Vocation

Hi there. I don't know why, but lately I've been slightly more insightful to these things commonly referred to as "values of life". If you see my recent posts, chances are you recognized their reflective and spiritual nature, also as indicated by the tags "Spiritual", "Life", and "Friendship".

Now, to the main course of this post...

Yesterday (and this morning) I attended the Mass of the 4th Sunday of Easter. Fr. Michal Gitner, one of my favorite priests, elaborated on the homily the importance of this special work--or should I say in more appropriate word, commitment--called vocation.

What is this vocation? What makes it singular, or distinctive, relative to that usual work?

According to the Encarta Dictionary, vocation can be comprehended in two senses:

1. somebody's work, job, or profession, especially a type of job demanding special commitment

2. a strong feeling of being destined or called to undertake a specific type of work, especially a sense of being chosen by God for religious work or a religious life

What the dictionary says is of no difference from what Fr. Michal opined during both Masses. From how he elucidated his views, one could observe that he is outright serious in taking his vocation. He also told us how his family deeply influenced his spiritual life... that made each and every attendant--who, at the moment, was able to visualize or take a glimpse on his family--believe that he came from a faith-affluent family. This holds true, after all.

Fr. Michal seemed to be very proud of his family. He described them as being "down-to-earth faithful", and how they ignited sparks of religious life within him. He recalled, "... I remember every 4.05 in the evening, my family would kneel and pray. They are not fanatical, no; they simply practice Catholic faith..." That's what vocation is, the nearly 50-years-old priest said: to immerse yourself in commitment and to take what you do seriously. "To be a priest... that's also a vocation. So is to live a married life... and to be single," he said. As a trivia, he also expressed how he revels in spending his holiday with his parents and sister.

Now, we should refer back to the fundamental sense of vocation: to be extremely committed to carry out our activities. When we put it that way, we can associate almost everything with vocation. Take our responsibility as students, for instance. Most probably, only a handful of us realize that this particular case can actually be considered a vocation. Many fail to understand the very basic meaning of the process of learning itself, since they have shifted orientation into "taking education for granted". Some are committed, but it is not as an endeavor to seek for the paramount. And if one is claimed by others to be steadfast to be able to sprout the best flower, not for failing to see their true significance... glad are they.

Why is it that this process can be considered a vocation? Well, simply because it requires a fervent commitment, continuously from time to time. You may ask, "Big deal. What happens if we do have that commitment?" It is rhetorical, isn't it? Let us instead elaborate on what does not happen with that commitment; or maybe, for sake of common sense, what happens if we do not have that commitment. All of us must have heard various cases of people dropping out their education, deviating from their purposes of studying, or even getting themselves reeled in a string of educational concerns. These three horrendous cases are but a tiny wee bit of all plausible consequences of not having the aforementioned commitment. Take this process of learning seriously and selflessly, and chances are we have the right to thrive and blossom. As we immerse ourselves in the progress, we gradually pick up all those cognizance offered by the spring of wisdom itself, which, in turn, aids us in developing our acumen and broadening our horizon.

The instance of learning above was just one of the many cases we can consider a vocation. Now, why don't we try to reflect on our own commitment, and find out if it is apt enough to be taken into account as our own present vocation.

God bless all of us =)