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This is a book about discernment — tuning in and listening to
God’s call, prayerfully reflecting on that call, clarifying what that call
is, and responding to what you feel and hear. People involved in all
sorts of ministry, and those who would like to be involved but find their
calling in discord with the position of the Church, will find this book a
valuable tool in determining what is of God and what is not, and how
to set their own direction. The book includes a series of personal stories
from the author and others to help illustrate the concepts. A unique feature
of this process is that it can involve loss — the loss of who you are
today in order to become what is your calling. Dr. Karaban carefully shows
how this process of loss closely resembles the grieving process, and helps
you mourn and move through the losses to become what God (and you)
want.
Review
“This rich and eminently readable book by Roslyn A. Karaban helps
us to understand the discernment process better, approach it more easily
and become excited once again about living the spiritual life ... our spiritual
life! I am grateful she has written such a helpful book for us.”
— Robert J. Wicks, author of Touching the Holy
About the Author
Roslyn A. Karaban, Ph.D., is a lay minister, preacher and pastoral counselor
committed to expanding the roles available to women in the Roman
Catholic Church. She received advanced degrees from Stonehill College in
North Easton, Mass., Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., and
Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif. Currently she is a tenured
professor at St. Bernard’s Institute in Rochester, N.Y. She was
co-editor of Extraordinary Preaching: Twenty Homilies by Roman
Catholic Women (Resource Publications, Inc., 1996).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Prelude: My Story of Call
Part I: How Do We Know God Is Calling Us?
Chapter One: Experience the Call
Chapter Two: Discern the Call
Chapter Three: Understand the Call in Relation to Loss and Grief
Part II: How Do We Respond to God’s Call?
Chapter Four: Name and Grieve the Losses
Chapter Five: Identify and Work Through Complications
Chapter Six: Become Better Grief Guides
Postlude: Experiencing Resurrection
Endnotes
Bibliography
Following is the introduction to Responding to God’s Call. All
rights reserved. Copyright © 1998, Resource Publications, Inc.
Introduction
Very often the concept of “call” has been associated with
ordained or professional (ecclesial) ministry. As Christians we are all
called to be part of God’s vision. God offers us this invitation in
Scripture and through our continuing relationship with God as a Christian
people. In Scripture we find both a very broad call to share in God’s
life as well as very specific stories of call. (Note 1) The broad call to ministry
in Scripture includes all who are called into relationship with God. Today,
we live in an “age of discernment” when “every Christian
[is called] to a responsible, prophetic role in living and proclaiming the
faith” (Green 11). We receive God’s call in baptism, when we
become new creations in Christ—who is priest, prophet, and king
(“Rite of Baptism for Several Children” 62). Thus, as baptized
Christians we are all called to live out and proclaim our faith as we promise
to “remain for ever a member of Christ.” (Note 2) Our baptismal
promises unite us with a community of faith with a common purpose: to be
faithful followers of Christ and witnesses to his Gospel (RBSC 47). (Note 3)
How we are called to live out the Gospel will differ from person
to person, for in addition to God’s call to all of us, God calls each one
of us in different ways. It is up to each one of us to discern how
our piece of the vision relates to God’s vision. Walter Brueggemann
describes God’s vision in this way:
“The central vision of world history in the Bible is that all of creation is
one. Israel has a vision of all persons being drawn into a single community
(Acts 2:11). The most staggering expression of the vision is that all persons
are children of a single family ... and bearers of a single destiny, namely, the
care and management of all of God’s creation.
“That persistent vision of joy, well-being, harmony, and prosperity
is not captured in any single word or idea in the Bible, and a cluster of
words is required to express its many dimensions and subtle nuances:
love, loyalty, truth, grace, salvation, justice, blessing, righteousness
shalom” (Living Toward a Vision 15-16).
In addition to seeing how our piece of the vision relates to God’s
vision, we need to discern our particular call. Our faith is our personal
awakening and response to this call (Finley 19). In discerning our call
it is first necessary to understand how vision is different from call.
“Vision is seeing the big picture; call is the way we can implement the
vision in a particular time and place” (McMakin and Nary 203). We
discover “glimmers” of God’s vision in reflection and
prayer when we discover that which “evokes our most passionate
criticism, our deepest grief, or energizes us to new possibilities” (204).
Thus, call is the particular way we implement what we understand our
piece of God’s vision to be.
My story of glimpsing God’s vision and discerning God’s call is
a story of a vision of inclusivity and equality and a call to implement that
vision through priesthood. I believe my glimpse of God’s vision is part
of God’s greater story as revealed to us in Scripture, tradition, and
personal experience. William Bausch describes a sixfold process for
discernment that begins with understanding that our own personal story is
part of God’s greater story (203-204). “The call to ministry
begins as a story; a story of an encounter between an individual and
God” (Myers 7). I have used Bausch’s schema (203-209) as a
model for my own discernment and for guiding others in their discernment
process:
1. Learn the story: the larger story of God’s revelation and the smaller
story of our own personal history.
2. Own our story: Accept the good and the bad in our life.
3. Contemplate the story.
4. Pray the story.
5. Share the story:
5a. with a confidant,
5b. through witnessing, evangelizing, and teaching, and
5c. by tapping into the needs of the poor and oppressed as
an advocate of social justice.
6. Share the story by being part of a larger worshiping and witnessing
community.
This book describes another sixfold process of discernment—not as
a replacement of Bausch’s model or other models of discernment but
as an addition to these schemas written from my own particular glimpse of
the vision and experience of call. I begin this book with my story of call
as one example of discernment. I begin with my own story because it is
most familiar to me and because I have discovered in my own story certain
obstacles and complications that are common to other stories of call and
discernment. If recognized and named, these obstacles can be gotten
through and discernment can be more fully realized. Furthermore, I have
discovered that, by understanding that the discernment process and
grieving process are irrevocably linked, discerners will be able to heal and
grow. It is my hope that these discoveries will serve as aids to discerners
and to those who guide discerners.
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