Theme
Witnesses on calling
Sent ones: they left, or they stayed where it was dangerous, because they were called.
A few words
Whoever wants to win people over must stake the heart as a pledge.
The poustinia is not a place but a state of heart, open to God and to men.
I can do all things in him who strengthens me.
One day the Western funds will stop coming; only then will the Church in China know revival.
My life is one long daily, hourly, record of answered prayer.
To live without a faith, without a patrimony to defend, without sustaining the truth in a continual struggle, is not living but getting by.
All 115 witnesses on calling
- Adolph Kolping Putting one's heart up as a pledge in order to win someone over.
- Alberto Hurtado Asking what Christ would do, here, now, and doing it.
- Alexandre Men Faith that stays young, even when everything around insists it is dead.
- Amanda Berry Smith The inner freedom of someone who no longer waits for permission; joy that passes through contempt.
- Amy Carmichael Peace found in acceptance, when the body gives out and love carries on.
- André Kim Taegon Faithfulness that holds when believing costs your life, and leaves hope behind as an inheritance.
- Andrew Murray The patient school of prayer, learned day after day like a friendship that abides.
- Angèle Merici Trusting God with the future, and persons more than rules.
- Annalena Tonelli Following Christ in the poor, without title or safety net, when prayer becomes a life entirely given away.
- Antonio de Montesinos Anger at injustice, carried into prayer instead of being swallowed.
- Apolo Kivebulaya Walking on with your fear, because a voice has said: I am with you.
- Armida Barelli The apostolic boldness of lay people, trusting God where everything seems impossible.
- Benoît de Nursie “Some have entertained angels without knowing it.” Benedict made it a rule: every guest who arrives is received as Christ himself. We never welcome only the person we think we see, which is why hospitality is an act of faith before it is a courtesy.
- Bernard Mizeki Remaining with those one serves, standing firm in faithfulness.
- Boniface de Mayence Asking others to pray for you, and not keeping silent when one should speak.
- Brigitte de Suède One life given whole, in marriage as in solitude, without surrendering any freedom of speech.
- Caroline Chisholm Hospitality organised; a charity that gives itself the practical means to keep its word.
- Catherine Booth Faith that goes down into the street and refuses to settle with what it finds there.
- Catherine de Sienne The audacity of speaking truth (to the powerful and to God) because love demands it.
- Catherine Doherty The inner desert sought in the midst of an active life, where one falls silent to listen to God.
- Ceferino Namuncurá Preparing oneself to serve one's people, keeping them at the heart of one's prayer.
- Charles Lwanga Young, undivided faith, protecting the weakest and passing through fear in prayer.
- Christian de Chergé Preventive forgiveness and brotherhood beyond religion.
- Chundra Lela The long search, and what it costs the body.
- Clement Marau Holding a distant post alone, and making solitude an inhabited place.
- Cyprian Michael Tansi To give oneself to God without half-measures, and to prefer the hidden life to renown: an ordinary holiness, African and monastic.
- Cyrille et Méthode The conviction that every language and culture can carry the Word, and that God speaks to each person in their mother tongue.
- Damien de Molokai Staying when everyone else leaves, presence become prayer among wounded bodies.
- Daniel Comboni The gift of one's life for a people, to the point of stepping aside for it.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer Grace is costly. A faith that cannot be separated from commitment.
- Dominique de Guzmán Praying at night for the people one meets by day.
- Dorothy Stang Staying on the side of the most exposed when staying costs.
- Edel Quinn Service given to the last of one's strength, without losing joy.
- Edith Cavell To care for all without picking sides, and to go without bitterness.
- Elizabeth Fry Dignity restored to the forgotten, and the conviction that no one is beyond recovery.
- Florence Li Tim-Oi Serving without a title, and waiting decades without bitterness.
- Florence Nightingale Prayer that becomes work: to serve the sick as one would serve God, without display.
- Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Putting one's faith into poems for those who have no platform.
- Frances Xavier Cabrini Prayer that crosses borders: to stay near the exile and tell him he is not forgotten.
- François Xavier Desire that never settles: always farther, as long as someone remains who has not heard of God.
- Gabriele Allegra The long hidden labor in service of the Word, offered day after day without seeing its end.
- Gladys Aylward The prayer of the unlikely sent one: to know oneself an improbable choice, and to go all the same.
- Grégoire le Grand Holding together overflowing action and the desire for contemplation, sacrificing neither to the other.
- Ida Scudder Hearing God's call in the concrete distress that knocks at the door.
- Ignace de Loyola To seek and find God in all things, and to hand over to him all one's freedom.
- Ini Kopuria Work shared rather than carried alone, and land given before words.
- Innocent d'Alaska Patient proclamation that draws near to a language and a people.
- Jacques Berthieu The prayer of someone who sows without seeing anything come up.
- Jacques-Désiré Laval The freely accepted wearing-out of self in service of the poorest, and the trusting expectation of rest in God.
- Janani Luwum The word held firm before violence, and the prayer that does not yield to fear.
- Jarena Lee Persistence against a closed door, courage to preach without permission when permission never came, an authority claimed from conviction rather than granted by title.
- Jean de Brébeuf Patient rootedness in a language and a people, to the point of total gift.
- Jean-Marie Vianney Perseverance in an obscure post, and the certainty that prayer is our happiness.
- Jeanne d'Arc The boldness of obeying God rather than the powerful, and naked trust before one's judges.
- Jeanne Mance Going to nurse where nothing yet exists; the stubbornness of foundations no one signs.
- John Bradburne The long wandering that finds at last its rest in serving the most rejected.
