VOCATION

VOCATION AND HEALTH

What is the relevance of Luke’s vision of hospitality and friendship for those who are challenged by mental illness?

BY FR RAUL TABARANZA MCCJ

A YOUNG person who is considering entering religious or consecrated life must be healthy, not only emotionally, physically and spiritually, but also mentally. This lifestyle requires dispositions to carry out the religious mission. Mental health and spirituality help the candidate to make sense of what he has already gone through in his life, and to be more at peace within himself and with others, and with their future mission. People who have a positive sense of their being are better equipped to face their mental health challenges.

Our mission is not a bed of roses or a golden path; we must pass through rocky and rough terrain, and a missionary with deep spirituality and good mental health always looks at the positive side of his missionary experience. In his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul said: “Whenever I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12: 10). A missionary with a positive attitude about himself will have a significant impact on the community he is serving.

A missionary with a positive attitude about himself will have a significant impact on the community he is serving.

Our candidates, in their stages of formation, will go through a battery of psychological tests and evaluations, for the formators to understand some behaviours and maybe even some of their special needs during their missionary journey. Even at the stage of discernment, the vocation director must consider the physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental health conditions of the candidate.

In our Vocation Workshops, we invite different speakers, mostly Comboni Missionaries with a vast missionary experience. The candidates can then appreciate the beauty of our Comboni Institute but also the challenges that our missionaries have faced. For this reason, we encourage candidates to be strong and to be prepared physically, spiritually, and mentally.