While reflecting on vocations, my imagination kept landing on my favorite lines from The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. They’re from a conversation between Frodo, a small hobbit, and Gandalf, a wise, old wizard, in the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring. Gandalf is explaining a powerful ring’s history and its connection to the evil that has swept through the world since the beginning of time.

Frodo is discovering that the time in which he is coming of age is not as peaceful and pleasant as he thought they would be when he was younger. Sauron, a powerful demon-like entity, is determined to crush all goodness and beauty throughout the land, and there’s little opposition to stop him. Frodo has been called to a tremendous task, asked to carry a heavy burden in order to bring hope and light amid the dark times. In the following lines, he laments, wishing that things were different, as his friend Gandalf offers encouragement.

“‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo.

‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us’ (emphasis added).”

Frodo symbolizes every person ready and willing to rise to the challenge to serve Christ. The ring he must carry is the cross. Whether we realize it or not, each of us is called to serve the Church in some way. The universal call to holiness is also the cross—a departure from the world’s temptations, a departure from a life of self-centeredness and comfort, and an openness to God’s will.

Tolkien’s message throughout The Lord of the Rings is that embracing Catholic life is a monumental adventure, full of trials and heartbreak but also joy, love, and hope. To be holy and carry out whatever task is given to us, we need encouragement, and even more than that, we need God’s grace that comes to us through the Sacraments and prayer.

God has a unique plan for each of us, and each of us has complete freedom to choose whether we are going to follow this plan or not. While each plan is unique, it will always be a path to holiness and involve a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, participating in the Church’s mission, and making a complete gift of self.

A vocation in the life of the Church is a direct call from God to a specific way of life: the priesthood, diaconate, consecrated religious life, married life, and chaste single life. While all of these vocations are beautiful and self-giving, none are easy. At some point in our life, we must decide, if we have not already, to which state of life God is calling us. Once we discern this call, the new adventure of living it out begins.

No matter which vocation it is, there will be difficult times and trials; however, abandoning your own plans and desires to follow God’s will for your life will always bring you joy—a joy that Sauron himself couldn’t take away.

David Cooley

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