"The message here is not that when God calls, you have no choice. Rather, it is that vocation is more than just something you are asked to do; it is, as George Weigel aptly points out in his Letters to a Young Catholic, "something you are." Buffy fans know, as Buffy does, that her life would be a lot easier if she could just have a normal boyfriend, go to the mall and drink coffee at Starbuck's like everybody else. But she can't because she's the slayer. If she denies her identity, vampires don't get slain, and Sunnydale goes to hell (literally). She can't not be the slayer. Though God is not an explicit part of Buffy's calling, she cannot escape from the goodness inside of her." - Mossa, Mark, S.J. in "Buffy vs. Joan: A Vocational Smackdown."

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

'Random' Quotes on Vocation and Calling

"You ask: Why did not Christ and the apostles bear the sword? Answer: You tell me, why did Christ not take a wife, or become a cobbler or a tailor. If an office or vocation were to be regarded as disreputable on the ground that Christ did not pursue it himself, what would become of all the offices and vocations other than the ministry, the one occupation he did follow? Christ pursued his own office and vocation, but he did not thereby reject any other... Now, it is not essential to his kingdom that he be a married man, a cobbler, tailor, farmer, prince, hangman, or constable; neither is the temporal sword or law essential to it, but only God’s Word and Spirit...For each one must attend to the duties of his own calling."

Martin Luther in "Luther's Works: The Christian in Society II." pp. 100-101


"Vocation conveys "calling" and meaningful purpose. It is a relational sensisbility in which I recognize that what I do with my time, talents, and treasure is most meaningfully conceived not as a matter of mere personal passion and preference but in relationship to the whole of life. Vocation arises from a deepening understanding of both self and world, which gives rise to moments of power when self and purpose become aligned with eternity."
Sharon Daloz Parks in "Big Questions, Worthy Dreams." p. 30

"Vocational thinking is countercultural. It flies in the face of the message we receive daily from popular culture, which insists again and again that happiness and contentment in life can be found in gratifying our own desires and seeing to our own needs. "
Douglas J. Brouwer in "What am I supposed to do with my life?" p.5

"Vocation does not mean a goal that I pursue. It means a calling that I hear. Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am. I must listen for the truths and values at the heart of my own identity, not the standards by which I must live - but the standards by which I cannot help but life if I am living my own. life."
Parker J. Palmer in "Let Your Life Speak." p. 4

"A profession summons the best from you. A vocation calls you away from what you thought was best in you, purifies it, and promises to make you something or someone you are not yet."
Robert Lischer in "The End of Words" 2005. p. 30
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