Vocation through the Christian Community

A short reflection on Vocation by Prof Phillip Rosemann DPhil, DLitt MRIA

Professor of Philosophy & Head of Department - Maynooth University

In one of his early books, Introduction to Christianity, Joseph Ratzinger describes the Christian faith as an ‘adventure’. He speaks of the fact that ‘the believer can perfect his faith only on the ocean of nihilism, temptation, and doubt’ since ‘he has been assigned the ocean of uncertainty as the only possible site for his faith’. Stunning words from a future pope! They describe our cultural condition with great honesty. In the past, the faith went unchallenged and was taken for granted. Now we have to justify it, defend it, not only to other people but to ourselves as well.

Thinking about this situation, however, one quickly realizes that it is not all that new. Perhaps we are even close to the kind of Christian community that existed in the early days of the Church. Saint Paul famously wrote of the ‘foolishness’ of the Cross: ‘Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles’ (1 Cor. 22–23). The Christian faith found no easy acceptance among the people of the time. A lot of questions were asked. If Jesus was God, why was he tortured to death? What is the wisdom of that? Should God not impress us by sending signs of his overwhelming might?

Thinking about this situation, however, one quickly realizes that it is not all that new. Perhaps we are even close to the kind of Christian community that existed in the early days of the Church. Saint Paul famously wrote of the ‘foolishness’ of the Cross: ‘Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles’ (1 Cor. 22–23). The Christian faith found no easy acceptance among the people of the time. A lot of questions were asked. If Jesus was God, why was he tortured to death? What is the wisdom of that? Should God not impress us by sending signs of his overwhelming might?

The Christian believes that the answer to the world’s problems—its sinfulness—is not power but peace. In Jesus Christ, God came to offer us that peace. Christ died on the Cross so that he could take even the lowliest, most despised members of the human community with him to the Father. The hope Christians have is that, if we follow Christ’s example, we will be harbingers of his peace and love. We may even be able to bring a little bit of his new world, his ‘Kingdom’, into this life—while we wait for a better life in the world to come.

A vocation to the priesthood is God’s call to follow his Son particularly closely—to give one’s whole being to that call. As Pope Benedict indicated, this is not going to be an easy life, but an adventure. There are going to be ups and downs, triumphs and challenges. Sometimes God will show his guiding hand in our lives more clearly, sometimes less clearly. Our fellow human beings are going to have many questions, and they are not always going to be friendly ones. But what greater calling could there be than to bring Christ’s promise of peace and salvation to this broken world of ours? 

Philipp W. Rosemann