As I continue my third year of formation at St. Andrew’s Seminary, I realized that my understanding of vocation has changed gradually each year in a better way. Before entering seminary, I would hear the word vocation and associate it with the word call in regards to the word job or occupation. I looked at vocation as something that comes later in life and as something one must achieve the requirements in order to live it out in the future.
During my discernment process, Fr. Romano gave me a better understanding of vocation as something that we live out in our daily lives. Although I had an interest in the priesthood, he explained that a vocation is something I am to live out every day. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Being able to wake up every day is a grace where God allows each of us to live out our love for him in that day and every day that he blesses us with.
It is easy to become distracted by the ongoing events of daily routines and everyday life. As people, we are constantly planning, setting agendas, goals, and trying to see so far into the future that we forget about the things that need our attention in the here and now. One example on the consequences of this is how I participate and discern during my time in the seminary. If I worry too much about the future on what kind of person I will be, then my time will have been wasted worrying, instead of working with the formation faculty in becoming a Catholic gentleman. One cannot day dream about a positive future unless one works at it beforehand. In the end, as we go about daily life and try to live in the moment according to God’s will out of love for him, then we can rest assured and trust God that the future will be the one he uniquely calls each of us to.
Matthew Pluta
Latest posts by Matthew Pluta (see all)
- Daily - December 6, 2016
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