“This means, in practice, that there is only one vocation. Whether you teach, or live in the cloister, or nurse the sick, whether you are in religion or out of it, married or single, no matter who you are or what you are, you are called to the summit of perfection: you are called to a deep interior life perhaps even to mystical prayer, and to pass the fruits of your contemplation on to others. And if you cannot do so by word, then by example.”
Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain
I finally finished reading The Seven Storey Mountain, and though the first half took me forever (like a month) to get through, I couldn’t put it down once I got to the second half. It’s a wonderful story of how Thomas Merton went from a life of sin and selfishness to become a Trappist monk.
I really struggle sometimes with the fact that I have to live in this world, that I can’t just go be a hermit, where there is nothing to tempt me or distract me from loving God. But I also know that I am called to be a teacher, and a wife, and a friend, and probably all sorts of other things that I’m not aware of. No matter how hard it is and how much I feel like I am wasting my time, I am doing God’s work there because He wills that I be there.
This idea is very encouraging to me – the thought that no matter what our jobs or hobbies or callings might be, we are all in the same vocation. We are all called to love, to think on God, to pray continually. That’s it. And through that work He is perfecting us, and making Himself known to the people around us.
