Tag: Vocation
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Servants
When we take up the role of servants, we do precisely what the powerful prefer not to do: put ourselves in a position where our power is of little use. Rather than asserting the privilege the powerful have to control their environment and avoid humbling experiences, we seek Christ in the places where we will […]
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Renouncing a Vocation
Somehow, I have to give up this thing that I love above everything else on earth because the love of God is greater… to renounce the purest of all vocations simply because it is not the one God has chosen for me – to accept something in which it seems likely that my highest personal […]
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The Intellectual Life
I’m presently reading A.D. Sertillanges’ The Intellectual Life. I first came to know about this book while reading James Sire’s Habits of the Mind. Yesterday I found a secondhand copy of this book at a local secondhand bookstore. I was so happy with my discovery I felt like kissing the book! I’ve just finished the […]
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Work and Spirituality (2)
In the previous post we had a Trappist monk’s perspective on work and spirituality. Now here is a 17th century puritan’s take on the subject, but with a slight twist, as his concern is more on remaining in one’s calling: Devote yourself to performing your duty in the place and calling God has given you. […]
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Work and Spirituality
Many Christians would not consider their daily work as “spiritual”; what is spiritual, they think, are preaching, praying, and the like. Thomas Merton in Life and Holiness thinks differently: … one’s daily work is an all important element in the spiritual life, and that for work to be truly sanctifying the Christian must not only […]
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Seeking Justice: The Way of Lawyers
We should all seek justice in what we do… [The Talmud states,] ‘Every judge who renders a fair decision is like a partner of the Holy One in the act of creation’ (Talmud, Shabbat 119b). The Talmud also promises that ‘a judge who decides a case in accordance with true equity causes the Shekhinah, God’s […]
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Vocation and Injustice
(Basis of a talk given to FOCIG [Fellowship of Christians in Government]- Bacolod City) I’d like to thank you for inviting me to speak before you this afternoon. This is really a privilege. I am encouraged to know that I am addressing brethren who are part of a nationwide organization that believes in the importance […]
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True Calling
A pastor friend of mine who’s about to review for the bar exams (yes, he’s a pastor and a law student at the same time) has requested me to fill in for him while he prepares for the bar, i.e., I get to preach every Sunday morning and evening for at least two months in […]