Pray and Work for Vocations
By Br. Maximilian Mary Anderson
This article was originally published in our July 2025 Kansas Monks newsletter. Read the whole newsletter at www.kansasmonks.org/newsletter/july2025
Last year, June 1, 2024, I began my time as the Vocations Director here at the Abbey. While I had been the Assistant Vocations Director for a few years prior, I still knew that it was going to be a big switch for me! In this article, I hope to relate some of what I’ve experienced over the course of my first year as a Vocations Director and lessons that I’ve learned—or relearned—along with a request that you all to join me in praying and working for vocations to St. Benedict’s Abbey!
There are many experiences for which I am grateful throughout the course of this year. Many of them have to do with me receiving help or further formation in learning how to do the work of a Vocations Director. Many of the opportunities for this were rather informal, including conversations with other Vocation Directors at events like SEEK 2025, put on by FOCUS in Salt Lake City, or Benedictine College’s Vocations Week. I also had the opportunity to go to the Vita Consecrata Institute last summer at Christendom College in Front Royal, VA where I took some classes in psychology and theology to help me in the work. The conversations I got to have with other religious there were very helpful too! A few of the sisters there were also Vocation Directors for their communities. Hoping to learn something about what I should be focusing my attention on in my new role, I asked each of them the question “What’s the most important thing you do as Vocations Director?” Each of them had good answers, but I’ll never forget the one word answer that one of them gave: “Prayer.”
I must say that I felt a little silly for not realizing that I was taking for granted the most important thing that I’ve seen to be true time and again this year: The Lord is the one who calls. He’s the one who determines the path for each of us; he’s the one who’s in charge of all of it, including calling men to join St. Benedict’s Abbey.
The Lord is the one who calls. He’s the one who determines the path for each of us; he’s the one who’s in charge of all of it, including calling men to join St. Benedict’s Abbey.
For me, I’ve seen that everything in the way of practicalities needs to be irradiated with an awareness of this truth, or I run the risk of attempting to run the show myself. Not only does that prove exhausting, it’s also ultimately ineffective for the Lord himself said: “apart from me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5)
Along with this, I’ve learned the hard way, time and time again, that the practicalities of punctuality with communicating are very important as well. I’ve also been offered encouragement and pointers in this area throughout the year. Some of the big ones came to me at SEEK earlier this year when I was visiting with a few other vocations directors. One was offering me pointers because I told him I was still new. He asked me: “Do you have a database for tracking contacts?” I didn’t then, but I do now! I asked another, who was also a monk, “what his secret was” and the simplicity of his response was for me at once cause for compunction and encouragement: “I just pray for them and answer the mail!” Once again came the reminder that the Lord is the one in charge embodied in a witness of humility in that fidelity to the little tasks really does matter. The compunction arose from the fact that I know that I have good gifts and talents that help me as Vocations Director, but I really need to work very hard at keeping track of the administrative details; the encouragement came from seeing this monk further down the road that told me that growing in holiness and fidelity to the way of life that God has called me to as a monk is genuinely possible through this assignment given me by Abbot James.
This is where my request for your help in praying and working for vocations comes in! First of all, I ask that you pray for me. It is very true that this task is bigger than me and that I am not smart, strong, or resourceful enough to do it alone. Second, please pray for vocations to the Abbey. The monks pray for more vocations, the men already discerning our community, and our personal and communal growth in conversion to Christ every day. I urge you to join us in praying for these too!
Lastly, if you know a young man who would make a good monk and could have a vocation, please refer us to him! I have been surprised by the number of conversations I’ve had this year with inquirers who’ve been encouraged by someone they trust to check us out. That’s always encouraging for me to hear! I know that I have a beautiful vocation because I can remember all of how Jesus drew me to it and how he continues to draw me deeper; it’s really encouraging to see that others see something similar and judge it worthy of proposing to men seeking to take their discernment seriously! Thanks for a great first year; let us pray for each other as I embark on my second!
