{"id":9051,"date":"2014-11-15T17:29:10","date_gmt":"2014-11-15T21:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=9051"},"modified":"2014-11-15T17:29:10","modified_gmt":"2014-11-15T21:29:10","slug":"vocation-as-the-next-right-thing-gay-and-catholic-tiny-book-extra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2014\/11\/vocation-as-the-next-right-thing-gay-and-catholic-tiny-book-extra.html","title":{"rendered":"Vocation as the Next Right Thing: “Gay and Catholic” Tiny Book Extra"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Okay, as I wrap up this series of \u201cdvd extras\u201d for my book, let me maybe relieve some pressure.<\/p>\n

A Queer Calling today has a thoughtful post about talking to teens about celibate vocations<\/a>. I\u2019ve tried throughout this series to flag some of the problems with the way we\u2013I\u2013often talk about \u201cdiscerning a vocation.\u201d We can make it sound like vocation is navel-gazing<\/a>; or like it\u2019s a self-directed quest where you pick which of the million possible paths ahead of you looks best, rather than sticking in the place where you\u2019re rooted<\/a>. We can forget that we\u2019re often called to things we\u2019re not good at<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And we\u2019re often called to things which seem impossible<\/a>. If you\u2019re a teenager looking ahead to a life of celibacy I am guessing that feels insane and absurd\u2013and even if we change the conversation to say, \u201cWhere are<\/em> you being called to love and serve?\u201d, it can still seem overwhelming. I\u2019m supposed to pick a path of sacrificial love when I can\u2019t even pass my driving test?<\/p>\n

In the book itself I talk about my own process of discernment, and I hope it\u2019s clear that I did not sit down and plan out my life. (I did not plan out anything, really. Future tense is worst tense!) Following your call isn\u2019t about figuring everything out in advance.<\/p>\n

For all of our vocations it may help to ask, What is the next<\/em> right thing? Not the right thing fifty years from now, or the right thing next week, but the right thing right now? Doing the right thing right now may have lifelong repercussions (that second line comes up on the pregnancy test\u2026) and it may mean making promises, such as marriage, which are binding for life. It may mean considering the future.<\/p>\n

But often the \u201cnext right thing\u201d is something you can do when the future seems totally open and unknown. You can call your best friend now, without vowing to be BF literally F. You can love others, and even if those particular relationships don\u2019t last or you change your mind about how best to express your love, the love itself wasn\u2019t wasted.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to ask yourself, \u201cCan I really be celibate forever?\u201d You just need to ask, \u201cCan I love in the way God is calling me to love for, like, the next five minutes?\u201d And then in five minutes you do it again. If at any point you know you didn\u2019t do the \u201cnext right thing\u201d\u2013if you skipped steps or wandered off the path\u2013then the \u201cnext right thing\u201d is to repent and return, teshuvah, come back to Jesus\u2019 breast and His embrace. Over time this becomes a lasting yes<\/em> to God, an acceptance of vocation (including the call to repentance, which is a part of everyone\u2019s<\/em> vocation), one five-minute stretch at a time.<\/p>\n