VOCATION: Responding to God's Call
William Woody. Class of 2011
As final exams draw near and graduation looms on the horizon, the prospect of leaving Scranton and moving onto something else prompts a wide range of feelings from excited anticipation to nervous anxiety. Leaving the rather predictable routine of college life behind, a degree of uncertainty and a lack of control over our futures can provoke such feelings and lead anyone to obsess over the questions, “What’s next?” or “What am I doing with my life?” Although each of us have struggled with these questions to some degree in our own way (and we can all offer our own unique response), today’s readings make it clear that we all share in a common vocation – called by Christ to love and to serve both God and others.
Over the past four years at the University of Scranton, my faith journey has taken rather surprising turns, yet the question of vocation recurred as one of the constant struggles. And while it may be easy to write off the question of a “vocation” as something reserved for those discerning religious life or ordained ministry, we must not forget that we are all called by God and that we all must recognize and respond to our vocation in some way. Today’s first reading recalls the words of Peter, reminding the crows of the “promise” of God to “whomever the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39). Jesus himself makes such a promise in today’s Gospel reading, describing himself as the Good Shepherd who “calls out to his sheep by name and leads them out,” leading his people so that “they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:3, 10). We are not the absolute masters of our destiny, for God takes the initiative and calls us to our proper vocation, but God does not violently impose himself upon us or saddle us with a vocation to make us miserable. God calls us toward our proper vocation so that we may be happy and experience his love for each of us. And although God may call us toward an ultimately common vocation, an appropriate response to God’s call may manifest itself in many different ways.
How, then, can we recognize our proper vocation and respond wholeheartedly to God’s call? Through careful discernment, prayer, attention to our own desires and talents, and giving God space to work in our lives, we can come to recognize how Christ calls us toward the promised “life abundant” which God strongly desires to give each of us. It would be foolish to write off our past experiences and desires in discerning vocation, for God speaks to us through such experiences and desires. Further, each of us possess unique gifts and talents, and so we each stand ready to offer our individual abilities in service to God and out of love for one another. We cannot ignore our own inclinations and desires completely, but we must use these gifts in a way that leads to the greater glory of God as well as to more just and loving relationships with others. Most importantly, we must recognize that vocation is not simply a one-time question that we can “resolve” at one discrete moment. Rather, it is an ongoing process of living our lives in response to God’s call and following Christ in active discipleship. We must trust, then, that God continues to call and to shape our lives if we let him – even when things do not seem to go our way or when God seems absent from our lives. God continues to call and to beckon us all toward that life abundant promised by following Christ.
While giving up absolute control over our future and knowing that things will not always go as we expect would unsettle anyone, I recall the words of the French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who exhorts us to “Trust in the slow work of God…Give our Lord the benefit of believing that His Hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.” I recognize the temptation to obsess over our futures and how readily we try to control ever aspect of our lives. But maybe we should take a step back, trusting that God calls and leads each of us to a greater promise than we could ever create for ourselves. Maybe we should try to let God have his way and recognize, as Christ tells us, “you did not choose me but I chose you” (Jn 15:16).
this is from last year, but it is so great!
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