Serra Club Vocations Essay

Student finds guidance in faith in example of Native American Catholic

By Mallory Gibbs (Special to The Criterion)

As an eighth grader, it is difficult for me to really understand what my vocation is for my entire life. God has his own plan for me, and I only need to find out how I can fulfill it.

Finding that vocation may be arduous, but I can look back at Catholics like the Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk, also known as Hehaka Sapa, who helped build America these past 250 years. When he was 9, Black Elk had a vision of the Passion of Christ. Calling it the “sacred tree,” he understood that his calling was to save his people with God’s truth.

He saw the vision decades before he knew about Catholicism, and decades before he converted. Even though he was not a priest or a deacon, he was called to introduce the Bible to those who hadn’t been told about the Catholic faith.

Black Elk also felt called to teach those who had learned about Christ how to pray and worship. He taught people to listen to God’s voice, no matter how small it may seem, and is credited with converting nearly 400 Native Americans.

This strengthened communities across the nation, particularly in the Dakota area where the Sioux tribe resided, and it has inspired many to talk to and feel closer to God than ever. Not many Native Americans are on the pathway to being declared a saint. Many kept to their own ways.

Black Elk understood that changing from what people were familiar with was intimidating, but he was both fully Lakota and Catholic. He preserved Lakota traditions, building upon them with Catholic ones.

I personally have always been close to God in prayer like Black Elk was. Praying before I sleep or when I wake up helps me enjoy the security of knowing that God is sitting with me, listening to my worries or my thanks. I also often pray about my own vocation and what God would like me to do with my life.

I might prefer to pray in the darkness of the morning or night, but I also pray during the day with my peers in school and at Mass. Although all of these opportunities to pray help me grow closer to God, I can still learn from those who came before me such as Black Elk.

He teaches us today about our own vocations by showing that sometimes God speaks to us with signs, directly or indirectly. Taking him as a model for my own life, I can teach my kids how to build up their own faith.

Many others just like him helped build up this amazing nation from its roots. They all established the Catholic faith in America, and I strive to be a great role model just as they were.
 

(Mallory and her mother, Tonya Gibbs, are members of St. Barnabas Parish in Indianapolis. She recently completed the eighth grade at St. Barnabas School in Indianapolis and is the eighth-grade division winner in the Indianapolis Serra Club’s 2026 John D. Kelley Vocations Essay Contest.) †