Life Discernment - BIG NEWS

As many of you know, I have for sometime been in search of what comes next in my life.  I have been trying on different hats, trying new things, taking advantage of opportunities, talking to people that live a life I think I would like to live, reading anything and everything inspirational I can get in my hands, observing, listening, contemplating, and learning to accept the unknown, that moment in the dark before my eyes adjust to the light and I see a path.  I wish I had the time, and all your phone numbers, to call in person and share this great news, but alas, I am blessed with too many friends so a blog blast will have to do ;)
 

After much discernment, I have been offered and accepted an invitation to the Maryknoll Lay Missioner Program orientation. 

For those not familiar with Maryknoll Lay Missioners, it provides lay people in the Catholic church with an opportunity to serve and live out their faith.  They currently work in six regions - Brazil, Bolivia, El Salvador, Tanzania, Kenya, and Cambodia.  Lay Missioners attend a three month(ish) orientation in NY and then travel to the country where they have been placed for six months of language and culture training followed by three years in ministry.  That ministry falls into one of five categories: Education, Health, Pastoral Ministry, Peace and Conflict Resolution, and/or Sustainable Development.  I will be discerning, with the program, my regional placement from now until early June.  Orientation will begin in October and then I will travel to my host region in Dec/Jan to begin my 3.5 year contract.

For some of you, this may come as a total surprise.  For others, I have been talking with you a lot about this as I went through the process.  To give more insight into how I reached this path, I can share some of my discernment.  I am a person that believes in signs.  Maryknoll is a program I first heard about in 2005, I think.  Since then, people connected to Maryknoll have been crossing my path with greater and greater frequency (you know who you are :)).  I would think about it, say, "No, that couldn't work because..."  But, over the last six months, I have really started wondering, maybe this is where I am meant to be.  When I list 'where I want to be in five years' many of those life milestones can be found in Maryknoll.  Maryknoll-ers in my life also literally rose to an almost weekly occurrence (I said I believed in signs, not that I caught on to them quickly).  When I observed people that really made me say, "Wow," shows/commercials that made me think, songs in church that spoke to me, the common theme was that of ministry, working and living abroad, living in solidarity and community, and so many other aspects of the Maryknoll program.  The more I learned of Maryknoll, the more I felt I had found a place that I felt I fit (something most of you know I often struggle with in 'normal, mainstream' society).  Conversations with friends both here and that have left this world, kept pointing me toward this.  After the intense and intentional interview and application process with Maryknoll, I am at peace that this is where I am supposed to be.  I realize there will be challenges, you all know how much I love being close and connected to family and friends, attending performances, weddings, graduations, special events, but, I have come to realize, I need to be willing to take the jump into my own life and path.  I need to hold on to my roots, but blossom and grow in the direction of the sun that most nourishes me.  And, 4 years is less than a PhD program (to put it in perspective).

With that, I will leave you with one final thought.  I want to take the next seven months, before I enter orientation, to see as many of you as possible and to catch up.  So, let me know if you want to come visit DC :)  AND, THANK YOU, to all of you who have been an inspiration to me following this path and who have supported me over my searching.  Your love and support means the world to me.  And, of course, if you have questions about what all this means - since it is not something with which most are familiar and if the Catholic church is involved it is no doubt more complicated- call, email, or send a homing pigeon any time :)