“Hundredfold” Workshop & Shrine’s Vocation Apostolate
“A vocation helps a person to free himself, that’s for sure, but you also have to liberate your vocation” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Vocation tends to hold a special place in a person’s heart, because it allows for one’s realization of concrete, decisive and determined paths in their lives. There are many ways in which a person can get closer to God, for one we can say that we need to become realists- to make our lives meaningful and happy. Oftentimes, choosing the right path in life and making a decision, tends to bring a lot of indecisiveness, fear, and comes with many dilemmas- which tend to shake one’s heart by forcing you to make a final decision during a time of uncertainty. It may seem like that one may be left alone with their choices and that one is left without any sort of help. That’s why, especially in the Church there are various types of numerous initiatives that could be also used as a form of new tools. Those tools could help one to better distinguish their paths in life, especially those who might need some help or prayer support. We’re not talking about vocations to become a priest here or to lead a consecrated life, but we’re also talking about marriages and life in solitude, through which one is able to deeply answer God’s calling. One of such initiatives, started recently through Archdiocese of Philadelphia, through which American Czestochowa is taking part of and is called Vocation Apostolate; whose values are to form a group of people and volunteers (that would work together with priests’ cooperation near each parish or shrine) and be responsible for waking up one’s vocation.
A particular help in creating and managing such apostolic vocation, was the vocation workshop organized online on December 5th, 2020 by Mrs. Rhonda Gruenewald from the Vocation Ministry organization, that is well known in the entire United States and is working together with various dioceses to wake up one’s vocation and to help one expand on it. During her appearance, which lasted a little bit over five hours, Mrs. Gruenewald shared with us her personal experiences and tips regarding vocational pastoral care, which she quoted from her book “Hundredfold”. She had pointed out certain helpful tips which would help one recognize their vocation and showed us how to expand on this type of pastoral efforts near parishes and at the shrines.
Thanks to the efforts of Fr. Timothy Tarnacki and Fr. Marcin Ćwierz (together with a couple people that are associated with the shrine) it was possible to find a way to help wake one’s vocation and to form a Vocational Apostolate at the Shrine of American Czestochowa. This initiative will promote the charism and a mission of Pauline Order. It would also allow others to realize the beauty and sense of one’s vocation.
The next very important initiative that is also associated with vocations, especially when it comes to life in The Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit, was the creation of a website of Pauline Order in the American Province. On this website that is written both in English and Polish, one is able to find information regarding the history and spirituality of the Pauline Order, get to know the mission and core values of the daily lives of the Pauline Brothers and Fathers who are working in the American Provinces. By visiting our website, one is also able to find information about necessary documents needed to enter and apply as a candidate to the Pauline Order. The website has an interesting textual and graphic structure, thanks to which it is very attractive, concise and clear when one is surfing the website. We invite everyone to check it out by visiting: http://osppe.us
Fr. Marcin Ćwierz OSPPE
Translated from Polish by Monika Wydra
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