DOES CHRIST WANT ME?
Said a boy one day, "How in the world does a person ever know he is to
be a priest?" This little lad was a budding philosopher: he wanted to
know the reason of things. But many an older person has been puzzled
by the same question. Some boys and girls, having a distorted notion
of the nature of a vocation, imagine that Almighty God picks out
certain persons, without consulting them, and destines them for the
priesthood or religious life, whereas all other persons he excludes
from this privilege. In other words, they think God does it all.
Of course, we know there is an overruling Providence, Who watches over
all His creatures, and particularly over His elect, distributing His
graces and favors as He wills, and bringing all things to their
appointed ends. If, for instance, a boy is blind, and for this reason
no religious congregation will accept him, it is apparent that God
does not design him for the religious life, though even for him the
private practice of the counsels might still be open.
But we must not imagine that God settles everything in this world
independently of our free will. He wishes us not to steal, but we may,
if we choose, become thieves. Two boys of the same qualifications, let
us say, have the general invitation of the Scripture to a life of
perfection; they both have the same grace, which one accepts and the
other rejects. What makes the vocation in the one case? The action of
the boy himself in choosing to follow the invitation. And why has not
the other boy a vocation? Because he declines to correspond with the
grace. God does His part; He issues the call to all who are free from
impediment and hindrance. Any one who wishes can accept the call and
thus, in a sense, make his own vocation, for God's necessary help is
ever ready to hand for those who will use it.
We may here remark that, while the practice of all virtue comes from
man's free will, it also springs in a higher and greater degree from
God, the author of grace. Without Him we can do nothing. "Who
distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received?"
asks St. Paul (I Cor. iv: 7). God's grace must necessarily precede and
accompany every supernatural action. In a very true sense, while a
religious may say: "I am such voluntarily of my own free choice," he
must also admit, "I am a religious by the grace of God, Who prepared
me, aided me by external and internal helps, enlightened my mind and
strengthened my will to embrace the life He designs for me."
In much the same way, a daily communicant may say: "It is of my own
accord and wish that I receive daily, but it is God's predilection
that has prompted me to this design, given me the opportunity and
strength of purpose to carry it out, and keeps me faithful to it, so
that it is by His grace and Providence that I am a daily communicant."
Countless others could adopt the same practice, were they not too
sluggish or indifferent to ask for or correspond with the grace of
doing so.
Most ordinary vocations have several stages of development. Very many
persons, with all the qualities required for the evangelical life, and
unimpeded by any obstacle, begin to consider, under the influence of
grace, the advisability of embracing that kind of life. This may be
called the remote stage of a vocation. One who finds himself in this
condition of mind, if he prays for light and guidance, is faithful to
duty and generous in the service of God, may be enabled by a further
enlightenment of grace to perceive that this life is best for him, and
consequently that it will be more pleasing to God for him to adopt it,
and finally he may decide to do so. Such a one has a proximate
vocation, the only further step required being to carry out his
purpose. This decision, be it observed, is the result of the action of
his free will, aided by efficacious grace, which is a mark of God's
special love.
A little illustration may assist us to get a clearer idea of the
matter. Suppose Christ were to walk into your class-room, how would He
act? Would He pick out four or five pupils and say, "I wish you to be
religious, the others I do not want, and I forbid them such
aspirations?" Do you think our loving, gentle Redeemer would speak in
this harsh way? And yet some good, but ill-informed Christians think
this a faithful representation of God's method of action in this
important matter.
How, then, would Christ really address the class? He would say, "My
dear children, I want as many of you as possible to follow closely in
My footsteps, to become perfect. I should be glad to have all of you,
who are not prevented by some insuperable obstacle, such as
ill-health, lack of talent, home difficulties, or extreme giddiness
of character. I hope to have a large number of volunteers." How many
children in that class-room, do you think, would joyfully hold up
their hands, and beg Him to take them?
Now, this is truly the way God acts with the individual soul. He comes
to it perhaps not once only but repeatedly, and makes the general
offer, using for this purpose the living voice of His minister, or the
written page, or a prompting impulse from within. And when God's
desire is so manifested, all that the soul needs is to cooperate with
grace, if it will.
That this interpretation of the general call of Scripture to a higher
life is in accord with sound doctrine, we can perceive from St.
Thomas, who says that the resolution of entering the religious state,
whether it comes from the general invitation of Scripture or an
internal impulse, is to be approved. And in his "Catena Aurea,"
commenting on St. Matt. xix, he quotes St. Chrysostom, who holds that
"the reason all do not take Christ's advice is because they do not
wish to do so." The words "to whom it is given," according to this
Greek father, show that "unless we received the help of grace, the
exhortation would profit us nothing. But this help of grace is not
denied to those who wish it."
This is also the teaching of St. Ignatius in his "Spiritual
Exercises," where he designates three occasions in which to elect a
state of life: the first, when God appeals to the soul in some
extraordinary way; the second, when grace moves the heart by
consolation and desolation, and the third, when the soul without any
special motion of grace, "that is, when not agitated by diverse
spirits, makes use of its natural powers" to elect the state of life
which seems best suited to the praise of God and the salvation of
one's soul. Evidently a vocation decided in the last-mentioned time,
implies no special call beyond the general scriptural invitation and
the determination to accept it.
Some one may ask how it is then that so many virtuous boys and girls,
endowed with all needful qualifications, prompt and ready to respond
to the suggestions of grace, yet have no efficacious desire of the
higher life. It is not for us to search into the secrets of hearts,
nor to penetrate into the mystery of grace and free-will. The Spirit
breatheth where He wills, and God distributes to each man his own
proper gift. But, at least, one thing seems certain, that many fail to
recognize God's will, because they expect it to be manifested in some
extraordinary or palpable manner. Perhaps, too, they have
prepossessions against it, they have already marked out their own
career, they never think about the counsels, or pray for guidance. If
all our young people only realized that Christ's invitation is general
and meant for them, provided no impediment exist, and they wish to
embrace it; if at the same time they kept their hearts free from
worldly amusements, and applied themselves to prayer and self-control,
volunteers in greater number would rally to Christ's standard.