The joy of vocation... A call from God trough Christ to give God's mercy

In our Western culture, usually we think too much about ourselves and our preferences. Our expectations about vocation cannot be seen in this way, because if we think so, we are wrong. Consciously or not, some young people sometimes expect a vocation to solve all all their personal problems, answer all of their personal questions, and satisfy all their personal desires. But these are not the purposes of a vocation. Discernment, likewise, does not consist in finding the choice that will meet those expectations. Discernment is not about finding the hidden, magic key that will unlock your life and solve the riddle of your being.

If you listen the God’s call, is not to will answer all your questions, solve all your problems, or satisfy all your desires. The purpose of respond to the vocational call, is the unitive devotional service of God, which includes the love the neighbor (in whom God dwells). This is the real purpose of any vocation. Some forms of life, such as monasticism, are ordered directly to this end; other states of life are oriented toward it indirectly. But these are only different versions of the one human vocation: to love and serve God, and become one with him in Christ.

The joy of vocation —any vocation— is a school of mercy. Your vocation is the means by which your ego will die in order to be resurrected as the servant and lover of God. In any vocation all the call people are invited to carry the cross of their own problems in a life of dedication, but always thinking in all the others in order to give them the mercy of God.

Maybe your daily confusions, recurring frustrations, and deep puzzlements will remain. Life, even life illumined by faith, will be an enigma. We remain ourselves; but our focus simply rests on the merciful Lord – everywhere present and filling through our "yes" in response to the call.

The cross will be with you and me in the way of our vocation. It will be contradiction at the most of the time, but the cross will be alongside the joy and truth of the Gospel. It is what we must suffer until we are fully united with God in eternity.

Slowly, step by step all, in our specific vocation, all of us will be freed from the trap of selfishness in which we were born. In the vocation's school, Christ will teach us to forget  our wants, and even our needs, for the sake of the charity that “seeks not its own” (1 Cor. 13:5). This is a great joy always.

No matter what calling you embrace, your vocation must be your means of letting Jesus into your life completely, learning to love God more than yourself.

Alfredo Delgado, M.C.I.U.