Hey there, Coffee Talkers,
What's presented below includes an abridged and edited version of an old post that I came across and realized that I needed to hear again and meditate on at this stage in my spiritual journey. When I write about the faith I see that God is often speaking most directly to me even if I'm answering a question that someone else has asked, and if a few people out there have been also been helped in their life of faith by my writings then I'll count that as an added blessing. So here's one on the concept of vocation because I need to revisit it, and maybe you do, too:
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When Catholic Christians talk about vocations, most people
think only about priests and nuns, but a vocation refers to a person’s calling
from God. This means that every one of us has a vocation, or a divine calling,
and the fact is that most of us are not called to be priests and nuns. In my
own spiritual journey I have reflected a great deal on the concept of vocation,
and have summed up God’s lessons to me in three major themes.
1. Vocation is always rooted in reality, and in the present
moment.
Have you ever known someone who was always 'discerning'
their vocation, or a person who says, “I’ll pray about that” as a way of
side-stepping even the most simple decisions or commitments? Don't get me
wrong; discernment and prayers are very important, but I think that sometimes
we use prayer as an excuse to be perpetually non-committal and confuse
discerning with fanciful daydreaming. These daydreams don't necessarily have to
take the form of something glamorous, for even the dream of suffering or
martyrdom can be heroic in the mind's eye.
Ultimately, the most important aspect of any vocation is
rooted in our present reality – God is not going to ask us to
neglect our obligations to our current state in life to pursue another. A
widowed mother is not likely to be ‘called’ to a cloistered convent while her
children are still young and relying upon her for their care and formation, for
example. Each of us is called to continue dedicating our lives fully to those
tasks at hand until such a time as the Lord presents something else to us, puts
something or someone clearly in our path and asks us to take a different
direction. When that happens, we should act on it, and promptly. Until that
time, however, there is no use spending countless hours (or even minutes!)
thinking about what could be or what might have been. Vocation is reality,
plain and simple, and often that involves our lives being very different than
we might have wished them to be.
2. Vocation is always rooted in love, and in loving again
and again.
Whenever I think of vocation, I think of little St. Therese
of Lisieux, a young cloistered Carmelite nun whose feast we will soon celebrate on October 1. Therese wanted to be so many things, but in the
end realized that her vocation was love. What does this mean? Some think
Therese to have been a syrup-y sweet little saint who always had life easy, and
so her joy and happiness and vocation of ‘love’ must have come to her with
ease, as well. However, anyone who has read her ‘Story of A Soul’ can assure
you that this was not the case, nor is it the case with any sincere disciple of
Christ. No, we are asked to choose love and to live love again and again in the
face of countless sufferings, as Therese did.
The act of loving in the face of hatred, persecution,
malignment, and every form of human suffering is a discipline that is possible
not by human effort alone, but by grace. Just when we have reached the end of
our own strength, it is then we are called to love again, and to be willing to
take the risk of loving not just once, not twice, but an infinite number of
times. I suspect that this is part of what the Psalmist is referring to when he
says, "If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Do you
hear God's voice, even in the midst of your pain and suffering? Open your heart
to the possibility of loving again, to hurting again, to being healed again,
and then once again to loving.
3. Vocation means being God's, even on the Cross.
Anyone who preaches a Gospel solely based on prosperity and
success in this life preaches a lie; we must realize that the Christian
vocation means following Christ even unto death, and that means accepting the
Cross. If we are humble enough, many people of faith will admit that while we may
have followed a number of paths to which we surely felt God calling us, we
ended up in a place entirely different than the place of our imagining or
choosing. Even in the face of uncertainty, embarrassment, disillusionment,
pain, and suffering we are always God's, and God is always present, always. 'Being God's' is the one vocation that never ends. For both in life and
death we belong to God, and we know that the story of the Cross is one of
unimaginable and seemingly senseless suffering bearing the greatest fruit of redemption
that the world has ever known.
As always, thanks for stopping by, and be assured of my prayers.
Peace and all good,
Leslie
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