Category Archives: Vocation

Another Look: “To Go through Life Guessing Wrong”

Once, while reading Thomas Merton on the subject of vocation (No Man Is an Island), I came across this stunning passage: Our vocation is not a sphinx’s riddle, which we must solve in one guess or else perish. Some people find, in the end, that they have made many wrong guesses and that their paradoxicalContinue reading “Another Look: “To Go through Life Guessing Wrong””

Adam & Eve: A Failure of Vocation

What the Bible offers is not a “works contract,” but a covenant of vocation. The vocation in question is that of being a genuine human being, with genuinely human tasks to perform as part of the Creator’s purpose for his world. The main task of this vocation is “image-bearing,” reflecting the Creator’s wise stewardship intoContinue reading “Adam & Eve: A Failure of Vocation”

Another Look: What Matters: Baptism and Vocation

Thus they made men believe that the profession of monasticism was far better than Baptism. . . . . . . Furthermore, the precepts of God and the true service of God are obscured when men hear that only monks are in a state of perfection. For Christian perfection is to fear God from theContinue reading “Another Look: What Matters: Baptism and Vocation”

Another Look: Paul’s Disappointing Approach to the Christian Life

 Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. Then people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others. • 1Thessalonians 4:11-12 (NLT) • • • This may beContinue reading “Another Look: Paul’s Disappointing Approach to the Christian Life”

Ron Rolheiser on Priestly Prayer

I have an idea some people have a misconception when I tell them I am going on retreat to a place like the Abbey of Gethsemani, where I am this week. I know I’ve had such wrong notions in the past, especially in my free-church evangelical days. This is especially true regarding the daily servicesContinue reading “Ron Rolheiser on Priestly Prayer”

ECT on “Reclaiming Marriage”

 • • • UPDATE: In light of Eeyore’s insightful comment, I have added another point to my remarks. First Things has published a statement by Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT) called The Two Shall Become One Flesh: Reclaiming Marriage. Catholic and Evangelical members of ECT are listed after the article, and then there is a listContinue reading “ECT on “Reclaiming Marriage””

For Labor Day: Gene Veith on Vocation

In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask that God give us our daily bread, which He does. He does so not directly as with the manna to the Israelites, but through the work of farmers, truck drivers, bakers, retailers, and many more. In fact, He gives us our daily bread through the functioning of the wholeContinue reading “For Labor Day: Gene Veith on Vocation”

What Matters: Baptism and Vocation

Thus they made men believe that the profession of monasticism was far better than Baptism. . . . . . . Furthermore, the precepts of God and the true service of God are obscured when men hear that only monks are in a state of perfection. For Christian perfection is to fear God from theContinue reading “What Matters: Baptism and Vocation”