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 VOCATION

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VOCATION

some which are better than others. We derive our knowledge of the will of God, that will which demands our obedience, which approves some of our acts, and esteems some more highly than others, from Holy Scripture and Tradition, by making use of the two- fold light which God has bestowed upon us, faith and reason. Following the general law, "do good and avoid evil", although we can avoid all that is evil, we cannot do all that is good. To accomphsh the designs of God we are called upon to do all the good that we are capable and all that we have the oppor- tunity of doing; and the greater the good, the more special our capability, the more extraordinary the opportunity, so much the more clearly will reason enlightened by faith tell us that God wishes us to accomphsh that good. In the general law of doing good, and in the faciUties given us to do it, we read a general, or it may be even a special, invitation of God to do it, an invitation which is pressing in proportion to the excellence of the good, but which nevertheless we are not bound to accept unless we discover some duty of justice or charity. Often, too, we have to hesitate in our choice between two incompatible deeds or courses of action. It is a difficulty that arises even when our decision is to influence the rest of our hves, as, for instance, should we have to decide whether to emigrate or to remain in our own country. God also may help our choice by interior movements, whether we are conscious of them or not, by inclina- tions leading us to this or that course of action, or by the counsels of a friend with whom we are provi- dentially brought into contact; or He may even clearly reveal to us His will, or his preference. But this is an exceptional case; ordinarily the inward feehng keeps and confirms our decision, but it is only a secondary motive, and the principal part belongs to sound reason judging according to the teachings of faith. "They have Moses and the prophets", said Christ in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke, xvi, 29), and we have no need for any one to rise from the dead to teach us our duty. According to this simple exposition, it seems clear that each good action of ours pleases God, that moreover He specially desires to see us perform certain actions, but that negligences and omissions in either sphere do not generally cause a permanent divergence from our right path. This rule is true even in the case of acts whose results seem manifold and far-reaching. Other- wise, God would be bound to make known to us clearly both His own will and the consequences of our negli- gence. But the offers of Divine Providence are several or even many, though one may be more press- ing than the other; and since every good action is performed by the help of a supernatural grace which precedes and accompanies it, and since with an efficacious grace we would have done the good we have failed to accomplish, we may say, of every good that we do, that we had the vocation to do it, and of every good that we omit, either that we had not the voca- tion to do it, or, if we were wTong in omitting to do it, that we paid no heed to the vocation. This is true of faith itself. We believe, because we have received an efficacious vocation to believe, which those who live without faith have not received or have rejected when their unbelief is their own fault.

Are these general views applicable to the choice of a state of life? or is that choice governed by special rules? The solution of this question involves that of the vocation itself. The special rules are to be found in Holy Scripture and Tradition. In Holy Scripture we read those general counsels of self- denial which all Christians are called upon to follow during their lives, while they are the object of a mure complete application in a .state which for that very reason may be {■ailed a state of perfection. Kthca- cious grace, notably that of perfect continence, is not given to all. "All men take not this word, but they

to whom it is given. ... He that can take, let him take it" (Matt., xix, 11, 12). CathoUc interpreters, however, basing their conclusion on the Fathers of the Church, are at one in saying that God bestows this gift either on all that pray for it as they should, or at any rate on the generahtj' of those who dispose them- selves to receive it (see Beelen, Kanbenbauer, on this passage). But the choice is left free. St. Paul, speaking of the same Christian, says "he that giveth his virgin in marriage, doth well; and he that giveth her not, doth better" (I Cor., vii, 38). On the other hand, he must be guided by sound reason: "But if they do not contam themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to be burnt" (I Cor., vii, 9). Moreover, the Apostle gives this general advice to his disciple Timothy: "I will therefore that the younger [widows] should marry" (I Tim., v, 14). And yet, whatever his profession or condition, man is not abandoned by Providence: "As the Lord has distributed to every one, as God hath called every one, so let him walk" (I Cor., vii, 17). Holy Scrip- ture therefore applies to the profession of everj' man the general principles laid down above. Nor is there any trace of an exception in the Fathers of the Church: they insist on the general ai>plication of the evangehcal coun.sels, and on the importance of fol- lowing them without delay; and on the other hand, they declare that the choice is free, without danger of incurring the loss of God's favour. They wish, how- ever, that the choice should be prudently and reason- ably exercised. See St. Basil, "On virginity", n. 55, 56;""Constit. monast.", xx; Ep. CLXXII; "Exhor- tation to renounce the world", n. 1 (P. G., XXX, 779-82; XXXI, 626, 1394; XXXII, 647-49); St. Gregory Nazianzen, "Against Julian", 1st discourse, n. 99; "disc. 37, ahas 31 on St. Matthew, XIX, xi (P. G., XXXV. 634; XXXVI, 298) ; St. John Chrysos- tom, "On virginity"; "On penitence", Hom. VI, n. 3; "On St. Matthew", XIX, xi, xxi (P. G., XL VIII, 533 sqq.; XLIX, 318; LVIII, 600, 605); St. Cyprian, "De habitu \-irginum", xxiii (P. L., IV, 463); St. Ambrose, "De viduis", xii, xiii (P. L., XVI, 256, 259); St. Jerome Ep. CXXIII alias XI to Ageruchia; "De monogamia"; "Against Jovinian", I; On St. Matthew, XIX, xi, xii (P. L., XXII, 1048; XXIII, 227, 228; XXVI, 135, 136); St. Augustine, "De bono coniugaU", x; "De sancta virginitate", xxx (P. L., XL, 381, 412); St. Bernard, "De pra?cepto et dispen- satione", i (P. L., CLXXXII, 862). These te.xts are examined in Vermeersch, "De vocatione reUgiosa et sacerdotah", taken from the second volume of the same author's "De religiosis institutis et personis", suppl. 3. In comparison with such numerous and distinct declarations, two or three insignificant passages [St. Gregory, Ep. LXV (P. L., LXXVII, 603); St. Bernard, Ep. CVII, CVIII (P. L., CLXXXII, 242 sqq., 249 sqq.)], of which the last two date only from the twelfth century, and are capable of .another explanation, cannot be seriously quoted as representing vocation as practically obhga- tory. Neither St. Thomas, "Summa theologica", I- II, Q. cviii, art. 4; II-II, Q. clxxxix, opusc. 17 alias 3, nor Suarez "De religione", tr. VII, V, IV, n. i, 7, and viii; nor Bellarmine " Demonachis", Controv. II;nor Passerini, " De hominiun statibus" in Q. CLXXXIX, art. 10, thinks of placing the choice of a state of hfe in a category ap.art. .\nd thus we arrive at conclu- sions which agree with those of Cornelius a Lapide in his commentary on the seventh chapter of I Corin- thians, and which reconnnend themselves by their very simplicity. States of life are freely chosen and at tlu- same time providentially given by God. The higher the state of life the more cleiirly do we find the positive action of Providence in the choice. In tlie ca.se of most men, no Divine decree, logically anterior to the knowledge of their free actions, assigns to them this or that particular profession. The path