Continuation of : 156: Lectio and Mission
This post on “Lectio and Vocation” is motivated by a frequent and
painful observation: the question of what one will become in life, of
what form one’s life will take is often asked. Religious
consecration? Marriage? Celibacy? Commitment? And so on… We suffer
greatly from this preoccupation. And, conversely, we give much less
importance to our daily faithfulness to God. In fact, we invert
the order of our preoccupations; and this does us harm. We are able
to go on a retreat just to find out what we should do in life, but
that we should have as great an “anxiety” concerning our
faithfulness to God in day-to-day life is a thought that never really
touches us.
The
aim, then, of this fourth paragraph is to propose an important point
of discernment so that we may live better on a daily basis and bring
our life to fulfilment We will come to perceive that there is
actually only one call: to follow Christ, to know him – no matter
the form in which this will be incarnated. Indeed this call resembles
a tree; and lectio is one of the strongest means to ensure its
growth. Whereas, the incarnation of our vocation (marriage, religious
consecration, etc…) appears in its time like a ripened
fruit
of this unique tree of faithfulness to God.
To
help us in our reflection to determine our practical vocation, let us
take the example of the tree. If we do not have much knowledge of the
many kinds of trees, and if we see a tiny little tree, we cannot say
of what sort it is: an orange tree or an apple tree… We will be
able to determine what kind of tree it is by seeing its fruit. The
same is true of a vocation. It appears on the tree in the form of a
ripened fruit and tells us what kind of tree it is. If we see an
apple, we will know that it is an apple tree. So, instead of asking
ourselves, and torturing our minds, centring our prayers on this
preoccupation, we should instead apply our attention to watering the
tree. In fact, if we spend our time asking questions instead of
watering the tree, we will be preventing the realisation of our
vocation.
Lectio
is offered as one of the best means for helping the tree to grow.
Through it, we may know directly, when the time comes and not before,
what we are destined to be. God could indeed reveal this to us, but
this knowledge might lead us to travel too quickly, missing some
important steps and inverting priorities. This is why he often hides
this knowledge from us for a long time, and sometimes right up to the
last moment. He is then using a pedagogical method which teaches us
to attach ourselves to what is essential: Himself, day after day.
Because what good is it finally to know what we are to become if we
are unable to listen to the Lord on a daily basis. Our fidelity in
the accomplishment of our vocation will not last.
Let
us consider this more closely.
1. Vocation
a) What is a vocation?
b) Christ is the Way
c) We are all called
d) Conditions for answering the call
e) The Vocation, following Christ,
a tree
The growth of
the tree
The vocation
is the fruit of the tree
 |
| The Calling of St Matthew by Hendrick Terbrugghen |
The
etymological meaning of vocation - from the Latin vocare
- is “call”. In order for a call to exist there needs to be
someone who calls and someone who is called and a relationship
between the two. The Gospel is neither an ideology nor a comfortable
nest. It is a living and personal relationship with Christ today. A
relationship presupposes movement and progression. Christ is not
static: He advances and invites us to follow him. His call is a
personal one; he comes to each human being, looks at him profoundly
at a given moment in his life, reveals His Life to him and offers him
His hand, inviting him to walk in his footsteps.
Christ
is our basic vocation. The particular vocation (marriage, religious
consecration, celibacy, a particular mission as a lay-person, etc.)
is the manner in which each of us is going to live out his or her
basic vocation; in this sense the particular vocation is secondary.
On account of our deformed inclination, we have a tendency to invert
things and we give more importance to the particular vocation than to
the basic one of following Christ. But following Christ step by step
- no matter what our situation may be – should be the heart of our
life: Christ is our Way.
c) We are all called
All
of us are called to follow Christ; this is our basic vocation. He
died for all people on the cross, thus everyone is called to follow
Him. Lectio will be the royal highway to listening to the One who is
calling us, and He will teach us to become like him by following in
his footsteps.
St.
