“What on earth am I here for?” Life has meaning and purpose when we stretch beyond the ‘clock of routine’ and engage our lives on a ‘Divine agenda.’ We were never created to merely drift and coast on the sands of time. God has created us for greater purposes. Rick Warren, in his best seller, Purpose Driven Life, offers paradigm-shift solutions to a battery of questions we keep asking ourselves. Paramahansa Yogananda writes in Man’s Eternal Quest, “The initiative to undertake your most important duty in life is often buried beneath the accumulated debris of human habits.” Socrates, the renowned Greek philosopher, puts it plainly, “An unreflected life is not worth living.”
Inspired lives are those of people who stepped out of the ordinary. They stretched the limits of their existence to a higher realm of living meaningfully. In simple words, they found their true CALLING in life and responded to it with a clarity of purpose and a generosity of heart. Every Vocation is a unique ‘Call’ offered by God to each individual. All of us, therefore, rightfully have a vocation story to live. It’s not just about a Mother Teresa or a Martin Luther King, nor is it about the Mahatma Gandhi or a John Paul II. When I, as an individual, align myself to become the blueprint that the Master Creator has set in place for me, then, I have truly lived my Vocation in life.
Evelyn Waugh, in Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane memories of Captain Charles Ryder, presents a beautiful conversation between Cordelia and Charles:
Cordelia: I hope I’ve got a vocation.
Charles: I don’t know what that means.
Cordelia: It means you can be a nun. If you haven’t a vocation, it’s no good however much you want to be; and if you have a vocation, you can’t get away from it, however much you hate it.”
We fulfil our Vocation by living lovingly, joyfully and generously in our chosen setting—Priesthood, Religious, Married or Single Life. Vocation is not primarily about which group we join or what work we will do, but about holiness of life. Just staying in is not the meaning of persevering in one’s vocation. As Fr Pascual Chavez SDB, the former Superior General of the Salesians and a great authority on religious life, used to say, “Perseverance Is not the same as fidelity.”
Am I faithful to my vocation today? The answer is found in the way I live this day. Are my deeds, words, desires and decisions in line with what God wants me to do here and now? If so I am faithful. If not, I am staying in, but I am not faithful.
No one is left out of this invitation. It is wrong to say, “I never had a vocation.” Everyone has. Sadly, history tells us of many who chose the ‘abandonment of the call.’
Vocation is a life-long call and response—not just an event. Here are a few guidelines to help us along the journey.
- God’s Initiative is Paramount: The starting point is from God. God is the master-caller. A vocation is not my choice for God, but rather God’s choice for me. God calls me to be a priest, rather than I choosing to be a priest. The one called cannot place self over God’s agenda. Every vocation is therefore sacred and divinely blessed. The moment I place self over the Divine Caller, I trade my Vocation for a mere profession or career. The spotlight moves from God’s agenda to my own selfish motives.
- Faith is Essential: A faithless person cannot respond to God’s call. It takes faith to answer a call. Jonah wasn’t ready the first time the call came to him. Fear made him run away. Jonah was called a ‘second time.’ His first call was shrouded in total fear. Faith enables us to answer the call more readily and freely. A vocational crisis begins the moment we replace faith with fear! If ‘Formators’ are not persons of deep faith, the whole discernment process becomes blurred by fear and the formee is often left in the dark tunnel of perpetual doubt!
- God’s Agenda is our Mission: Every Vocation is for a particular mission. To respond to our vocation, we need to sync our will with the Divine will. When God calls us, he wires us with a heart to listen to his voice and to follow His will. God’s agenda is always for peace, justice, love and righteousness and the advancement of His people and world. Any disconnect from God’s agenda will makes us instruments of war, injustice, hate, and a broken humanity and world. Our Vocation is to become ‘Harvesters’ in God’s abundant fields.
- Each Vocation is Unique: My ‘calling’ is my calling! It’s not given to another. No one else can respond for me. Moses wanted his brother Aaron to stand in for him. Jeremiah wanted someone older to replace his youthful self. Our human limitations are never criteria for God to take away the call from us. He calls us mortals and ordinary people to make an extraordinary journey. Pope Benedict tells us, “Each one of you has a personal vocation which He has given you for your own joy and sanctity. When a person is conquered by the fire of His gaze, no sacrifice seems too great to follow Him and give Him the best of ourselves. This is what the saints have always done, spreading the light of the Lord and transforming the world into a welcoming home for all.”
- Motivations Need Purification: At times, our motivations in responding to God’s call must be purified along the journey. Choosing to sit by the right and left side of the throne of God was a wrong motivation in following Jesus. Formation and moments of proper discernment are essential to purify our intentions. Thomas Merton, the great mystic, writes in No Man is an Island, “For each of us there is only one thing necessary: to fulfil our destiny, according to God’s will—to be what God wants us to be.”
- Soul Friends to Discern with You: Every vocational response, be it priestly, religious, married or single, goes through a ‘crisis stage.’ Doubts set in. The journey seems difficult and ‘walking out’ seems the easier option. My own priestly journey had similar difficult times. The heart gets passionless, the mind gets visionless and the mission seems to be a boring exercise! In such moments, the presence of ‘soul friends’ play a very important role. Talk it over, seek counsel, be open to rediscover your ‘first calling.’ Discernment and prayerful support are two essentials wings to keep one from falling apart.
Finally, all Vocations are sacred and unique. Priesthood or religious life is not higher than marriage. We are all called to holiness of life! Whoever lives a life close to God and fulfils God’s plans, is faithful to one’s vocation and contributes best.
An inspiring man whose life journey has galvanized the world can throw light on our vocation journey. This is what Pope Francis says in his message for Vocation Sunday 2018:
“The joy of the Gospel, which makes us open to encountering God and our brothers and sisters, does not abide our slowness and our sloth. It will not fill our hearts if we keep standing by the window with the excuse of waiting for the right time, without accepting this very day the risk of making a decision. Vocation is today! The Christian mission is now! Each one of us is called–whether to the lay life in marriage, to the priestly life in the ordained ministry, or to a life of special consecration–in order to become a witness of the Lord, here and now.”
To subscribe to the magazine Contact Us
