Fr. Sullivan, M.J., is a priest with the Miles Jesu order. Miles Jesu is an Institute of Consecrated Life dedicated to promoting reverence to the Blessed Sacrament, devotion to our Lady and faithfulness to the official teachings of the Church. For information on Miles Jesu and its Seminary Program, please call 1-800-654-7945 or visit their website at www.MilesJesu.com.
Frequently young people ask, “Does God really have a special, personal invitation for me?” Let me ask you a question. Why else did He place you here? Doesn't it seem unreasonable that the all-knowing Father would not have hopes and plans for His own child? Before creation itself God chose you not only to exist, but to serve Him in a way different than any other living creature.
He made you as a one-of-a-kind item and threw away the mold. He has a special way for you to love and follow Him.
By discovering your vocation, you enlighten the whole meaning of your life. You understand why God made you and how He loves you personally. Even more, like a puzzle fitting together, you understand more about God's providence in your past, present and future. Yes, God has a particular mission and purpose for you, and as you fulfill it, you find your niche in His creation. His calling for you is a hand-fit remedy and solution for your particular needs and circumstances. He's a good Father who provides for the future of all His children.
The word “vocation” has been stereotyped as applying only to the clerical way of life, but a vocation is something much more than this. Everyone has a vocation from God. Everyone receives an invitation from God to serve and Love Him in a particular manner. People are called in different ways to do different things, but the essence of the invitation is always the same, namely, to come to God and do His will.
The vocation is, first, a call to greater love, and secondly, a call to exercise that love in service. God's invitation is always a call to a deeper love relationship. It is not a superficial request, like an individual asking you to do something for him. No, His request is a gift of His infinite love for you and your compliance will produce growth within yourself and the world. And since God has no needs (we forget this too many times), He calls you not to enrich Himself but to benefit you and those around you.
The vocation God gives you, either as a priest or brother or parent or widow or consecrated lay person, etc., is a freely offered gift from God. It cannot be earned or demanded. Why God chooses as He does is a mystery and a fact of life and something to praise and thank God for. Remember the story of David's calling? Contrary to human expectations, God chose David to be anointed king even though he was a youngest child and a shepherd.
The vocation is primarily a surrender to the mystery and majesty of God before it is a service to man. This is an aspect of the vocation which is overlooked too many times today. Individuals tend to confuse the attraction to a ministry with the divine challenge to offer everything to God through commitment. God desires the offering of the whole person with binding commitment, but sometimes individuals steer clear from commitment because of their own interests. Sometimes these interests may be of an apostolic or spiritual nature, which makes them all the more difficult to identify as forms of self service.
It is easy and sometimes self-deceiving to believe that God is calling you to do what you enjoy doing. In the course of vocation discernment, St. Ignatius warns that some individuals fall into the error of essentially choosing what they want to do and then asking God to bless it. On the contrary, they should look with reservation upon the things they are attached to doing and favor what seems to them as the objectively more selfless offering they can make to God.
God desires a surrender to His Will. You may like or dislike what God wants to do with your life. But remember that He owns you and you owe Him everything. And, besides, hasn't He promised life to those who die to themselves? “Unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies it yields a rich harvest. Whoever loves his own life will lose it; whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (Jn 12:24-25).
Christ Himself set the example of doing the will of the Father in obedience. And this is primarily what the vocation is: namely, the following of God's will. Jesus came not to do His will but the will of His Father in heaven. Being the second person of the Trinity, Jesus was capable of doing far more than He did in His three short years of public ministry while here on earth. But the Father willed that He do otherwise — that He be offered as an atonement of the sins of the world. Jesus was obedient even unto death. This is the essential element of your vocation.
