Personal Vocation: God Calls Everyone by Name

Germain Grisez & Russell Shaw, Personal Vocation: God Calls Everyone by Name, Our Sunday Visitor, 2003. Reviewed by Nicholas C. Lund-Molfese Disclaimer: I am no detached or impartial reviewer. I have already bought over 10 copies of this book to give as gifts to students, couples getting married and even job interviewees. I invite you to do the same. As a wedding gift, this would be a far superior choice than one more over priced dish from Needless Markup (AKA, Neiman-Marcus). Students and recent college graduates will find in this book what they may well need most -- a guide to the organization of their life as a whole. Parents and teachers will benefit greatly, both personally and also in their responsibility of mentoring their charges. The authors begin by noting that "Personal vocation is enormously important yet probably not widely understood. We have written this book with the hope of remedying that." Indeed, one of the primary services the book renders is in introducing the reader to a more complete concept of "vocation." In the course of doing so, it also serves as a corrective of various false understandings of vocation. Among the important errors covered, two in particular are prominent in our culture: confusing selfishness with vocation and the idea that some Christians have vocations and others do not. As the authors point out, the restricting of the term "vocation" to refer only to Church vocations obscures the fact that "Every member of the Church who seeks to know what God asks of him or her will discover a unique personal vocation of his or her own." It is crucial that every Christian recognize that God is calling him or her to cooperate with him in the whole of their life. No time period in a person's life is to be wasted. No part of your life is yours to the exclusion of God. Two common examples illustrate the consequences of failing to recognize this reality. Some person feel and act as if the time they spend single, looking for a spouse or discerning their vocation is "wasted" time. They conceptually exclude this period of their life from God's providence and purpose. A second set of examples come readily to mind regarding money and tithing. A friend once asked me, "How much should we give to God and how much do we get to keep for ourselves?" Answer: You have to give 100% to God, that is, cooperate with him in your use of every dime (and every minute). Fortunately, putting money in the collection plate is only one way of cooperating with God. Another way (for a father or a mother) is purchasing diapers. The book's core thesis could be taken from a section entitled, "The Idea of a Personal Vocation." Therein, the authors write, "The answer to the vocation crisis of the Church is personal vocation. Rather than there being a shortage of vocations, as is often mistakenly supposed, there is a widespread failure by Catholics to seek, discern, accept, and live out their personal vocations