Peace be with you!
This week, we consider both the heights of the call to holiness expressed in our vocation, and some down-to-earth practical insights about how to put that to work in our lives.
As Proverbs says, “Without a vision, the people perish.” What’s true for nations is true for individuals and families. But it has to be the right vision. Seeing a lizard or a cat wouldn’t have helped the eagle in the chicken coop. He had to see his true purpose in order to take to the skies.
Modern culture seldom talks about “vocation.” It talks about “work.” Whether communist or capitalist, modern societies see our purpose and identity as units of productive capital and consumerism. And we either “work to play,” an attitude summed up by the bumpersticker, “Whoever Dies with the Most Toys Wins.” Or we work for “success,” defined by the corner office, power, and prestige. Work itself is robbed of its meaning. And sadly, at the end of our lives, all we have to show for our labor is the emptiness of self-gratification or self-aggrandizement.
Clearly, false visions–like false gods–only lead us farther away from who we are meant to be. Only the right vision will lead us to our true selves.
Jesus offers us a different vision, and a vocation. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.” The “vocation culture” lifts our sights from the earth to our eternal goal. And by eternal, we don’t mean “someday.” Eternity begins now. Right now, by virtue of our Baptism, we have a mission, and our “mission statment” is embedded in the Lord’s Prayer: The Kingdom of God on earth, as it is in Heaven.
But mission statements don’t happen by themselves. If the Kingdom is to come, then we–the baptized–are the ones who have to make it happen. And this is where strategic thinking comes in.
Strategic thinking ties what we do every day to our mission. We are challenged to see that everything we do, or don’t do, directly affects the success of our mission. Everything has meaning and purpose. And far from being mere consumers or “human resources,” when we put the Kingdom of God first in our lives, we recognize our true identity: we are God’s priestly people, members of His holy nation. Children of God.
In his parables, Jesus tells us that we all have talents. That we are all accountable for how we use them. He wants our best effort, whether we have many talents or few. Jesus tells us, as he told Peter, to cast out into deep water. Whatever we do, we must put our heart into it. And we should strive to forward our mission: the kingdom of God. Here, and now.
As Fr. Freeh said, it’s never too late to begin to practice strategic thinking. Sometimes the simplest change can be the most profound. Start every day with a morning offering, giving to God everything you do. Transform mere “work” into a true “vocation.”
Oh my Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you all my prayers, works, joys, and trials, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass said today throughout the world, for the intentions of your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, the reunion of all Christians; the intentions of your faithful bishops and all apostles of prayers; and in particular for the intentions recommended this month by our Holy Father.
(As someone who has struggled my whole life to find my vocation, I can tell you that saying a morning offering gives meaning to the search itself…usually under the category of “trials.”)
And there’s more we can do. Vicki rightly points out how we should plan to bring God’s Kingdom into our personal and family lives. In today’s world, only conscious effort will bring more prayer into our families, more service to God and neighbor. Recognizing our mission to advance the Kingdom of God on earth will inspire us to lift others, by our example and our prayers, out of the worship of false gods and away from false visions that deny human dignity.
Jesus tells us, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all else shall be added unto you. Somewhere in Jeremiah, God tells us, “I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper, and not to harm you.” (I’m writing this in a hotel, with an iffy internet connection, so I’m not hunting down the exact verses and links.)
This is our invitation to soar. Or, as St. Catherine of Siena said, “Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.”
Good News Spirituality 