Part of the book: 33 Meditations by Tomislav Ivančić
HE SENT YOU INTO THE WORLD TO…
Meditation course: Sit still or go to church in front of the Tabernacle as if you are going to talk seriously with God. Gather yourself, look at God for a few minutes until you can feel that God’s presence is within your reach, and then say quietly, ”WHAT IS MY PLACE ON EARTH? OH GOD, CREATOR. REVEAL MY VOCATION TO ME, my talents, my gifts!” Say this slowly, taking your time and trying to listen deeply and with your eyes open. After ten minutes, observe your body, your abilities, your life up until now, your longings, things your love. Say it quietly before God until you feel peace within yourself. Then thank God for your vocation and the gifts of the Spirit. For the next ten minutes, look at yourself vividly in what you feel is your vocation. Imagine every detail. It is important that this vocation is drawn from the depths of your soul, not from superficial desires. Observing your vocation in this way, pray to the Holy Spirit to fulfil your vocation with you…
Each of us clearly or vaguely experiences that he has some specific role to play in life on earth. No one can replace us, we are unique in the history of mankind, our path is only ours, and we cannot imitate anyone. Someone – God – sent us into the world.
He stands behind us.
None of the people invited us, and no one expected us. We came suddenly with abilities that people may not need, with weaknesses that burden our environment, and with demands that people cannot meet. Everyone has their own life, their vocation, their way in the world and the Church. It is important to discover what you love to do and what you need to do in life.
What is your vocation, and what are your abilities? It is not determined by people, it is implanted in you, innate, given by God and planned. If people cannot enable you to fulfil your vocation, God can. He gave the vocation, the mission, the calling, he will also give the realization of the vocation. What matters is whether you despair of helplessness or rely on God. And will you understand that you are precious, needed even when people don’t realize it? And that anything is possible.
The earth does not belong to people but God. We need to want to and start to make friends with God in Jesus Christ.
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He was born in Davor in 1938. After studying philosophy and theology in Zagreb and Rome, he was ordained a priest of the Zagreb Archdiocese in 1966. After achieving a master’s degree in philosophy and a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, he returned to Zagreb in 1971, where he became a professor at the Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb. He is the head of the Chair of Fundamental Theology, and was one of the editors of the Theological Review. Areas of his scientific work are philosophy, theology and literature. He explores the relationship between philosophy and theology, faith and science, atheism and religiosity, revelation and faith, the Church and ecclesial communities, Christianity and religion, the phenomenon of sects and issues of theological epistemology. His special field of interest is the study of man’s existential-spiritual dimension, where he discovers the way of modern evangelization and the necessity of the development of spiritual medicine, which, along with somatic and psychological, is indispensable in the complete healing of man, especially in the healing of spiritual diseases and addictions. For this purpose, he developed the method of hagiotherapy and founded in 1990 in Zagreb the Center for Spiritual Help, of which he is the head. From 1971, in addition to working at the faculty, he was a student religious teacher in Zagreb, the initiator of the prayer movement within the Church of the Croats, the founder of a religious society called the Prayer and Word Community(MiR), and the leader of numerous seminars for spiritual renewal and evangelization at home and abroad. After completing his studies and scientific doctorate in fundamental theology at … (Read more at https://hagio.hr/tomislav-ivancic/).
