Every day I speak to you to tell you how much I love you
As I sat down to order my thoughts, I started to think of what it was that I wanted these girls to come away with after listening to me for half an hour. It was my first time having such a good chunk of time to share my vocational testimony, and the first speaking as a consecrated during vocations week at a school, so I didn’t have other rehearsed speeches to choose from. It came to me that I could talk about how Jesus has more than fulfilled all his promises to me, how he helped me grow little by little from being afraid to hear his voice to trusting him, or how happy and fulfilled he has made me in every one of my decisions to try to follow his will for me… Because all of that is very true, and I did talk about all those themes.
But then I tried to remember what I had wanted to hear when I listened to consecrated or religious sisters give their testimonies at my school when I was the same age as these girls, and honestly, it wasn’t any of that. Over and over throughout so many years and circumstances I heard people telling me that it is worth the risk to trust Jesus, that his will is what will make me truly happy, and the big winner- how he can’t be outdone in generosity. And over and over I faced (and ran from) my vocational questions with a fear of what God might ask of me. But when I was most glued to every word (while trying not to show it, of course) was when someone would start to give me clues about HOW I KNOW IF GOD IS REALLY SPEAKING TO ME??
Showing the girls pictures of when I was in a school uniform not too different from theirs
So, I decided to focus on that part of the story- that God speaks to each of us, each day, to tell us how much he loves us.
By the end of this whole reflection, I was newly convinced of the conclusions I had come to. Jesus is the one who needs to prove to each person that he is worth the risk, that he really is trustworthy, and that he definitely cannot be outdone in generosity. He has to convince us of it HIMSELF. While it opens the heart to hear the words of someone else’s Magnificat, the Creator and Lover of each soul is the one who has to prove himself personally and uniquely to each of us. So, I wanted to encourage my audience of middle schoolers to put him to the test.
Because he can take it. I assure you he won’t disappoint.
