(I know I just shared some YouTube videos, but this obsession is REAL!)
It all started as a way of discernment. No, really, it's a SUPER useful way to connect with others! I watched vocation stories, investitures of sisters, final vow professions, and priest ordinations. It was a really neat tool! I now find myself planning the ceremony when I take my first steps into a community much like I use to plan my wedding!
But, it's not all I have been watching on YouTube. Baby announcements and gender reveals are among my most current videos. I think they are sweet and I love babies and how people announce they are welcoming a gift from God!
My obsession doesn't end there...now I find myself listening to church songs. Singing is like praying twice....most of the songs I have been listening to are very moving...Here I am, Lord, I am the Bread of Life, Prayer of St. Francis, and Hail Mary, Gentle Woman are a few I have listened to. Not to mention Laterns by Birds of Tokyo. This song still gives me chills from the place it has in my vocation story. I also have a slight obsession with Do You Wanna Be a Sister?
It gets worse...Stuff Catholics Say in many different forms...not only did I watch ALL of them, but I laughed and saw myself in most of them! Seriously, "with your spirit" took me a LOOOONG time to figure out and I still need the cheat sheet for the creeds...(I barely knew the old translation) My favorite out of all of the ones that I watched would have been when someone was listening all the horrible things going on and the Catholic saying "we have a patron saint for that" Why do I find it funny? One, we probably do and two, I say that ALL of the time!!
I have also come across some neat (yes, I said "neat") ideas for encouraging vocations. The first is a vocation mass. This would be special mass where men and women learn more about vocations. There would be communities of religious there to answer questions as well as priests. There would be a special blessings for those discerning and in formation and a time for those people to connect and talk with each other. Having a friend who is also discerning is nice because we know what the other is going through. The second is getting my diocese to have more of a YouTube presence. Having the young men and women FROM OUR OWN DIOCESE share their vocation stories would be helpful to others because we are local! There was one story I watched from a sister in St. Louis and I connected with her story because I felt a common bond of location! Also, it would let people know that we do have seminarians, women entering religious life, and men in formation to become permenant deacons!
YouTube is an amazing tool in discernment! Just type in "Religious Vocations" and see where that takes you!
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