John, in Chapter 6, contains statements that may make us doubt about
our being chosen or called by the Lord1.
How can we explain this complex problem that, whether we like it or
not, plunges us into the divine plan concerning predestination? All
have been tormented by this problem, those who are famous the same as
those of humble origins.
We
actually find the answer in the fact that God calls every person,
since he wants the Salvation of all and died on the Cross for
everyone. So I can have no doubt about God’s calling me. In other
words, the sun can only shine, and if I am overshadowed by darkness
or doubt (my own thoughts) they do not come from Him. Above these
clouds, the sun is always shining. In fact, everything is determined
by my answer. I can answer by myself, taking myself as the starting
point and constructing my own way of following Christ. But I can also
ask the Holy Spirit to help me listen to the One calling me, to
follow Him step by step at his rhythm, by doing his will. This is of
course much more demanding, but, in this way, the call is
accomplished. Otherwise, I think that I am responding, but in reality
my actions are coming from my “ego”. I direct the answer to the
call. At the end, I will say to the Lord: “I preached your Name,
and did this and that for you…”, and He will reply: “Go away
from me; I do not know you.”
The
Lord is the one who addresses the call, He gives the strength to
accomplish it day after day, in the manner he chooses, and it is He
who realises its accomplishment.
We
enter lectio with the idea of discovering some plans, to get a
general view of our life or our future as related to God’s plan.
But this is impossible because we are called to change. We cannot
know what we will become, so how could we understand an entire plan
or orientation? Divine pedagogy does not work like this, it does not
blind us with sudden revelations; it advances progressively. Our
human haste more often than not obstructs his work with our own. We
have the task of discovering, day after day, what we should
understand and do in daily life. He has His plans. It is the task of
our intellect to execute them.
d) Conditions for answering the call
One
may only decide on a vocation freely and after being well informed.
It is therefore necessary to acquire a minimum of experience, of
acquaintanceship with Christ, and to be freed by Him in order to be
able to choose. Maturity is therefore necessary, as well as being
rooted in Him.
e) The Vocation, following Christ, a tree
Thus,
a vocation is like a tree. On the one hand, it needs to grow and, on
the other, seeing the fruits, helps to determine what kind of tree it
is.
The growth of the tree
As
we have seen in the first book, through lectio Christ becomes flesh
in one “mouthful” at a time. Each day a part of us is renewed.
The new man slowly takes his place and grows, while the old man
perishes. One area of our will after another is renewed and recreated
daily. Christ truly grows in us. He slowly takes possession of us,
transforms us and directs us. He comes to life in us. The Kingdom of
God is like a seed, the tiniest of all seeds, which becomes a big
tree. This is the growth of Christ in us.
The Vocation is the fruit of the tree
One
cannot determine a vocation, i.e. it is impossible to say what kind
of fruit our tree will bear until it has reached its full size. The
growth of the tree, of Jesus in us, which receives great sustenance
from lectio, allows us to determine our particular vocation. So let
us see how lectio is integrated in the discernment of our vocation!
We recognise a vocation by its fruit. Faithfulness to God, by
listening to him each day, through the solid friendship based on His
living Word, strongly helps the tree of vocation to grow (whatever
kind it may be). Then discernment becomes easy; sometimes it is
harvested as a mature fruit, just in time! Moreover, lectio, since it
fosters maturity and the capacity to make decisions, leads us also to
the fundamental choice of truly becoming friends of Christ, thanks to
a personal acquaintance.
1
“All that the Father gives to me will come to me” (Jn 6:37); “No
one is able to come to me, if the Father who sent me does not draw
him” (Jn 6:44); “No one is able to come to me, if it has not
been given him from my Father” (Jn 6:65).
Note 1: This is an extract from the book: "Lectio divina in daily life" (please click here)
Note 2: To know more about Lectio Divina see: A keynote on Lectio Divina
Note 3: Please remember to subscribe to this Blog so you can receive the posts directly to your email.
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