The way to one's true vocation is not simply about finding the path that brings one the most joy or greatest fulfilment in life. It is also about finding the path that brings one the most tears, for it is only when one has truly cried for others that one has truly loved.
When I read what Brother Nicholas Lye said about his vocation journey in the Catholic News (June 1, 2014), it made me think of what my vocation means to me now, 11 years on.
It is true that what has afforded me the deepest satisfaction and joy has also exacted a great price; sacrifices involving time, hard work, discipline, perseverance, physical and emotional pain, and tears, copious amounts at times.
Saying yes to my vocation (not just the domain of priests and religious) has necessitated my saying no to many other things. It has meant saying no, at times, to personal comfort, pleasure, complacency, and my own selfish desires. I have had to cut links, lose relationships and leave people I loved dearly behind.
It has also meant saying yes to growing: forming my character, acquiring new skills, sharpening my faith, shaping my spirituality and dying to self, repeatedly. I had to learn how to be a child again, helpless and utterly dependent on the Father. Whilst incredibly hard, and humbling, it has been exhilarating and liberating as well.
So if you think following your vocation is a cakewalk, think again. And yet, for me, there is no other way. From the moment I knew what it was that I was created to do, I had to follow the dreams that God placed into my heart from the beginning, dreams I had discovered only a decade or so ago. I had lived in a purposeless limbo too long to want to remain there a second more.
While each one of us has a unique vocation, there is one aspect of vocation that we all share, and that is the mission to love: God and others. Loving, as we all know, is a risky business with treacherous yields. To love means allowing one to be vulnerable, to expose one's heart to the vagaries and whimsies of others, to risk betrayal.
Thus to be true to one's vocation is to transform the wastelands of anger, despair, fear, hatred and evil in the world, seeding the landscape with faith, hope, joy and peace through love as we march through the highways and byways of everyday, humdrum chaos, bringing new life to what was previously lost and thought hopeless. We may even be required to water the landscape with our own tears of hurt, frustration and pain in order to change it for the better.
It can get lonely and wearisome so it is imperative to have companions on the journey. As today's first reading from Acts 1:12-14 reminds us, we need to gather in the upper room with others of like mind and heart to praise and glorify God, thanking Him for sending us Jesus, His Son, and to keep watch for the Holy Spirit who will be sent to us so that we can be filled with His grace and power. So glad I am going to see my fellow ICPE Companions later this afternoon.
These last years have been a time of study and training for me and I know this will continue until the day I die. I am battle-scarred, I have even broken a few bones, but I am stronger, more resilient, and wiser.
I can see how God is constantly honing and refining my vocation, waiting for me to say yes to His plan (it is a process, not a one-shot deal). I won't continue to say yes without trepidation, especially since I know how high the costs can be, but I know that if I am sincere, then He will always be with me, a reassuring and loving presence, every step of the way.
When I read what Brother Nicholas Lye said about his vocation journey in the Catholic News (June 1, 2014), it made me think of what my vocation means to me now, 11 years on.
It is true that what has afforded me the deepest satisfaction and joy has also exacted a great price; sacrifices involving time, hard work, discipline, perseverance, physical and emotional pain, and tears, copious amounts at times.
Saying yes to my vocation (not just the domain of priests and religious) has necessitated my saying no to many other things. It has meant saying no, at times, to personal comfort, pleasure, complacency, and my own selfish desires. I have had to cut links, lose relationships and leave people I loved dearly behind.
It has also meant saying yes to growing: forming my character, acquiring new skills, sharpening my faith, shaping my spirituality and dying to self, repeatedly. I had to learn how to be a child again, helpless and utterly dependent on the Father. Whilst incredibly hard, and humbling, it has been exhilarating and liberating as well.
So if you think following your vocation is a cakewalk, think again. And yet, for me, there is no other way. From the moment I knew what it was that I was created to do, I had to follow the dreams that God placed into my heart from the beginning, dreams I had discovered only a decade or so ago. I had lived in a purposeless limbo too long to want to remain there a second more.
While each one of us has a unique vocation, there is one aspect of vocation that we all share, and that is the mission to love: God and others. Loving, as we all know, is a risky business with treacherous yields. To love means allowing one to be vulnerable, to expose one's heart to the vagaries and whimsies of others, to risk betrayal.
Thus to be true to one's vocation is to transform the wastelands of anger, despair, fear, hatred and evil in the world, seeding the landscape with faith, hope, joy and peace through love as we march through the highways and byways of everyday, humdrum chaos, bringing new life to what was previously lost and thought hopeless. We may even be required to water the landscape with our own tears of hurt, frustration and pain in order to change it for the better.
It can get lonely and wearisome so it is imperative to have companions on the journey. As today's first reading from Acts 1:12-14 reminds us, we need to gather in the upper room with others of like mind and heart to praise and glorify God, thanking Him for sending us Jesus, His Son, and to keep watch for the Holy Spirit who will be sent to us so that we can be filled with His grace and power. So glad I am going to see my fellow ICPE Companions later this afternoon.
These last years have been a time of study and training for me and I know this will continue until the day I die. I am battle-scarred, I have even broken a few bones, but I am stronger, more resilient, and wiser.
I can see how God is constantly honing and refining my vocation, waiting for me to say yes to His plan (it is a process, not a one-shot deal). I won't continue to say yes without trepidation, especially since I know how high the costs can be, but I know that if I am sincere, then He will always be with me, a reassuring and loving presence, every step of the way.
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