Discovering Your Personal Vocation: The Search for Meaning through the Spiritual Exercises

by Herbert Alphonso, Sheila Fabricant Linn, Matthew Linn

Helps readers identify their personal vocation, or special way of being, so that they may reach out more effectively to others. Elaborates on the connection between personal vocation and the Spiritual Exercises. †

Genres: Catholic, Spirituality, Nonfiction

88 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

Reviews

[Mary Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a short book, it contains much depth.

"Is it not true that the more perfect and mature we become, the more simple we become--a simplicity not of impoverishment, but of concentrated richness in depth?"

"For persona est ineffabilis, persona est incommunicabilis: what is most personal is ineffable, what is most personal is incommunicable."

"For nothing so unifies and integrates in depth as meaning; we spontaneously shed what is meaningless, to remain with and interiorize and assimilate what is meaningful."

[Gab Nug · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short book was good. There were a fair number of simply profound lines that speak to the heart. There were times, however, that it became very repetitive, where it would express the same concept in slightly different words. It was all for the purpose of solidifying the idea of one's personal vocation and how personal and integral it is to each person. However, I wanted more. This was a book that introduced and argued for the concept of personal vocation, and then mentioned that the primary way one receives their personal vocation is by making Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises.

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful little book that serves as a preface to a deeper communion with Jesus through the Ignatian examen.

[Nzcgzmt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fr Alphonso uses an existentialist lens to look at Ignatius, a medieval man. He had good intentions, but got many elements gravely wrong. The heart of the error is a fundamental misunderstanding of Principles and Foundations. Ignatius was very clear that the purpose of man's creation is to "praise, reference, and serve God our Lord." This is the meaning of our life. In contrast, existentialism argues that there is no predetermined meaning for life. An individual's moral responsibility (Fr Alphonso explicitly calls it existential responsibility) is to create their own meaning and purpose in life. For Fr Alphonso, this "personal meaning" is the person's unique vocation. In other words, if one cannot find their own unique vocation, their life is devoid of meaning.

This is a reductionist view of life. Vocation is an important aspect of our life, but it should not be the only element. One's reading, travels, even housework, are all meaningful aspects of our life. Finding God in all things precisely means finding, serving and praising God in all these activities. Importantly, many of us may have chosen the wrong vocation due to life's circumstances. One could have taken a priestly vow before they find the true love of their life. Or they are forced by their family to take a regular job when deep inside they aspire to be a Carmelite monk. Practically what we desire and what we can live out can be two different things. Are all these lives devoid of meaning? Of course not. Because it is God who gives meaning to our lives, not our vocations.

The same error led to his misunderstanding of Magis. "The Ignatian ‘greater’ and ’magis’ make no reference whatsoever to a quantitative element or factor: it has to do with the qualitative ‘uniqueness’ or ‘specificity’ of a particular person's response. (Alphonso, 45)" This statement is categorically false. Ignatius founded the Jesuit Order to save quantitatively more souls. Quantity is surely not the only criteria, but it is an important criteria when all else being equal. In an almost idolatry search for vocation, Fr Alphonso believes that Magis is a "direct reference" to personal vocation. This is a regrettable misplacement of ends and means: God is the end of our vocation, and vocation is only the means.

Fr Alphonso argues for a two-step process of discernment: one has to first make an election for a personal vocation; then because of this elected vocation, discernment in everyday decisions naturally becomes a quick and simple process. This view mixes up the traditional Electionist Model of the exercises and the modern Mystic Model, and unfortunately inherits the shortcomings of both models. What if a person is in a permanent state of life and needs no major life decisions immediately? What if they cannot get the mystic experience that everybody else seems to have? Under Fr Alphonso's framework, not only that the exercises are likely wasted, their very life may have been wasted as well.

Ontologically, Fr Alphonso almost assumes a "vocation union" (rather than a mystic union) as the fundamental genesis of God's voice. This theological error has many downstream consequences. For example, Fr Alphonso assumes a more radical Aschenbrenner-turn: he proclaims that the Examine of Conscience is not an exercise of “mere morality”. It is true that modern theologians want to focus on the Examine of Consciousness rather than Conscience, but outright denying the examine of one's moral self is not only wrong but also dangerous. The spiritual warfare since the beginning of time, the one that Ignatius fought as a soldier under the Standard of Jesus, would have been a waste.

Overall, Fr Alphonso adopts a cellphone model of God's call. There is nothing wrong with finding one's particular, specific, or unique call. It is an honorable quest. However, it is dangerous to elevate the existentialist quest to the very meaning of man's creation. The real meaning of life is nowhere as complicated as Fr Alphonso made it to be: it is simply to serve God's greater glory.

[Ryan Spear · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is a bit misleading, which might explain the rating I gave. This is *not* a guide to discovering your personal vocation but more so a primer that establishes the concept of a “personal vocation” (“...my unrepeatable uniqueness, the ‘name’ by which God calls me...my truest or deepest self...” pp. 7-8).

It then details the process by which this personal vocation can be discovered (through examens) and the implications this personal vocation will and should have on how one is to life and interpret life events.

[Ioana Barcan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Takes Viktor Frankl's "search for meaning" to the next level. There's more than all the meanings and purposes that one may find in one's life. There is one, unique, calling - the "personal vocation", that which God put aside for me, personally, that which will help me "be who God meant me to be", in order to "set the world on fire" (as saint Catherine of Siena wonderfully puts it).
Left me with an earning for this "vocation"... and for spiritual exercises...

[Diana Agacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Vocation

The concept of personal vocation was totally new to me till I did a retreat in daily life. It is a series of Catholic Christian meditations. The most wonderful profound experience.
This book helped to deepen my understanding and the reason of my being which so many of us today are confused about.

[Jane Campion · Rating 5 out of 5]

radically simple

Transforming as it is both highly specific as a guide to a hidden spiritual practice (yes it delivers) and offers true freedom for the uniqueness of each person reading. This makes it contemporary and timeless in one

[Kelleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Need to understand Ignation Discernment of Spirits, otherwise this book won't make sense.

If you are familiar with Ignatius' works, the book is a handy reminder.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting. Pairs well with Ignatian exercises as you discover God’s personal and unique call.

[Bobbie Kite · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beginning of this book was really hard to get into, but it is worth the read. In chapter 3 it starts getting really good. Great connections between this and the 12 steps as well.