|  Author | Topic: May I Take This Opportunity to Scream? (Read 446 times) |
dhunt
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|  | Re: May I Take This Opportunity to Scream?
« Reply #15 on Nov 2, 2009, 8:33pm » | |
I don't think you intentionally offended anybody, Kate. I don't know you, but I suspect that's not in your nature. You were reacting to what you perceived to be an offense in Wright's remarks, in defense of your duty to your family.
About v/Vocation, I have nothing intelligent to say.
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firefolk
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| | Re: May I Take This Opportunity to Scream?
« Reply #16 on Nov 4, 2009, 1:27pm » | |
Hell, Kate, don't apologize for stirring up emotion. If we didn't feel everything more strongly than is altogether safe for our mental health, we'd none of us be creative artists. But I haven't perceived that anyone's been offended--as long as nobody minds my tendency to cuss. I must confess it has crossed my mind (and, again, I'm a dude so it's intrinsic to me not to know what I'm talking about) that all mothers, simply qua mothers, partake more fully in the divine creative act than any writer or artist can ever do. Not that the man doesn't contribute, of course, but--well--it seems to me that the respective levels of contribution are somewhere on the scale of some guy saying, "Hey, you should make a scary story!" and Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein. The story might not have happened without the guy, but the lady still did most of the heavy lifting. I don't know how it looks from your angle--probably a good deal less awe-striking and mystical, since you're on the inside of the thing; I suppose if you're an actual black-smith, you don't quite see yourself as the mythic hammer-wielder standing in the heart of the blaze and the swirl of the iron furnace-sparks (as an outsider sees you), since you're focused not on yourself but on bringing something new into the world. There's probably some kind of a moral in there somewhere, but morals are only fun when they come at the end of a Groo the Wanderer comic. Oh, and hey, Meredith, I really liked your point about the particularity of vocation. As for writer's block--I'm a profoundly convinced believer in not offering advice on such matters, since the techniques that work for one writer are almost inherently bound not to work for another (I went through a phase in high school of reading "how to write" books until I realized that the people who wrote them were morons: "Always write first thing in the morning"; "Always write on a full stomach"; "Always write while listening to Mozart"; "Always work on two different projects at once"). My only comment is that it's probably not a good idea to worry much about the degree to which the work comes from the Holy Spirit as opposed as coming from within oneself; craftsmanship and grace are both necessary, and only God needs to know the exact proportion of Scotch to soda, as it were (and, er--I'm not sure if grace represents soda or Scotch in this metaphor). Most likely it's better just to do the work and try to be thankful when it comes out well, and not too pissy when it doesn't. I usually succeed at the first part.
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immortaldiamond
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| | Re: May I Take This Opportunity to Scream?
« Reply #17 on Dec 11, 2009, 12:21am » | |
Hi, I'm sorry if it seems that I am butting in on a discussion that is already closed/resolved. But I feel that I have to say something about the call to single life.
As it mentions here: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column.php?n=145
single life can be a Vocation. It is a Vocation, as much as Marriage or Religious life. I mean, why would the Church allow consecrated virgins who are not part of a religious community, unless it was a true Vocation? However, I agree with Mr. Buono that it is a "rare" Vocation. At least, in the sense that "single" people are not always called to single life.
In my mind, what it boils down to is that the only real Vocation is Love. (yes, St. Therese is my patron saint!) The call to Holiness is universal. I mean, if your vocation is to marriage, you should get married as soon as possible, right? Because if that is what God wants you to do, you should start right away! Get married at 14!
But hey, marriage is not the ultimate goal of this person's life here on earth. The real purpose is to come closer to God, and bring others to Him. So are we frail human beings in any way qualified to limit God to allow only marriage or religious life?
I don't mean to contradict Church teaching here--indeed, I am really only trying to get at the heart of the teaching, rather than only following the letter of the law, and not the spirit. Please guide me back on to the right path if my weak human brain has led me astray yet again...
So what am I really trying to say? Basically, that, although I agree that marriage and religious life are the "main" vocations, we can not limit God. I mean, look at all the "exceptions" to this "rule"! All the single saints! All the early Christians who were consecrated virgins! What about St. Elizabeth Seton? Was her vocation to marriage or religious life? Was either choice that she made "wrong" and against God's will? And St. Joan of Arc? Boy, was she an "exception" to the rule!! We cannot possibly know all the intricacies of God's plan for us, but we can know that whatever we do, we should do it with love. I honestly think that if we are trying to do God's will, that is all that matters, whether you are married, single, religious, separated, widowed, or whatever!
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immortaldiamond
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| | Re: May I Take This Opportunity to Scream?
« Reply #18 on Dec 20, 2009, 7:02pm » | |
Wow! I was just reading part of a book by Fr. Leo Trese, and it just applies so well to this discussion of vocations that I'd like to share it.
From "More Than Many Sparrows":
Quote:Broadly there are two such vocations: the vocation to marriage and the vocation to the celibate life. The celibate life has what we call "sub-vocations": the priesthood, the religious state, membership in a secular institute, and a single life in the world. It is of this last mentioned vocation, a single life in the world, that we would like to speak here. . . .
(In the next paragraph he basically describes God's "grand master plan": that men and women are meant to complement each other, populate the earth, etc.)
However every master plan provides for special circumstances. God's master plan is no exception. There is work to be done that can best be done--and sometimes can only be done--by persons who are unimpeded by marital or family ties. Sometimes it is a personal work, such as the care of sick or aged parents. Sometimes it is a work of mor e extended charity such as nursing or social service, or some other career that calls for exceptional self-dedication. Objectively it might appear that certain persons could just as well be married as far as their work is concerned. Yet, abstracting from the person whe remains unmarried through mere selfishness, we may be sure that the single person does have a particular part in God's design. . . .
A celibate life in the world is perhaps the most difficult of all vocations. It is far from easy to live holily and happily with none of the supporters of family life or religious community. For that very reason, those whom God has guided to the single vocation will find it a life abundant in grace and merit. It is their divinely appointed path to heaven.
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