Raymond Donaldson, S.J.

What Is Your Story?

The Christian vocation is something that belongs to each one of us. It is rooted in baptism and continually watered and nourished by the gift of friendship with Jesus Christ. Often, discovering it and making it the center of our lives are much easier said than done. The grace to do so is there, but there is hesitation in accepting that God has called sinful me to an important service in the progress of God's king-dom here on earth.

What follows is one brief vocation story. Any such story is basically a recounting of God's activity in one's life that leads to an election, a choice of how one will live one's life. Since entering the Society of Jesus in 1995, I have told my story several times, usually to small groups of candidates who are considering the possibility of becoming Jesuits.What I say changes somewhat as my understanding of past experience develops.

In 1991, I was a systems engineer working for a small, fiber optics-based operating company in the Washington, DC area. I had accumulated nine years of experience in the telecommunications industry without really considering how or even if my work reflected my commitment to Christ's service as a baptized Roman Catholic. This new interest in the relationship between my job, at which I spent a considerable amount of time each week, and my faith was spurred by a powerful experience of God's love mediated through another person. It was difficult to find God's presence in the meetings, conversations, circuit designs, and network upgrade drawings that constituted a typical day. What was my work accomplishing? The best answer that I could come up with was my own personal enrichment and that of my managers. I realized that if the company for which I was working went out of business, our competition would have readily and gladly provided circuits to our customers with only a brief service interruption. Given these conclusions, did I want to be doing the same thing in five years? My reply was no. What became more appealing was the possibility of teaching. After all, young people need education, and devoting my time to this seemed much more socially valuable than toiling for a private, for-profit company. While I was content, often happy, with my job, I felt that God was presenting me an opportunity to experience the fullness of life that God offers.

At about the same time, I heard a homily on vocations.The priest illustrated the difference between contribution and commitment. He asked us to consider a plate of ham and eggs for breakfast. To the hen, the egg is a contribution, but to the pig, the ham is a commitment. Somehow through this illustration, the idea of commitment for me pointed to the priesthood. My first reaction was denial.Who, me? I am too old, too set in my ways, and too accustomed to a large income. Of course, if such a call is of God, it does not leave one alone. For two years, I thought, prayed, evaded, and pursued. I visited a Dominican priest at Catholic University in DC and discussed with him the possibility of religious life. I left that meeting feeling scared because I had naively believed that what I was considering was similar to a change of career and not the change of life that it is.This priest gave me some important hints about prayer and encouraged me to try to listen for God's voice. Ultimately, all vocations, religious and lay, are sustained by an on-going love relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. Eventually, an interest in the priesthood and an interest in education led me to the Society of Jesus.

The point is that we all have a vocation to serve others and participate in the building of God's kingdom. As I learn and grow in my life as a Jesuit, I find that I develop a greater regard for the multi-faceted vocations of friends who, in their lives as singles, husbands, wives, parents, and employees in what seems to be a hostile business environment, work to realize their commitments as servants of Christ's mission.

What is your story?