Waking Up to Your Vocation

“Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing…”

As a mom to a toddler and a preschooler, I spend a lot of time listening to “kids’ songs.” So it isn’t surprising that I was thinking about the words to “Frere Jacques” the other day.  In the English translation most of us sing about how “morning bells are ringing” to wake up the sleepy brother.  If you remember the original French, however, it’s the “matines” that are sounding, the bells for Matins, the morning office.  This got me thinking about what life would be like if every day I was awakened by mass bells, if my days were punctuated by the call to prayer.

I have always been enthralled by the idea of a life sculpted by the liturgy.  As a student of history, I imagined living during a time when the community’s year was inescapably enmeshed in the cycle of the Church’s fasts and feasts. The book of hours,the monastic rule, the medieval parish, seen through the rosy glow of a fresh convert, seemed like magical paths to holiness.  It seemed almost unfair that others could have everything they needed to do laid out for them, literally spelled out on the page.

It’s an easy trap to fall into, romanticizing other times and situations.  To think: “If only a lived then or there, I would be holy. If only I had that vocation, I could live it with ease.”  A married mother envies the sister praying hourly in the adoration chapel. A single man thinks he could live a better life if he could just find a good Catholic girl, or be sure he was meant for the priesthood. The grass is always greener on the other side of the vocational fence.

The thing about vocations is that they are personal — tailored for us. Our vocation is the path set out for us to lead us to Heaven.  There are no accidents in how God has laid out that path, just as there no mistakes about the time and place we are born. Even finding your vocation is no guarantee of holiness.  I used to think that once I figured out my vocation, everything would fall in to place, but knowing and living are two very different things.

Hearing the bells every morning does not guarantee you will rise  to pray with joy in your heart.

We are each of us given a vocation, but whether we have found it or not, we have to choose intentionally to live it the best we can, with the grace of God, and to start now.  Being a good wife and mother starts before your marriage and continues after your last child is born.  Living as a godly priest or brother begins before you take your vows, and even before you darken the door of a seminary or monastery.  If a Christian is meant to live singly in the world then they are, unawares, already on the right path.

Every vocation comes with its own unique challenges, thus its own tools and rewards.  Rather than focusing on the challenges of our vocation, we need to start using the tools and cherishing the rewards. Envy, complaining, and discontent never bring us closer to God.  There are no easy ways to holiness, but there is a way, uniquely created for us.  There are as many journeys to holiness as there are saints. Let us not envy our brothers and sisters their journey, but embrace our own, and thus our cross.

So the next time we wake– to the sound of ringing bells, a buzzing alarm, or a baby’s cries–let’s pray that we each rise ready to take on our own singularly great task.

 

Megan Twomey

Megan Twomey

Megan Twomey studied English and History at Hillsdale College. While she was there, she converted to Catholicism and also bumped into a friend's big brother, who just happened to be her perfect match. She now spends her time as a stay-at-home mama to a superhero preschooler and his toddler sidekick, with baby number three on the way.

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3 thoughts on “Waking Up to Your Vocation”

  1. Megan, your words about waking up to our vocation . . . being ready to take on our own singularly great task . . . made me smile with recognition as I read them.

    Well done and thank you.

  2. Pingback: Waking Up to Your Vocation - BigPulpit.com

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