{"id":4369,"date":"2015-10-28T04:00:02","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T09:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?p=4369"},"modified":"2015-10-27T21:44:33","modified_gmt":"2015-10-28T02:44:33","slug":"true-radiance-chapter-6-the-beauty-in-every-vocation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2015\/10\/true-radiance-chapter-6-the-beauty-in-every-vocation\/","title":{"rendered":"True Radiance Chapter 6: The Beauty in Every Vocation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

My friend Lisa Mladinich asked me to write today on chapter six of her beautiful new book,\u00a0True Radiance: Finding Grace in the Second Half of Life<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

Lisa\u2019s going to be doing a giveaway of her book for readers of this blog over at her place, and yes, I completely forgot to ask whether that will be at\u00a0AmazingCatechists.com<\/a>\u00a0or Water into Wine<\/a>, so check both! \u00a0I\u2019ll update here when I have the direct link.<\/p>\n

(I explained to her that me putting things in the mail was not a good way to make sure it arrived before Christmas. \u00a0Any Christmas. \u00a0She gamely agreed to host \u201cmy\u201d giveaway herself. \u00a0She\u2019s super that way.)<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Mostly people don\u2019t talk about vocations late in life.<\/strong> \u00a0When they do, in our youth-obsessed culture, it\u2019s to run some rah-rah post about the 97-year-old who just got her law degree or something like that. \u00a0You can still be just like a young person! \u00a0Even at your age!<\/em><\/p>\n

The error isn\u2019t in thinking that there\u2019s nothing new to be done, no new part of yourself to be discovered and delivered to the world. \u00a0There most certainly is, and I love watching that newness unfold in the women around me \u2014 some my age, just getting started on the second half of life, others easing into what you might reasonably call the third half of life.<\/p>\n

The error, rather, is in thinking that the vocation thing is all about degrees or jobs or exciting new travel\u00a0destinations or I\u2019m not sure what. \u00a0That\u2019s not what your vocation is.<\/p>\n

Your vocation, Lisa writes, is something much more than that:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lifeblood of every vocation is the realization that we are most completely ourselves when we love sacrificially, strengthened by prayer and sacramental life. Living in divine love is the only answer to our human longings. We are made in the image and likeness of God, so it is only by loving as he does that we find fulfillment.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The book looks into the lives of a handful of women in various states of life \u2014 married, vowed religious, consecrated virgins. \u00a0 There are some very down-to-earth comments about the difficulties and joys of each state of life. \u00a0 I felt, in reading those stories, that I\u2019d finally found my people. \u00a0I felt that I\u2019d finally run into that meeting point of authenticity and maturity that\u2019s missing in so much of the chit-chat of popular culture.<\/p>\n

(For those who are single-but-not-consecrated, I think several of the different vocations reports will have something to resonate with what\u2019s going on in your life. \u00a0The chapter isn\u2019t about having a special vocational label, it\u2019s about living out\u00a0our universal vocation to love.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not lip gloss and nail polish. \u00a0There\u2019s nothing about how much fun it will be now that the kids are gone, or you\u2019re only as old as you feel, or any of that nonsense. \u00a0It\u2019s about the Christian life. \u00a0It\u2019s about reaching the age when you realize all the shiny categories and awards aren\u2019t the big thing. \u00a0The big thing is showing up every day and loving God and neighbor in whatever way is handed to you that day.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever met a lady who does that, you know all about true radiance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to follow along with the True Radiance<\/i>\u00a0Blog\u00a0Tour, here\u2019s the whole schedule, and then Lisa\u2019s going to announce a couple surprise stops at the end:<\/div>\n
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