We have a tendency to think that the term vocation refers to those called to the priesthood or the religious life. This way of thinking is a serious mistake. It would be an arbitrary and uncaring god who called a few people to a specific vocation and left everybody else to stumble along as best they could. No, God calls each and every one of us, first to the vocation of being a Christian, and second, to one or more vocations which will be the practical ways of working out our salvation with the grace of God. This means that marriage is a vocation as much as celibacy. Doctors, social workers, business executives, or manual laborers follow vocations in the full sense of the word just as much as monks and nuns. It is possible that one must take a job in order to make a living, but a following a vocation is qualitatively different from having a job.

The term "calling", conjures the image of someone from without doing the calling. This calling is from God, and it is true that God is other than ourselves. But there is an inner dimension to this calling which is no less important. God has created each one of us individually in God's image. The consequence of this momentous truth is that God has a vision of what each one of us is meant to be. This truth is often eclipsed by the prevailing belief that we must create our own selves, that we must make something of our selves. It is true that we must expend much effort in growing as persons, to say nothing of developing the skills required by our vocations. Also, it may seem that if God has decided who we are and what we are to become, then the whole adventure of human growth becomes meaningless. We are mere robots tied to God's vision of us. But God is a God of life, not death. God's eternal being is not static. The abiding reality of God is a constant stream of dynamic love flowing both between the Persons of the Trinity and outward to all creation. Thus, God's perfect idea of each of us is a dynamism of love; a dynamism which leaves room for each of us to make our own choices and our own discoveries both of ourselves and of God.

Self-knowledge, then, is an essential element in the discerning of vocations. It should be clear by this time that I do not mean an ego-centric centering on self, but rather a self-knowledge based on experiencing ourselves as created in the image of God. We each discover the temperament and the talents given us by God for the vocation each of us is called to. The startling truth is that God calls each of us to that which we most want to do. I am not talking about superficial whims where our sensuality or pride could lead us astray, but of the desire planted in our depths by God.

We each have a natural yearning for God and an individual means of actualizing that yearning---our vocation. Discerning and then following our deepest yearnings will not make us selfish. Rather the deepest desires given us by God will require acting with our greatest generosity. Neither will our vocations lead us to an easy or a superficially happy life. On the contrary, we will often find ourselves on a difficult path. There will be periods of pain and genuine hardship, but if the pain is in line with our God-given vocation, we would not trade this pain for the whole world. The important thing to discern here is to discover which of the challenges and trials in life are meant for us and which ones are for somebody else. God gives us the grace for the challenges that God intends for us and not for those challenges that are not. When St. Paul discussed celibacy while writing the Corinthians, he said that some people have one gift and some people have another. Those who receive the gift of celibacy have the grace for the unique challenges of that calling and they don't have the gift of grace needed for the vocation of marriage. It is important, then, to know ourselves in the eyes of God well enough to know what graces God is giving us and which graces are not being given us.

During any search for vocation we should be alert to the mysterious workings of Divine Providence. Important as inner promptings are, we can easily deceive ourselves by romantic fantasies concerning one vocation or another, not to speak of fantasies about ourselves. So we need the judgment and advice of others. It is important that authorities in the church decide who is to be ordained to the diaconate or priesthood. One does not enter an office and announce to the boss that one is joining the company. No, the boss must enter into the discernment process. Here we participate in the risk God Himself takes with creation. The other people responsible for discerning our vocation are as prone to error as we are ourselves. But along with this judgment from others, we should attend carefully to the events in our lives. What opportunities are coming our way? When real chances present themselves to us, we should consider the possibility that God's hand is in the offer. At the same time, we must ask questions such as: Will this new offer give proper scope for my gifts as far as I can discern them? There is only one practical way to sharpen our ability to discern the guidance of Providence when we must make our choices. We must spend a generous amount of time in deep prayer.

It is well-known that mid-life is a period of examination and sometimes of vocational crisis. We may discover that an important aspect of our personality which undeveloped now demands our attention. When this happens, we may be tempted to think our choice of vocation was a mistake. This might be true, but it is wise to consider seriously the possibility of being called to enrich the vocation we already have. It could be that we are called to develop our weak areas so that our strengths can function all the more effectively. Perhaps the academician who suddenly discovers human contact should not throw away his library and start a counseling service. Such a one should at least examine ways in which his new awareness can enrich his intellectual work. We may find that we can build on what we have been doing for twenty years, integrating past experience with the present, instead of prematurely throwing away our earlier experience.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta said "we are called to be faithful, not successful." Success is not the measure of vocation -- fidelity is. Rejection slips from a publisher do not necessarily mean that one was not called to be a writer. It is true that in commercial professions, failure is not often tolerated, but here the decision may be based on criteria other than a theology of vocation. Lack of success will cause the pain of extra soul-searching because it is difficult to believe that we are doing the right thing if it is not working. Besides, failure is hardly a guarantee that one is following the right vocation or is pursuing it as well as God's gifts make possible. This point that success or the lack of it is not decisive becomes especially important in the helping professions where we are working with people who must be given the freedom to make their own choices. There is no sure way of knowing that we are doing the right thing in such situations. Some of us might even be successful at doing the wrong thing. There are not always reliable measures of "success". What is a "successful" marriage? Or how does one "succeed" at being a monk? In the end, we can only throw ourselves on to the mercy of God and continue with the business given us by God as best we can. It may be for us to plant or to water, but it is for God to make things grow. The fruits of our work must be left in the hands of God. So often we insist on giving God the finished product. But our Lord said: "What sort of servant, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Happy that servant if his master's arrival finds him at this employment." (Mat. 24:45-46) He did not say: Blessed is the servant who has succeeded.