'Vocation' am talking
about is the call to follow him(Jesus Christ) in the religious life. If we
follow his call, we will choose that state of life in which we can best grow in
love of God and be of service to mankind. We will, in the process, develop our
selves personally in order to become what God expects of us, we will then be
truly happy.
The major ingredient is DISCERNMENT. Discernment should be done with the aid of a spiritual director most likely a catholic priest, sister or brother. After which the next step is to apply to various communities. But, the young man is confused about, "how do I know the community to apply to?". Are they in Nigeria? The Catechism of the Catholic Church comments: "from the very beginning of the church, there were men and women who set out to follow Christ with greater liberty, and to imitate him more closely, by practising the evangelical counsels. They led lives dedicated to God, each in his own way. Many of them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, became hermits or founded religious families". Thus the church, by virtue of her authority, gladly accepted and approved them. These religious families are canonical tagged "Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life".
