Called, But Not Yet Certain

A guide to vocational discernment for the Canons Regular of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

There is a peculiar feature of a genuine vocation: it does not wait to be convenient. It arrives — quietly, persistently, sometimes inconveniently — not as a thunderclap but as a steady accumulation of quiet certainties. Newman captured something of this when he wrote of God creating each person to do "some definite service" that no other can do in quite the same way.

Raise your hand if you've ever sat in a pew, a Sunday school class, or a late-night dorm room conversation and thought: "The Holy Trinity? Sure. Absolutely. Three-in-one. Totally got it." — while absolutely not getting it. 😂

Don't worry. You're in excellent company. Theologians have been wrestling with the doctrine of the Trinity since the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, and the debate has been lively enough to make modern Facebook arguments look like polite tea parties. In fact, one bishop reportedly punched another bishop in the face over it. At a church council. Which, when you think about it, is an extremely committed way to do theology.