Listening to a talk on vocation came across a very different image of the whole process of vocational discernment and guidance. That of a person using a metal detector!
The idea is that in today's world, vocation (in particular, to religious or Salesian religious life) is not something that is apparent or evident. Even for the concerned individual. Leave alone for the one helping others to make a choice for religious life. It is like buried under several things/layers. Exactly like one searching for something special or different, using a metal detector, the one searching has to cover a lot of area. Often finding nothing. Pay great attention to even the slightest indicator for he or she never knows where exactly is the object located. Searching for those indicators which are not always very prominently visible. Makes sense for someone involved in vocation promotion.
However, the drawback of this imagery is that this gives the appearance of vocational guidance as a distant and technical task. Also as something of a detached task from the mission one is engaged in (as in a hobby) or that it is the only mission (much like vocation promoters in our Indian provinces - full timers). Not something that as an offshoot of the mission, prolonged and communitarian. Nevertheless, the analogy is worth further reflection.
The idea is that in today's world, vocation (in particular, to religious or Salesian religious life) is not something that is apparent or evident. Even for the concerned individual. Leave alone for the one helping others to make a choice for religious life. It is like buried under several things/layers. Exactly like one searching for something special or different, using a metal detector, the one searching has to cover a lot of area. Often finding nothing. Pay great attention to even the slightest indicator for he or she never knows where exactly is the object located. Searching for those indicators which are not always very prominently visible. Makes sense for someone involved in vocation promotion.
However, the drawback of this imagery is that this gives the appearance of vocational guidance as a distant and technical task. Also as something of a detached task from the mission one is engaged in (as in a hobby) or that it is the only mission (much like vocation promoters in our Indian provinces - full timers). Not something that as an offshoot of the mission, prolonged and communitarian. Nevertheless, the analogy is worth further reflection.
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