Ultimately, Our Lives Are Centered On Sacrifice
Ultimately, our lives are centered on sacrifice. In one of his talks at TEC 101, Father Tony Ernst said, “Every vocation is death,” and the truth of that statement seared into my heart. Perhaps this assertion is startling, but so are Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John: “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life” (John 12:25). This presents us with quite the conundrum. How can a loving God ask us to hate our lives? What does it mean that “every vocation is death?”
We must hate our lives in the sense that we are detached from everything besides God; we must relinquish full control of our lives. Page 302 of Cardinal Ratzinger’s “Introduction to Christianity” brought final clarity to John 12:25 for me. “…man’s attempt ‘to be like God,’ his striving for autonomy, through which he wishes to stand on his own feet alone, means his death, for he just cannot stand on his own. If man—and this is the real nature of sin—nevertheless refuses to recognize his own limits and tries to be completely self-sufficient, then precisely by adopting this attitude he delivers himself up to death.” We must be detached enough that we recognize our dependence on God, which will lead us to life. If we love our lives as they are, refusing to reach beyond and seek God above all, then we will never find ultimate happiness. That’s why he asks us to “hate” our lives.
Every vocation is death because no matter our state of life, we must give of our time and put others’ needs and desires before our own. Jesus did not apply the verse in John to one specific vocation but referred to “whoever wishes to come after” him….which is hopefully all of us. If we are truly fulfilling our calls, then we will put ourselves last in every situation. We like to fall into the trap of imagining one vocation as easier or more fun than another, but whether we are married or single, vowed to consecrated life or initiated into the priesthood, we devote our time and energy to the service of others. Every vocation will bring challenges, but they will also bring joy if we keep God at the center.
Our lives culminate in total self-sacrifice, giving our lives to those around us. Ratzinger wrote on page 236, “If Jesus is the exemplary man, in whom the true figure of man, God’s intention for him, comes fully to light, then he cannot be destined to be merely an absolute exception, a curiosity, in which God demonstrates to us what sorts of things are possible. His existence concerns all mankind…” With Jesus as our example, it becomes clear: sacrifice is the way of life. Not a way, but the way. God wants to give us abundant joy, but first, we must let go of the substitutions we clutch so desperately. Our hands are full with our fabrications of happiness, and God asks us to empty them for his gift of infinite goodness instead.
