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The Calling of Love

“...stay alert and attentive to the way you are progressing in your vocation.”
The Cloud of Unknowing


 Do I consider the spiritual life to be my vocation? If not, why not? It is certainly the most important work I do in my daily life, and my success in that work bears directly on my success in all other areas of living.

 How do I know if I am progressing in this vocation? Eknath Easwaran says plainly that the measure of spiritual success is growth in love. Not psychic visions, or healing powers, or material wealth, or anything else but an increasing desire and ability to consider and work for the welfare of all in my every act and thought. Maybe no one has stated this truth more eloquently than St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians: “And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

 How do I know if I am growing in love? That’s a question worth sitting with for a while, but I think Easwaran would say that if I am trying to grow in concrete ways every day, then I can be assured that I am growing. If I try to be a little more patient with my daughter, a little more willing to play despite being tired, if I am willing to put a bit of strain each day on my spiritual muscles, they will get stronger.
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