As I think back in the last five years of studying with the SVDs, I have encountered many women who have made life meaningful for me.  While discerning a religious life, the primary living environment is with a group of men, ranging from all ages and backgrounds.  The men’s communities that I have interacted with and lived in, have always been very welcoming and show true fraternal love.  Yet there is still something missing, an effeminate touch to life.  It’s not that men are not caring and affectionate, nor only are women maternal and affectionate, but there is a certain quality to the presence of women that one can absolutely not live without.

Call it whatever you may.  Maybe it’s some psychological complexes, or my young self still yearning to be close to my mother, not so ready to be on my own.  I don’t know!  But what I do know is how thankful I am to have encountered and interacted with many women from many walks of life, who have made life “complete” for me.  Their guiding smiles, their gentle comfort, their demands for me to better myself, all have shaped my life one way or another.

When the going got tough at Epworth, it was the women there who gave me a sense of balance in life.  I enjoyed walking by the front desk to see the warm smiles of the receptionists.  I enjoyed the friendly and chatty sounds passing by the kitchen.  I enjoyed strong professionalism of the women faculties and staffs, many whom I worked with directly, learning from them and being inspired by them.  I enjoyed the special care each of them gave in their work capacities.  I even enjoyed “the gossips” the women passed around, sometimes in private, sometimes publically, all for a good laugh!  Without the women presence at Epworth, my life there would have been bland and uninspiring.

When I studied in Japan, it was primarily the Vietnamese women who I came in contact with that made life easy to live and understand for me.  On an interpersonal level, Japan is a cold place where to have true interpersonal intimacy with people requires an investment of long period of time, to build trust and common understanding.  Time was not something I had in abundance of.  I was living at the seminary, which demanded a lot of my time, then there was school, and I was only there for nine months to study anyway!  So I found it hard to really get to know Japanese and build good friendship with them.  I did make some very good friends, but a more intimate relationship was something that I was missing.  But all that changed thanks to the Vietnamese women I came into contact there.  Some were immigrants, other migrant workers, other students, most of them mothers.  And there was also my Japanese host mother, who I lived with for two months.

These women were special in that they immediately showed care and warmth, something I did not find in the general Japanese population.  These women welcomed me into their home, and helped me to understand and come to accept the impersonal lifestyle in Japan.  My life there became a lot easier upon encountering these women.  And they continued to be a support me during my entire time there.  Many of them still keep in contact with me, showing the same care and concern.

Religious life for me is not easy.  It has its ups and downs, imbalances, challenges, and joy.  I am grateful for men in the communities that I have lived in, who showed me fraternal love.  And I am thankful for all the women who I have worked with, studied with, and encounter on my journey of discernment.  They have been, and continue to be amazing source of support and encouragement, love and care, and an undeniably important “balancer” in my life!  For all of them, I give thanks.

-Nathaniel Nguyen-

Last week, most of us in North America celebrated Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is a time when we celebrate with friends and family, while enjoying own recipe of basting and roasting the turkey, our own twist on the stuffing and dressings, and a plentiful table of food unique to our own experience.  It truly is a wonderful time of year.   The celebration itself is something to be thankful for.  And right after Thanksgiving, there is the tradition of Black Friday, in which we scrimmage at the mall for the best deals and discounts.

At the novitiate, our Thanksgiving mass reminded us to be thankful for the many things which we often take for granted.  But how can we be thankful when we feel like we don’t have enough.  Our hunger for more, as shown by our vicious trampling over one another during Black Friday, prevents us from feeling thankful.  I am usually thankful when I think that I have enough, but when I want more and more, I don’t feel so thankful for what I already have.  Living in our consumerist world, it is hard to be thankful, because we always want more!  And when out of a blue moon, when we do feel thankful, we usually give thanks only for the material things we have. 

Of course, I am very thankful for the material environment that I live in.  I am provided for: I have a roof over my head, food on my table, clean water in my faucet, and clothes in my closet.  I am thankful for the friends and family who support me and give life to my existence.  But there is one more thing I am thankful for: my vocation.

We all have our own vocational calling, and mine right now is the calling to religious life.  I am thankful that I have had the encouragement to discern this calling.  I am thankful for having the courage to answer this call.  And I am thankful for the ability to continually hear the call, though sometimes it may be as faint as the whispering of the wind.  And I am thankful for the companions who travel the same journey of self-discovery to the religious life. 

I am happy with where I am today.  And I know that many of you, my readers, are also happy with your own vocational calling.  I hope that you don’t simply see your vocations as employments that “bring home the bacon.”  If you are truly happy with your vocational calling as a teacher, someone in service works, office works, being a student, or any other vocations, I hope you see what you do as a special gift and call from God.  Our vocations are callings and gifts from God, who God wants us to be happy as we work in service of others.  And if we have found the work that really bring us happiness, work that we look forward to everyday, work that brings us closer to other people and to God, then is that not our calling, our gift, something to be thankful for?

I encourage all the young people who may read this, to take the time to discern what is it that God calls you to do?  What is it that will bring you happiness, in your work, in your relation with others, and your relation with God?  When you do, it will be like having found an everlasting treasure.  For you will wake up every morning, thankful for the having answered your calling, and you will look forward to each day,  to the work you do, the people you meet, and to the God who accompanies you in your vocational journey always!