As I often do, I read the blogs suggested daily by the National Catholic Register. A few weeks ago, I came across one written by Matthew Warner, “Parents: Are Your Kids Being Called to not-Marriage?”
(Thank God for other Catholic bloggers, or else I would never have any ideas!)
Matthew’s article discussed how a young person should discern his or her vocational path. As a parent and a catechist, I find myself thinking about this topic often. And I wanted very much to write about it. But no matter how I tried, for days, nothing worth saying came into my head.
Until yesterday, when I was praying the rosary. I often get the most interesting insights from the Holy Spirit at this time. I was meditating on the Sorrowful Mystery “The Agony in the Garden,” and the words from Hebrews popped into my mind.
“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.” (Hebrews 5: 8)Then the words of Christ from a popular version of a meditation on the Stations of Cross entered my mind: “This cross, this piece of wood—this is what my Father has chosen for me.” (Second Station – Jesus Takes Up His Cross)
Continuing on my meditative journey, I found my mind considering the words of Christ to the rich young man, the version from Mark’s gospel:
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” (Mark 10: 17-81)
I have often thought this statement from Christ was strange. He was God! How could he imply that He was not good?
Then a realization came to me. Jesus Christ is true God and true man.
His divine nature is good, but as true man, though He knew no sin, His human nature was affected by the temptation to sin, exemplified by His encounter with Satan in the desert before He started His public ministry. All humans suffer temptations to sin, and we often fall. We offend God, in whose image we were made.
We are made in the image of Love, because God is Love. What does it mean to say God is Love? I have to use the wisdom of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body here. For love to be true, it must be self giving. God always gives himself totally away in love. As a Trinity, God the Father loves God the Son, and God the Son loves God the Father, and their love is literally so real it is another person – the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is an eternal exchange of self-giving love.
God sent Christ to earth to show man what it means to made in the image of God. Christ gave himself for us on the cross in a total gift of self.
Before the fall, Adam and Eve loved each other in this way. They looked on each other with a pure love. John Paul II said they experienced this love as freedom – the “freedom of the gift.” Their love was free from selfishness. They never looked on the other as an “object” to be used for self gratification. Their disposition to one another was (to quote Bill Murray to Andie MacDowell in the wonderful movie Groundhog Day) “Is there anything that I can do for you today?”
This is how God loves us. And He made us in His image. But because we are “wounded” by sin, we need healing to love as we should. This is where the healing grace from Christ comes in to our lives.
Now let us get back to the topic of discernment.
Let’s consider how we “love” God. Do we love Him for what He gives us, or do we love Him unconditionally, with total self-giving, as He loves us?
In the garden, Jesus showed us that type of love. How? Through His obedience. He battled the temptation to choose the easy path for himself, and showed His love for His Father by accepting the path chosen for Him. This is how to discern one’s vocation in life.
In my catechism classes, I told my students to pray for God’s inspiration to choose the right path, and God will tell them what He wants for them. One student asked: “But what if I don’t want to do what God wants me to do?” Ah, now there’s the rub…
Human beings do not like this idea of being told what to do (especially in the USA.) Even those of us “well-formed” Catholics usually obey God’s commands grudgingly. We want to do what we want to do! But will that bring us happiness?
When I present John Paul II’s Theology of the Body to an audience, I often show two pictures in my slide shows. One is of Adam and Eve, being expelled from the Garden after their disobedience. They do not look very happy. I put one word over their heads – “No.”
Then I show the famous picture of the sculpture by Michelangelo of the Pieta. Over this picture, I put the word “Yes.” Jesus, the new Adam, and Mary, the new Eve, accept the path chosen for them by God through their obedience.
Both Adam and Eve and Jesus and Mary had great suffering as a result of their choices. But the faces of the two in the Pieta speak volumes. Choosing God’s path has brought them peace. And they are on their way to that True Happiness that, though found fleetingly in this life, extends to bliss beyond the grave.
This is the lesson young people need to learn as they discern their vocation in this life.
