Commentary
Responsibility is naturally designed to aid your growth. In a sense, this is precisely the overflabberwhelmingdivine genius of all true vocations. All true vocations do two things. First, they aid your own growth or blossoming as a man. That is, they are fulfilling, full-filling, they fill your manhood fully, they actualise completely the man you are created to be. Second, all true vocations entail taking care of others one way or another (spiritually, physically, emotionally, professionally, humanly, or a combination of these). These two aspects of a true vocation are so intertwined, that the more you take care of others, the more you grow as a man. The more you grow as a man, the more you can take care of others.
Further to this, all true vocations are also deeply fulfilling because they directly address that craving that every human has to be useful, to mean something to someone (if only the persons we provide a service to or take care of). And this fulfilment is where you find that deep but elusive happiness we’re all looking for. You find happiness by finding fulfilment; you find fulfilment – you get fully filled as a man – by taking care of others. This is what a certain Carpenter meant when He said things like, “Those who lose their life… will find it” and “…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.”
Perhaps the most obvious example is that of a man who marries the love of his life and starts a family with her. It hits them – especially after they get their first child – that here you have a little creature that depends completely on me! If I do nothing, if I mess up, this creature dies! I am responsible for this little one!
And if like me, your vocation is to lay celibacy, that same crazy divine genius is still at work there. The call to celibacy is not a call to “singles-ville”, bachelorhood or “Team Me”. When you keep your skills and talents to yourself like Gollum did with the ring, then the same thing happens to you that happened to Gollum: you become deformed. You become useless. You become less and less manly until you are less than a man. Skills, talents, knowledge, time all rot and corrupt if we don’t use them for others. Even those with a vocation to celibacy have to achieve fulfilment as a man, by giving themselves to others (that they take care of spiritually, physically, emotionally, professionally, humanly, or a combination of these).
Your “human” vocation will address your profession (i.e. how you will support yourself and those who depend on you), your passion (what you’re good at and hopefully love doing) and your mission (address a need in the world). For any Christian man, all these come together in what we can call your spiritual vocation: what is God’s specific plan for you to achieve that happiness and fulfilment, that blossoming as a man, that care for others?
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