Vocation
Vocation means a call
THE CALL
To call is an ordinary human gesture. To call someone’s name makes this ordinary human gesture special. Every day in our lives, there are thousands of calls being done, sent and received. At times, a call may not be heard because of noise, inattention, selective listening or simply deafness. The latter is unimportant because to truly hear a call goes beyond what our ears are made for. Real listening happens in the heart. It is the capacity of the interior ear of the heart.
The word “call” comes from the Latin word VOCARE which means to call someone’s name. In Christian tradition, we associate this word to an English synonym VOCATION. It is necessary to understand, that when someone calls, I listen. It is because I want to hear that someone is calling my name. My interior ear hears it. Listening to this call requires silence, a quiet time away from the noise of a busy world.
You may ask the following question: Who calls? Whose voice can I listen to with the interior ear of my heart? Who is capable of speaking to me in my heart?
God alone is! When He calls, it is always with a gentle voice, like a soft gentle breeze. (1 Kings 19:11-12) The call is gentle, demanding and yet merciful. When God calls, He invites us to respond.
God may use the events of our life to call us. He can use a person or a situation which may or may not always be favorable. He can write straight with crooked lines. God can speak to us in our heart or through the different voices and persons in the world around us.
To listen, open the ear of your heart…
THE UNIVERSAL CALL
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you”.
Jeremiah 1:5
Do you know that we all have one great call and that it is meant for all?
We call it the universal call to HOLINESS. Our baptism calls us all to walk the path of happiness which is holiness. Holiness is for all people in all seasons of life…old and young, men and women, children and youth, in sickness and in good health, in challenging moments, in abundance and in poverty. “Strengthened by so many and such great means of salvation, all the faithful, whatever their condition or state, are called by the Lord – each in his or her own way – to that perfect holiness by which the Father himself is perfect”. (Gaudete et exsultate #10) “Each in his or her own way” means, we should not grow discouraged before examples of holiness that appear unattainable. There are some testimonies that may prove helpful and inspiring, but that we are not meant to copy, for that could even lead us astray from the one specific path that the Lord has in mind for us. The important thing is that each believer discern his or her own path, that they bring out the very best of themselves, the most personal gifts that God has placed in their hearts (cf. 1 Cor 12:7) For God’s life is communicated “to some in one way and to others in another”. (Gaudete et Exsultate #11)
HOLINESS is not the perfection of how we do things or the manner in which we fulfil the laws that were presented to us in school, in our places of work, in our homes etc. The rich young man in the Gospel obeyed the Ten Commandments perfectly and yet the challenge that Jesus presented to him to leave behind his possessions in order to love and follow him more closely, is seemingly impossible. (Matthew 19:16-22) St. Paul in his letters to the Philippians considered himself flawless with regards to his obedience to the law. Yet in his new life in Christ, things that he considered of value have become rubbish! (Philippians 3:8).
To listen, open the ear of your heart…