- John Coleridge Patteson Real affection for those one has come to serve, and work carried on without seeing its fruit.
- John Sung The call to conversion of heart, held within the body's weakness.
- John Wesley Faith that takes to the road toward those no one reaches.
- José de Anchieta Learning the language of those you are sent to; writing where there is no paper.
- José Gabriel Brochero Prayer that takes to the road toward the most distant, and shares their life.
- Joseph Wresinski Refusing to let poverty silence anyone; treating dignity as a right and not as alms.
- Josephine Butler Prayer that pushes outward, toward those society covers with shame.
- Juan Diego The little one whom God chooses as messenger, who dares to voice his sense of unworthiness without shirking.
- Katharine Drexel Wealth and time poured out without return, for the sake of the despised.
- Krupabai Satthianadhan Pioneering paths in education and medicine cut short by illness, honesty about the loneliness of belonging fully to no world, a short life converted into words that gave others a language for the same in-between.
- Laura Montoya Seeking God where he has no shrine: love knows how to find him wherever he gives himself.
- Leonella Sgorbati Forgiveness given with the last breath, without strength and without preparation.
- Lilias Trotter A brilliant future set aside for a harder calling, patience among communities others had given up reaching, decades of quiet translation work instead of the fame she could have had.
- Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort The prayer of someone who has put nothing aside for tomorrow.
- Louise de Marillac Concrete service of the poor as a place of encounter with God, and gentleness toward oneself in times of anxiety.
- Mama Antula Boldness that perseveres: when the roads seem closed, walking on anyway and letting Providence smooth them.
- Marguerite Bourgeoys To serve without withdrawing from the world, in the manner of the Virgin who goes out toward others: a prayer with hands and roads.
- Marianne Cope The joy of choosing what everyone else refuses, and bringing beauty into it.
- Marie de l'Incarnation Union with God that holds fast amid business, crossings and heartbreak.
- Marie Skobtsova Finding God in the face of the other: a hospitality that makes every open table a holy place.
- Mary Slessor Prayer as a climate: a whole life breathed in answered prayer, unhurried, one day at a time.
- Mary Ward Faithfulness to a true intuition, held against misunderstanding and rejection.
- Matteo Ricci The patient meeting of another culture, and friendship held as a path toward God.
- Michi Kawai The work you begin small, with no guarantee, because no one else will begin it.
- Nano Nagle The dogged service of the little ones in the dark, a light carried where faith is hindered.
- Nicodème l'Hagiorite Handing on rather than producing; placing the prayer of the ancients into today's hands.
- Nicolas du Japon Patient proclamation that draws near to a language and a people, effacing itself before the Church it has served.
- Nino de Géorgie To bear witness to Christ by a simple, unarmed presence, when one has neither rank nor power to impose oneself.
- Onésime Nesib Giving his people the Word in their own tongue, turning slavery into gift.
- Óscar Romero A voice that prays aloud on behalf of those who have been silenced.
- Oswald Chambers The unreserved surrender to God in the present moment, without bargaining over the future.
- Ottobah Cugoano Speech given back to those from whom it was taken, and God held as the father of all without exception.
- Pandita Ramabai Seeking God without settling for a religion, until you find a person.
- Patrick d'Irlande Prayer learned in captivity, and the forgiveness that goes back toward those who wounded.
- Paul Chong Hasang The perseverance of beginning again: rebuilding without priests, without structures, with fidelity alone.
- Pauline Jaricot Making prayer and giving into shared works, where the smallest, joined together, carry the whole world.
- Pedro Arrupe A man of action handed over to dependence; availability that outlives the loss of one's powers.
- Peter To Rot The hidden fidelity of the layperson who keeps the faith alive, and the courage not to stay silent.
- Phoebe Palmer Holiness open to all, given in the moment to whoever surrenders without delay.
- Pier Giorgio Frassati Faith as an upward drive: friendship, mountains and charity pursued with the same ardor.
- Pierre Chanel The trust that God's work holds, even if one falls.
- Rani Maria Vattalil Recognizing Christ in the poor, even to giving one's life, and the forgiveness that makes kin again.
- Raymond Lulle The desire for God lived as burning love, even in the meeting with the other.
- Rose-Philippine Duchesne Prayer offered when one can do nothing else, held as true labour before God.
- Ruth Pfau A life decided by an unplanned stop, and held to the end.
- Rutilio Grande The Gospel given back to the poor as a dignity, and prayer that becomes concrete solidarity.
- Sadhu Sundar Singh Desiring God himself rather than his gifts, and making the whole road a prayer.
- Samuel Ajayi Crowther The prayer of the freed one: to give thanks for deliverance and to pass it on to one's own.
- Sára Salkaházi Offering in advance what you do not yet know you will have to give.
- Satoko Kitahara Not helping from above but joining: drawing so near as to share the other's condition.
- Stanley Rother The shepherd who does not flee: staying with one's own when danger comes.
- Teresa de Calcutta Service of the poorest as an encounter with Christ, and fidelity held through the night of faith.
- Thea Bowman To bring to God all that one is, holding back nothing of one's history.
- Thérèse de Lisieux Love as vocation. Sanctity at the height of a child.
- Tiyo Soga Standing straight between two worlds that each claim all of you.
- Toribio de Mogrovejo Service that goes out to people itself, sparing none of its steps.
- V. S. Azariah Faith that asks for friendship between equals, across borders and ranks.
- Wanda Błeńska Love that touches what the world dares not touch, and a profession practiced as a gift of self.
- Zilpha Elaw Going anyway, without waiting to be equipped.