Vocation and Consequences

From Letters to a Young Catholic by George Weigel:

Faith has consequences...That's an old Catholic idea, nowhere more clearly expressed than by the great English historian Christopher Dawson, reflecting on the fact that one of the most decisive moments in European history was completed ignored by historians of the time: "When St Paul, in obedience to the warning of a dream, set sail from Troy in AD 49 and came to Philippi in Macedonia he did more to change the course of history than the great battle that had decided the fate of the Roman Empire on the same spot a century earlier, for he brought to Europe the seed of a new life which was ultimately destined to create a new world. All this took place underneath the surface of history, so that it was unrecognized by the leaders of contemporary culture...who actually saw it taking place beneath their eyes."Underneath the surface of history" -- that's where Catholic faith has its deepest consequences. Yes, the Catholic Church appears time and again on the "surface" of history. But what's often of more enduring consequences is taking place below the radar-screen, as it were. It's happening in minds and hearts and souls, in vocational choices and decisions. What (does this) have to do with you...? I hope it encourages you to think vocationally, rather than in terms of "career". A career is something you have, and if those ubiquitous "career planners" are right, you may have two, three, or four of them in a lifetime. It's much more important, though, to think about vocation. For "a vocation is something you are"

Weigel goes on to mention Father Jerzy Popieluszko, a quiet scholarly priest who became a martyr in communist Poland, and another great Pole, Pope John Paul II, who changed the course of history by living out the truth of who he was.

This reminds me a bit of another book I have just finished reading, Out of the Silent Planet by CS Lewis. An article I remember reading a long time ago made the point that the main character, Ransom, is plunged into a series of adventures he cannot even imagine, and why? Because he does what is right for him to do in his circumstances. A philology professor out on a walking tour in a distant part of England, he inquires at a house after a retarded boy as a civility to the boy's worried mother. As he approaches the house:

A peculiar noise was going on -- a scuffling, irregular noise, vaguely reminsicent of a football scrum. He stood up. The noise was unmistakable by now. People in boots were fighting or wrestling or playing some game. They were shouting too. He could not make out the words but he heard the monosyllabic barking ejaculations of men who are angry and out of breath. The last thing Ransom wanted was an adventure, but a conviction that he ought to investigate the matter was already growing upon him when a much louder cry rang out in which he could distinguish the words, "Let me go. Let me go," and then a second later, "I'm not going in there. Let me go home."

In the story, Ransom gets involved not because he wants to but because he is convinced it is the only right thing he can do, and the result is that possibly three worlds including our own are saved from damage and even destruction.

For some reason, this thought that vocation comes calling, so to speak, is a reassuring one to me. Weigel says that Karol Wojtyla, living in post-WWII Poland, did not choose to become a priest and devote his life to God. He had planned to become an actor/scholar. Rather, he felt strongly that the priesthood chose him, that he had received a call.

This helps me avoid the Mother of Perpetual Responsibility heresy that Jane so acutely labelled -- the idea that somehow, the fate of my children rests on my shoulders. Sure, I have to do my best, poor as it is sometimes. But God doesn't need ME to take on His role. He can do the calling Himself. If I encourage my children by teaching and example to listen for His call like Samuel in the temple, like Jesus's holy Mother Mary, I can let Him do the rest. Whether it is a country or a civilization or several that ends up being affected, or just their own tiny corner of society.

So yes, faith has consequences and I need to have the kind of faith that prepares for, but does not try to control, every future possibility.