See Life as something having much to do with God

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Dear Ed, 

Peace and God’s blessing!

I am bothering you now because in the recent past we had some limited correspondence. I write to ask you for prayers during this Lenten season for the young men who are seriously considering a missionary vocation within our religious family, the Xaverians. I don't think that a final decision by them as regards their own vocational road is easy to make, especially because the times in which we live today in the U.S.A. push the ideas of personal certainty and security, getting ahead, and having ... to such a degree that life's true values (which contribute to our inner growth, to who we were created to be) are forgotten or difficult to pursue due to little or no external help. What is left for most of these young men is the support of persons such as yourself who see life as something having very much to do with God and how we relate to Him and the rest of His family. 

In your love of neighbor, Ed, I ask you to pray for these young men. May they overcome the internal and external obstacles they face. May they courageously answer God's call, whether it be with a "yes", a "no" or an "I'm not certain but I’ll give it my best shot." 

The times in which we live today in the U.S.A. push the ideas of personal certainty and security, getting ahead, and having ... to such a degree that life's true values are forgotten or difficult to pursue due to little or no external help.

The inner uncertainty which is often present in persons considering life-service to God and His family becomes greater due to the fact that they are considering joining an exclusively missionary congregation with religious vows. They suspect that this is the life in which the graces that they possess will become evident, as will their shortcomings. Life with the Xaverian Missionaries has a way of refining you, of getting rid of what isn't you and what is not essential. Being grounded down to essentials is difficult to accept. The only support a missionary receives in this process is from God, the Church, his missionary family and the people who love him. 

Please pray for them, Ed, since your prayers are truly important as they look up to God and ahead to their future.

In Christ, the Missionary of the Father,

Fr. Adolph Menendez
Xaverian Missionary