Life is a Vocation

Once we reflect on our lives in the context of Christ’s calling “follow me”, we are already changed as we allow Christ’s Eyes to rest on us and to touch our hearts deeply. 
Once we enter into the paradigm of life as a vocation, we know that the main question for us is not how we live our lives, but with whom do we live our lives. The reality of this relationship establishes and supports the quality of our lives, all our moral and spiritual decisions. We see then, the border vision of the world.  We search for Jesus’ voice.  The world then looks different, more friendly. We also see ourselves in a different light:  we are not alone on this planet; loneliness is only a feeling which cannot damage us any more; nothing wrong can happen to us, as He, the Shepherd, is in every single moment of the valley of darkness. 
Life, as a vocation, brings freedom of heart; makes us at home with ourselves; we are not orphans. Moreover, our prayer life is settled in the ongoing voice of Jesus; prayer becomes the breath of life; it is no longer a monologue or “a list of wishes” to God. 
The only familiar element of all kinds of vocations for us is the voice of Christ. The voice of Christ draws us in our deep desire to lead a more fulfilled life (read John 10;10); our desire to do everything to let Christ grow in us. However, in all vocations there is also an unknown, unfamiliar element: what will life be like when we really follow Christ? We simply cannot predict in which way Christ is going to transform us, to shape us into an ideal true-self known to God alone. Like clay in the hand of the potter, so we are in God’s Hand. The pot He shapes from the clay might be crushed into a lump of clay again and again. The Divine Potter can shape the clay as it seems best to Him. (Please reflect on Jeremiah 18:1-6). For instance, deep down, all the charm of being a husband or a wife, or a priest, or a nun, is there, but at the same time this is taken away once one has to live daily life with another. The desire of being a husband, a wife, a priest or a nun (united with Christ through faith) is the key element of a vocation, as well as the self-sacrifice and agreement that “someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” but which you deeply desire as you are rooted in the voice of Christ (John 21:18). 
Fr Stan