Here’s how the dictionary defines it:
Calling: 1. the action of one that calls. 2. one’s occupation, profession, or trade. 3. an inner urging toward some profession or activity; vocation.
If that’s what it can mean, then in one sense or another everybody has a calling. But, when we use its Latin-rooted synonym “vocation” it sounds more specialized, limited, and God-related as in vocation to the priesthood or the religious life.
In the Bible, there are stories of people experiencing divine intervention and being explicitly called and invited to a life work—think of Abraham, Moses, the boy Samuel, and the apostles.
More often, though, the direct action of God in our lives is experienced in the form of an inner urging and/or particular life events and circumstances.
The process of discernment—figuring out how to interpret these growing inner urgings and events of our lives—can be very challenging. Is what we experience a direct action of God? If the calling is from God, is it to a general style of life or a particular occupation or profession?
When eventually we chose a particular occupation or profession, is it mostly because it’s attractive to us, because we feel that God is calling us to it, attractive or not, or because of both?
After making a decision and commitment, what is an appropriate response if the very nature, responsibilities, public regard, and our satisfaction with the chosen occupation or profession changes?
And, to add a more contemporary challenge to the mix, what if our continual process of discernment leads to the conviction that God is calling us to leave a particular occupation or profession and embrace another?
One of the characteristics of modern society is an increasing movement away from permanency, whether it refers to where we live, the job we have, the social class we belong to, the nationality we possess, the values we adhere to, the spouse we chose, even the gender we identify with.
Change of itself is not necessarily good or bad, but it can be challenging, sometimes painful, and often difficult. Growth and maturation involve change, development and evolution involve change, divine intervention involves change—and so do revolutions, wars, disasters, tragedies, and betrayals.
So, whether we choose the changes of our lives or endure them, we have to learn to let go of one thing so we can accept another—and usually more often then we expect. To live means to change; when we are totally fixed and changeless, we’re dead.
For the one who feels that God is calling and is disposed to listen attentively, beware. St. Paul, referencing the words of the prophet Isaiah, voiced the challenge of understanding some the actions of God for they include “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart…” (1 Co 2:9)
Everyone has a calling, a calling from God. Most people experience this call as an inner urging towards a certain style of life or activity; some, even towards a particular occupation or profession. The continuing challenge is discerning whether what we think is of God really is.
Wrestling with “To be or not to be” is a continuing aspect of everyone’s life. For Hamlet it was about life or death. For all of us it’s about really living or gradually dying.
14 April 2019