How to become a Catholic nun.

Vocation, vocation, vocation. Everyone's talking about it. But who's praying for it?

As is my tradition when visiting friends and family in my home town of Buffalo, NY, I take the opportunity to rest, reflect, and catch up on a year's worth of TV, movies, and multimedia. It's not that I don't watch movies, but with my full work, school, and play schedule, I find little time for HBO (does that channel still exist?). I suppose I've lived without a TV for over 10 years now, but I like to tune in once a year to experience what the average American spends roughly one fourth of their life doing. According to a Neilson report published earlier this year, the average American watches over 150 hours of television per month.

But the real finds have been found digging through my mother's Christmas video selection. So far we've watched a string of Bing Crosby flicks. I feel confident to announce that The Bells of St. Mary's is by far my pick of the year. To see an endearing clip of the film, go here.

Why can't you find any decent movies with nuns and priests anymore? The last I can remember is Sister Act with Whoopi Goldberg, which doesn't exactly fall into the "decent" category. Still, I laughed. But isn't sad that practically our only opportunity to associate with a nun is via the Internet. On that note, you can listen to weekly podcasts, live from the convent, on a blog called A Nun's Life. Under a sidebar, there are a list of FAQ's along with a vocation forum and a "testing your vocation" article.

An unexpected find in the Christmas video category was Dr. Wayne Dyer's new film, Ambition to Meaning, released around Christmas last year in which the topic of vocation is also discussed. His Jungian approach is somewhere between physcological determinism and individuation, basically saying that if we surrender to God's original plan, then the path will be laid out in front of us. He questions us, "Do you live an inspired life?" He also introduces us to the popular Hindu term, dharma, and defines it as a spiritual principle that implies we have a spiritual purpose to our lives. This idea is discussed as teleology in academic circles.

Dr. Dyer quotes T.S. Eliot saying, "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." Here, Mircea Eliade's theory of "eternal return," a religious archetypal nostalgia for paradise or a desire to return to the realm of the supernatural, can be observed.

What does this have to do with vocation, vocation, vocation? Not sure. All I know is that after watching that movie, my sister walked into the room frustrated with her new Palmpilot. I looked deep into her eyes and said, "Nicole, maybe it's time you let go and let God." She returned my noble act of compassion with biting scorn and a piercing glare. I carefully rephrased my proposal and suggested, "let go and let Todd?" (FYI Todd is my brother-in-law). We had a good chuckle.

Anyways, I hope you all get the opportunity to spend time with a real nun this holiday season. I am again looking forward to spending Christmas Eve with Father Dugan, a much loved, Jesuit priest and friend of the family. But I've got Christmas gulabjamons to start working on for Jesus Christ's Vyasa Puja, vegan pizza hors d'oeuvres, and a Christmas dinner to plan, so I better end now. Merry Christmas everyone and a token Hare Krishna in good spirit!

(PS. And if you haven't watched this Indianized version of Jingle Bells, it's a must see!)