Vocation is the key to the universe. Everything exists thanks to God’s calling: “He sends the light, and it goes; he recalls it, and trembling it obeys. The stars shine joyfully at their posts; When he calls them, they answer, ‘Here we are!’ And they shine to delight their Creator.” (Baruch 3, 33-35).

Life comes about through “vocation.” Man exists because of vocation. Living is responding. But in the human being the response becomes conscious and free. As clearly appears in the “story” of Adam and Eve. To reflect on vocation it is necessary to start there, to return to the project of our origins, to the light of the new creation, the light of Easter, the new Adam, Christ Resurrected.

Easter is the celebration of life, the resurrection of humanity. It is a new beginning, a new genesis, a new Spring! The New Adam, Jesus Christ, whose dead body was deposited in the cave of a garden, comes back alive from the dark entrails of the earth. And that garden of withering flowers embalming death now flourishes in an explosion of life, of eternal Spring!

Man is Reborn, a new era begins! Now we are not inexorably destined to travel the road of death. For the first time, when we encounter a crossroads we can make a new and radical choice: embark along a new route, the pathway of Life, drawn up by Christ, or “continue” along the old route, robotically following the ancestral steps left by past generations which tie us to the dawn of time, in a chain of resigned solidarity for a common and fatal destiny. 

“Wake up, oh you who sleep!” It is the shout that resonates on Easter night! It is the primordial and radical vocation of every man and woman: the Vocation for Life. Christ is calling you to be in charge of your own destiny, that of a full, adult, responsible life! Enjoy life. Discover the profound happiness and lastingness of love and friendship. Enjoy the hidden authentic taste of the simple and genuine things of life. Venture along unprecedented paths, make your own way. Raise your brow to the fresh pure wind of the heights. Train your eye to see new vaster horizons. Learn to live!… (Manuel João P. Correia, mccj)