Single-Hearted Devotion

This Sunday the topic of single-hearted devotion was discussed in the homily. Father Meinrad Bruner was our guest celebrant from St. Meinrad Arachabbey and the words that he spoke have stayed with me throughout this week. He spoke beautifully about vocation and honoring your vocation with single-hearted devotion no matter what road blocks get in your way. If you are called to marriage to live out that call with every fiber of your being, to nurture it, and seek God with all that you are. He said that if you are called to religious life or the priesthood that you should seek that path with all that you are working to build the kingdom of God on earth with either your parish or community. His homily was great and I was renewed in my own effort to seek after God's call on my life with all that I am. As I have reflected on this throughout this week, I was continually reminded of the blessing that comes with having others seeking God along with you. When the road blocks and challenges arise in each of our journey's there are people that God has placed in our lives there to support, encourage, and love us through the challenges.

I am blessed to have a supportive circle of friends that are here to journey with me. Some of them have been called to the vocation of marriage and others religious life or the priesthood, but all of us are on the common journey of seeking God with all that we our and living out our baptismal call to love God and serve our brothers and sisters here on earth. The homily this week has filled my heart with gratitude and the desire to continue living out my vocation with all that I am. It was a reminder to continue to embrace this time of serious discernment and faithfully work towards being ready and able to enter Our Lady of Grace Monastery. Thank you to all of the beautiful men and women in my life who support me and love me and keep me grounded in this wonderful journey of seeking God. From my college friendships to the Sisters at OLG, I am constantly reminded that I am not alone on this journey (my office is covered in encouraging cards from all of you)! I am blessed and I thank God each time I remember you.

Re-entry

Prisoner re-entry has been on the forefront of my mind a lot lately. I know this may seem odd to many because it is not a topic that is easy to discuss or crosses the average persons mind, but it is an issue that I encounter daily. Many of the homeless neighbors that I work with daily face huge re-entry barriers. Many do not have a support system to lean on when they are released. All the neighbors that I work with come in with no place to stay causing addition barriers and are currently not employed. On an average it takes an ex-offender five times longer to find employment than the average adult. At this time in our economy, it is taking the average adult 20 weeks to find a job full-time job with no criminal history (I learned this at the training I am attending this week). This is crazy considering that most recently released individuals have a very short amount of time to find employment (usually 90 days) before their parole is revoked and they are sent back to prison.

This significant issue has been in the news in Indianapolis a lot lately. One of the reasons that it has been in the paper this past week is because our new mayor is hosting a re-entry job fair and has named Tony Dungy the chairman of the re-entry committee. The day center that I work at is one of the referral sites for this upcoming job fair. I am excited about the fact that this issue is making the news. Our community really needs to get more employers involved in working towards a solution to this problem. We need more employer that are willing to give people a second chance. This fair should new faces to the table of re-entry discussion. It is my hope and prayer that this will not only temporarily be an issue that it is on the minds of the community in Indianapolis, but one that we continue to look at and work towards solutions. If people are being given a second chance to start over, to make changes, and to work towards being active members of society employment is key. Without employment many people cannot even afford the basic necessities of life including food, shelter, and clothing. The paper said yesterday that without employment they are unable to meet their obligations of child support, restitution, and court fees. Yes these are some of the things that get neglected minus employment, but more importantly they are unable to care for their own basic needs and the needs of their families. This is a shame and it causes so much extra stress to those who trying their best to make the changes needed to be productive members of society.

One of my co-workers, always says that we are all an ex- something or other. He spent many years working in corrections and I have to agree with him. I have made many mistakes, in my life and have at times had to make significant changes in my life in order to live according to God's will. I am lucky to have a God that is loving and forgiving as well as friends and family who are loving and forgiving. I think that our communities would do well to model God's love and forgiveness. After all, those who are exiting the prison system have already paid dearly for what they have done. It would benefit the whole community to work together to give people a second chance. Just as God gives all of us many chances to change and become more loving, holy, and God centered people, we need to do the same for our brothers and sisters. We need to give them the opportunities to change, to work, and to build new relationships.

New Adventures

After receiving encouragement from more than one person I decided to start a blog. It will help keep those I love updated on the happenings of my life. First of all, God has been doing amazing things in my life over the past few years. God has blessed me with so many wonderful opportunities to seek Him, to be changed, and to build relationships with some incredible people. One major change that has happened within the last month is that I became an affiliate of the sisters of St. Benedict, which is the first step towards entering that monastery. I have been visiting there for four years and I have fallen in love with this particular community and the rule of St. Benedict that calls for a way of life that is centered in prayer, hospitality, and ministry. I still have a lot to learn about what it means to seek God in community, but I am excited about this new phase in my discernment process. I am excited to continue to seek God with the wonderful women at Our Lady of Grace Monastery and I am excited to continue to work towards making changes in my life so that I may be a more loving, compassionate, and holy person serving God and His people with all that I am. (The picture on this post is of me and my vocations director at my affiliation ceremony.)

I am still working at a homeless day center in Indianapolis and will continue to do so as I continue in discernment with the sisters of St. Benedict. I work as the employment placement coordinator. The main functions of my job include teaching job readiness classes and job placement case management. I love my job so much. I learn so much each day and even on the difficult days I am encouraged by those that I work with to continue to seek towards our goals of providing the necessary resources to empower our neighbors lives so that they can permanently end their homelessness. I am truly thankful for all that is going on in my life currently.