Summary Reflections
Nourishing Vocation Lectionary
Phase 1: Nourishing Personal Vocational Discernment
Section 1: Well-being: Listening to your longings
From Psalm 42, Matthew 9:18-26, Genesis 30:1-24, Genesis 21:8-21
The longings of the human heart – none of us is a stranger to them. Some of our longings are born out of joy, others out of sorrow. Some find fulfillment, others are companions that accompany us throughout our earthly sojourn. Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister says “A soul that longs for something is a soul that is growing – one way or another, smaller or larger.” And then she asks, “What have your longings done to your life and its horizons – broadened them or crippled them?” In the readings for this section of the Nourishing Vocation Project, you are invited to listen to your longings as you lean into the call of God upon your life.
Psalm 42 uplifts the voice of one whose spirit is parched and thirsting for God’s quenching presence. Sometimes it is grief that parches us, like the ruler who kneels before Jesus because his daughter has died. Sometimes it is unfulfilled hopes and dreams that leave us parched, creating an aching hole where hope-fulfilled should have been, like Rachel of old, longing for a child. Sometimes it is injustice forced upon us, beyond our control, that leaves us crying out in despair, like Hagar fearing for Ishmael’s life. And sometimes, all we can say amid our longings is “if only…”, like the woman who reached out to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe.
Whatever our longings, the Christian Scriptures invite us to not turn away from them but to listen to them and give them to God.