It's the question I'm asked by everyone from the next-door neighbor, to all my aunts and uncles, to all the elderly ladies from church. It's a question accompanied by [mostly] well-meaning cordiality, [sometimes] curious expressions, [frequently] followed by surprise and [often] followed by opinion. Of course, there are several variations.
"Are you going to college?"
"Where are you going to college?"
"What are you going to do now?"
"What are your plans?"
I always smile at that last one. Apparently, it's a must nowadays to have your "plans made". Apparently, it's a prerequisite to happiness, to fulfillment. Certainly, I can make plans. But I really only have one – to find God’s plan, and follow it. After all, why exert yourself to make “your own” plans when there’s a grand master plan already prepared for you?
This is not just wishful thinking, feel-good belief, or silly idealism. Not one of us is an accident. We are not merely a name, a number, or just somebody stuck here by our Creator and then left to figure everything out on our own. Each of us was willed. Each of us was created by the Master for a purpose. Each of us has a special mission. Each of us has a unique calling. Each of us has a specific vocation that no one else on earth can fulfill in the same way.
It’s really very simple. We seek to find, know, and follow the plan of the Master, and in return, we find real happiness. We find real fulfillment. We find real joy. Not necessarily always comfort and pleasure, but happiness. True happiness. Deep fulfillment. Lasting joy. And any human being who has ever walked the face of the earth longs for these three more than anything else.
So the simple answer to THE question is this: What am I doing now that high school is over? Seeking to follow the Plan of the Master, to find and follow my vocation – not only for my life, but for each moment.
It is quite common nowadays for this word “vocation” to be used in a limited sense only to mean a religious calling (i.e. the vocation of becoming a priest or consecrated religious), when in reality EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US HAS A VOCATION. The word vocation comes from the Latin vocāre, meaning “to call”. And each one of us has a calling…and therefore has a vocation, whether it be to Holy Matrimony, the Consecrated Life, or unconsecrated single life in service to Christ and others.
Dictionary.com:
Vocation – noun
4. a divine call to God's service or to the Christian life
5. a function or station in life to which one is called by God:
the religious vocation; the vocation of marriage (examples actually given and italicized)
"Are you going to college?"
"Where are you going to college?"
"What are you going to do now?"
"What are your plans?"
I always smile at that last one. Apparently, it's a must nowadays to have your "plans made". Apparently, it's a prerequisite to happiness, to fulfillment. Certainly, I can make plans. But I really only have one – to find God’s plan, and follow it. After all, why exert yourself to make “your own” plans when there’s a grand master plan already prepared for you?
This is not just wishful thinking, feel-good belief, or silly idealism. Not one of us is an accident. We are not merely a name, a number, or just somebody stuck here by our Creator and then left to figure everything out on our own. Each of us was willed. Each of us was created by the Master for a purpose. Each of us has a special mission. Each of us has a unique calling. Each of us has a specific vocation that no one else on earth can fulfill in the same way.
It’s really very simple. We seek to find, know, and follow the plan of the Master, and in return, we find real happiness. We find real fulfillment. We find real joy. Not necessarily always comfort and pleasure, but happiness. True happiness. Deep fulfillment. Lasting joy. And any human being who has ever walked the face of the earth longs for these three more than anything else.
So the simple answer to THE question is this: What am I doing now that high school is over? Seeking to follow the Plan of the Master, to find and follow my vocation – not only for my life, but for each moment.
It is quite common nowadays for this word “vocation” to be used in a limited sense only to mean a religious calling (i.e. the vocation of becoming a priest or consecrated religious), when in reality EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US HAS A VOCATION. The word vocation comes from the Latin vocāre, meaning “to call”. And each one of us has a calling…and therefore has a vocation, whether it be to Holy Matrimony, the Consecrated Life, or unconsecrated single life in service to Christ and others.
Dictionary.com:
Vocation – noun
4. a divine call to God's service or to the Christian life
5. a function or station in life to which one is called by God:
the religious vocation; the vocation of marriage (examples actually given and italicized)
To be continued…
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1 comment:
Thanks for your comment on CounterCulture Claire.I`m adding your blog to the links in CounterCulture.
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