The fuel of religious life is, pure and simple, the gospel question:  “What are you seeking?”  if what you are seeking is the magnetizing spirit of Jesus and the role of its message to the world, religious life is a good place to start.  If you feel a strong call to one of the gifts Jesus demonstrated to the community, that that gift itself will sustain you for a lifetime

Like the facets of a diamond, Jesus’ gifts—contemplation, courage, justice, community, evangelization, mercy, charity, compassion, peace—are the foundation of one great religious tradition after another.  No single tradition can give equal light to all of them at the same time.  Yet, in each religious tradition one or more gifts emerge more distinctly than the others.

In the spirit of the Gospels, religious life winds its ways from one era to the next, always new, always clear, always courageous.  This, of course—this intention to make the Gospels as relevant in our times as they were in all times past—is why religious life never goes away.  It never really dies out, though multiple independent congregations may themselves disappear with time, because the gospel is new to every age and must be made newly real there.

          --from What are you looking for? By Joan Chittister (Paulist)