Rachel Hart: Getting Paid for Something She Loves

Rachel Hart, a campus minister and graduate student at Loyola University in Chicago, spoke of her own call and vocational discernment to pursue a life of ministry.  Below is the story she shared at the 2005 Catholics On Call Partners Conference:

I would like to begin my vocational reflection with gratitude for all those who have accompanied me and continue to today.  I am blessed to come from a loving family. I attended a Jesuit parish while growing up, where I was constantly engaged with my family in reflecting on the scriptures.  I went to a Sacred Heart high school where I was given many resources and offered ways to reflect on God’s gifts in my life.  I attended college where I was pre-med and realized that I was making choices with my head and not with my heart.  I felt that pre-med was a rational choice for me, however not one that I felt alive around.  After college I began to look into volunteer service programs.  This was something I felt my heart responding to, and like Samuel I felt my heart gently asking the Lord to speak so that I could listen.  I was excited at the idea of trusting God and seeing where God would lead my life.  When I was called by the director of the Jesuit Volunteers International and offered a position, I was elated.  My heart contained such excitement and expectation.  I responded “Yes” quickly without knowing where the Marshall Islands were or anything about what I would be doing for the next two years. 

I walked off the plane in the Marshall Islands and walked into what I now describe as a gospel scene.  The Marshallese people embodied hope and lived as if Christ was present among them.  This experience transformed me and through my friendships I was able to catch a glimpse of God’s plan for the world.  They were truly alive and in love with the world.  This experience “ruined” me, which is the motto for the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.  I began to live from my heart and feel connected to the place that God calls me to live from.  During those two years I had received so much; my only response was to return the gift and share it with others. 

While I was a staff member of the Jesuit Volunteers International program, I felt called again to deepen my relationship with Christ after such an intense experience in the Marshalls.  I began the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola in daily life.  This allowed me again to tell that Lord that I was open and ready to listen.  During this time I applied for graduate studies in Theology and Literature, two interests that I pursued after college.  I was accepted at Loyola University Chicago, and also offered a position as a Chaplain coordinating retreats and facilitating interfaith and justice activities.  God answered my openness with a new and beautiful way to live my call.

A student recently walked into my office while I was singing and getting a CD ready for a retreat.  He smiled and said that I was lucky to get paid for something that I loved.  I feel blessed that God has called me to a place where I feel alive and am able to share that with others.  It is in working with college students that I hope to help them discover their own call and feel alive in all they do.  My own call has led me to trust God’s hand in each of our lives and to enter into the hope that Fr. Senior referred to last night.

Rachel Hart