Called and Chosen: A Retreat Guide on Vocation and the Calling of St. Matthew

Many people nowadays talk about a shortage of priests and dwindling numbers of consecrated men and women.There does seem to be some truth to that kind of talk, at least in some places. While the number of Catholic priests in the world between 1970 and 2012 remained about the same, for example, the number of lay Catholics in the world doubled. By the early 2000s, 15% of parishes in North America found themselves without a resident pastor, compared to only 3% back in 1960. And while some individual religious orders seem to be thriving, the total number of nuns in the United States has declined by 65% since 1965. Do these alarming statistics mean that God has stopped calling young men and women to serve him and his Church with the total gift of self?Certainly not. God himself is the author of the priesthood and the inventor of consecrated life. He wouldn't set up these essential states of life just so they could fail. But maybe something in post-modern culture is making it harder for us to hear and heed God's call to radical discipleship. In this Retreat Guide on Vocation and the Calling of St. Matthew, we will go back and reflect on what it means for every single one of us to hear and heed the voice of the Lord in our lives: The First Meditation will look at some of Jesus' teaching about what a vocation really is.The Second Meditation will focus on the calling of St. Matthew and its unforgettable depiction in Caravaggio's masterpiece baroque painting.The Conference will give some practical guidelines that we can all use to discern our own vocation, or to help others discern theirs