Life: A Vocation Called Love

We exist and our very being is endowed with some kind of unseen force that enables us to feel, to love, to get upset, to take control and to act them all out to bring out good and at times the bad; this unseen force is life.

We live our lives trying to prove our worth as human beings while hoping and also trying not to hurt anyone to the best of our ability.Why do we do the things we do? Why do we avoid doing the things we should do and do the things we are not supposed to be doing? Why do we complain when bad things happen while we take for granted the things that are so good in its simplicity? Why do we quest for the unreachable and seek for the invisible? Have we gone completely beyond who and what we are? Why do we ask questions and not have time to wait for answers? Why do we seek answers when the answers are obvious? We are not sure why but we ask and seek anyway. One thing is sure; life is not just about living, it is also about finding meanings in life.

Some people think that by reaching the outer space we can understand a bit of ourselves. I agree. But do we really have to go that far to understand our nature as human beings? Our own written and spoken history can reveal mountains of truths about our nature. In our interpersonal relationship with others as well as in our privacy and quiet space we can discover our deeper selves. But we must also consider that no matter how hard we try, no matter how far we go, no matter how deep our meditations can be, there is no way we can fully understand our nature. We can only have just enough knowledge to live our lives in our capacity and survive our very existence. It would be plain arrogance on our part to say that we fully understand our nature. However, we still need to learn and understand our selves so that we can act and control our actions according to what is good to say the least.

As far as I am concerned, my life would mean nothing if not for a reason. God created me for a purpose which is to share in his greatness and his love. This is the ultimate reason of my being. God owes me nothing… it is I who owe him everything that I am. We do not have to go to the moon to know this. We only have to believe and to look around. Imagine the beauty of this planet which God has given us for our benefit, the people around us to be our companions, the creatures of the earth, things that hover above the sky and swim in the vast clear waters as well as those who roam on the land, things that don’t move and even things that we do not see.. The magnificent mountains, seas and rivers, canyons, and trees remind us of the unconditional love of our Creator who is God. Tell me now that we are not loved.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.” Jeremiah 1:5

Believe it or not, the first call to one’s vocation does not happen in junior high, or in college, or after that. It happens even before one is formed in the womb. The very fact that we are alive is because we are called. Some are called to live and have a family and fulfill the command of God to multiply. Some are called to live a single but blessed life. But some are called to not only live a single and blessed life but also to become the sacrament of God to become an Alter Christus.

It may not make sense to some but even Jeremiah, the prophet, did not understand this call of God at least right away. How can we definitively say that priests are called even before they were formed? It appears to be absurd because there is no way we can know that. Or perhaps there is. Let me give you an example.

My father designed the house where I grew up. I saw how he planned everything, the first stroke of that hoe that dug the hole for its foundation and the final result. It is not the best design but it is enough for us to live decently. The thought of building our house was the beginning of the call.

The beginning of the call, that is, before we were born, is very important for from it, everything else follows. I call this beginning love, a love that is to be shared to all of creation. Now, how lucky are we to have a God who from even before we were born has already loved us? This love is the beginning of something great, so great that the fate of human existence in this world and to the next highly depends on it. God knew all along his plan for each of us. When He thought of creating us, He did it with complete confidence that we will be one beautiful masterpiece. This tells us that even before we were conceived in the womb of our mothers, he already prepared something for us. Here is where vocation starts, in the creative and loving nature of God.

Vocation is God’s way of letting us know that he loves us. He calls us recognizing all our limitations and weaknesses but most of all our strength and goodness that is planted in our very being. He calls men to become priests or brothers or nuns to become living and walking testimonies to Christ on earth. He calls us because He wants to share His love to us. Let us magnify him in the words that we say and in the works that we do.