All Vocations

No matter how ruined man and his world may seem to be, and no matter how terrible man’s despair may become...[our] life, as individual persons and as members of a perplexed and struggling race, provokes us with the evidence that it must have meaning. Part of the meaning still escapes us. Yet our purpose in life is to discover this meaning, and live according to it. We have, therefore, something to live for....
‍
All vocations are intended by God to manifest his love in the world. For each special calling gives [us] some particular place in the Mystery of Christ, gives [us] something to do for the salvation of all.... The difference between the various vocations lies in the different ways in which each one enables [us] to discover God’s love, appreciate it, respond to it, and share it with others. Each vocation has for its aim the propagation of divine life in the world.

— from No Man Is an Island by Thomas Merton (1915–1968)