"The poet reads his crooked rhyme/ Holy, holy is his sacrament"
Discernment is not really something that one does once, figures it all out and then is set to go. Discernment has to be an ongoing, ever-unfolding endeavor. That said, it sure seems like there are points in time when discernment is a much more immediately pressing, at-hand sort of task and it seems like there are times when the more immediately pressing, at-hand task involves putting one foot in front of the other until this, too, passes. Nearing the end of my undergraduate studies, it seems that I should be getting some of the hard-core, making-visible-progress kind of discernment done. Should be. Seriously, guys, what am I going to do with myself?
It's not that I'm not getting any clues. There are things to which I am definitely drawn, but these things that draw me are on the nebulous and conceptual side and could end up pulling me in any number of concrete directions. There are words, phrases, images and concepts that are captivating and inspiring. I believe that these ideas are somehow going to play into the work to which I'm being called, but I don't know how. "Be with." "Listen to their stories." "Proclaim the Gospel." "Celebrate." "Heal." "Sacramental life of the Church." "In community."
There is something tantalizing about the idea of a formal, vowed vocation in the Church-- especially while "Sacraments," "Gospel" and "community" keep ringing in my ears-- but that's not the only way to serve the Church on earth. There are increasingly numerous places for lay ministry and even lay leadership in the Church. Also, not all ministries that further the life of the Church on earth are, strictly speaking, under the direct supervision of the formal structures of the Church. The Gospel isn't-- and oughtn't be--spread only from the ambo. There are also places for teachers, artists, social activists &c. There's definitely work to be done. The vows are tempting, comforting, something to lean on. It seems to simple, which scares me. Simplicity, in my experience, tends to indicate either profound truth or gross reductionism.
Vocationally speaking, the problem with the quotation in the subject line (from Paul Simon's "Bleeker Street," by the way) is in the second pronoun. Sacraments don't properly belong to the poets-- at least not in the way that they belong to the Church. That said, Sacraments do belong to the poets in a very real sense, but not in the most real sense. Good sacramental poetry and poetry on the Sacraments are precious. The ministry of the poets is vital. It can be reflective, illuminating, celebratory, even liturgical, but not Sacramental in the strict sense. That's probably why Simon doesn't capitalize "sacrament," even though he uses it as a noun. Tricky Simon.
It's not that I'm not getting any clues. There are things to which I am definitely drawn, but these things that draw me are on the nebulous and conceptual side and could end up pulling me in any number of concrete directions. There are words, phrases, images and concepts that are captivating and inspiring. I believe that these ideas are somehow going to play into the work to which I'm being called, but I don't know how. "Be with." "Listen to their stories." "Proclaim the Gospel." "Celebrate." "Heal." "Sacramental life of the Church." "In community."
There is something tantalizing about the idea of a formal, vowed vocation in the Church-- especially while "Sacraments," "Gospel" and "community" keep ringing in my ears-- but that's not the only way to serve the Church on earth. There are increasingly numerous places for lay ministry and even lay leadership in the Church. Also, not all ministries that further the life of the Church on earth are, strictly speaking, under the direct supervision of the formal structures of the Church. The Gospel isn't-- and oughtn't be--spread only from the ambo. There are also places for teachers, artists, social activists &c. There's definitely work to be done. The vows are tempting, comforting, something to lean on. It seems to simple, which scares me. Simplicity, in my experience, tends to indicate either profound truth or gross reductionism.
Vocationally speaking, the problem with the quotation in the subject line (from Paul Simon's "Bleeker Street," by the way) is in the second pronoun. Sacraments don't properly belong to the poets-- at least not in the way that they belong to the Church. That said, Sacraments do belong to the poets in a very real sense, but not in the most real sense. Good sacramental poetry and poetry on the Sacraments are precious. The ministry of the poets is vital. It can be reflective, illuminating, celebratory, even liturgical, but not Sacramental in the strict sense. That's probably why Simon doesn't capitalize "sacrament," even though he uses it as a noun. Tricky Simon.