Purity of Heart: Aligning with Your Vocation (S10, E05)

Do you ever feel like you're just wandering, unsure if you're on the path God truly wants for you? It's a common struggle to distinguish between our own ambitions and a genuine calling, leaving us restless and uncertain. If you're seeking clarity and purpose, this episode will help you confront the one thing that may be holding you back.

In this episode, we tackle the core of vocational discernment: purity of heart. Sharing a personal reflection on the future of this very podcast, we explore what it means to truly seek the kingdom of God in our present moment. Using a powerful analysis of the Pharisee in scripture, we'll uncover how easily hidden pride and selfish desires can "curdle" our vocation, preventing us from hearing God's call clearly. This isn't just theory; it's about understanding the internal battle that keeps us from walking with purpose.

In this episode, you will learn:

• How to spot the subtle ways selfish ambition disguises itself as a divine calling.
• A fresh perspective on the Parable of the Pharisee and how pride can poison even our sense of gratitude.
• Why a heart that isn't purely focused on God will always lead to restlessness and a feeling of being divided.
• The crucial difference between knowing your vocation and actively discerning it in your daily life.

TRANSCRIPT

(NOTE: This transcription was generated automatically using an AI program. Consequently, this transcript may not match everything you hear in the podcast episode, and it may contain errors such as spelling, grammar, word choice, etc., due to the limitations of current AI technology.)

Introduction and Reflection on Vocation

Hey everyone, welcome back to episode 5 of season 10 of Midnight Carmelite. I know it's been a while. I have been away from the podcast and just a bit of housekeeping on that. As I said, I didn't want to do any episodes that I didn't feel called to I spent the time between episode four and now episode five working through where I wanted to take the podcast, what I was, like, what was I even doing? Like, what was the point? And it made me think about vocation. So am I called to this podcast?

Now, my personal story aside, we'll deal with that later in the podcast. I realized that this is something I wanted to talk about on the podcast. So. I want to talk about vocation, I kind of want to review where we were. And I want to recall from episode four how we got to focus on what God wants from us rather than what we want. So our primary obligation is to seek the kingdom of God and then whatever means in our particular life to do so. And that's our vocation. And purity of heart is charity and detachment.

And we often wander, we'll, go look at social media, we'll go, pay attention to something else that we probably shouldn't. Which again, doesn't mean you shouldn't have leisure. What it means is that you should focus on what God wants you to do right now in the present moment. And it made me think of Well, most people say, well, my vocation is X or my vocation is Y. And so to the point of the podcast, for me, I need to go and pray and think with God. Because I'm not going to do a podcast just for the sake of doing a podcast. I'm doing a podcast because the kingdom of God, in other words, it's going to bring souls to Christ. If it's not doing that, then I'm wasting my time. I might as well not do it.

So then that in this time, it got me thinking about, like I said, vocation, what it means, why it's important. And I think we're all struggling to determine God's call for us. And it's also we're struggling to figure out how this call applies in our particular circumstances.

Understanding Vocation and God's Call

But let's first deal with what how we determine the problem of the vocation, we'll call it. We have to remember that any vocation we have is God calling us to something. So again, if your vocation is to religious life, it's to being vowed to God and his service directly in the married life. It's indirectly to God through your spouse. And in those moments of vocation, where I think we get tripped up is see our own ambition coming into the fore unconsciously or consciously that allows us to justify because let's say we like what we're doing but it may not be what God wants us to do at that time.

So for example let's say you know I used this example in the previous episode you want to pray, maybe pray your rosary, maybe do you know some quiet prayer, silent prayer, Lectio Divina whatever and you end up being distracted because someone in your life, a friend, a spouse, kids, they need you for something. And it's a legitimate need. Like they're not, you know, trying to ruin you. They're not doing anything bad. It's a legitimate need. Well, if you don't respond, like I said, the last episode, you're going to that's not seeking the kingdom of God. It's seeking yourself. In other words, you're saying I like what I'm doing better than what that person needs. So how can you claim to be charitable? Charities willing the good of the other. So again, we all struggle with this.

The Struggle with Pride and Amibition

So going through scripture, I love scripture. I was looking through and I saw the passage of the the Pharisee and the man where the Pharisee said, I thank you, Lord, that I am not like other men. And what struck me with that line was The Pharisee is saying... I have brought something to this such that you've allowed me to use what I brought Lord so that I am not like other men. In other words, not everything comes from you is what he's saying, even though he doesn't really see that he's saying that. And it really struck me. It really struck me. It really struck me to say, wow, like that's horrible. And number two is. it struck me because I said well how many times do we do that how many times do we have to deal with this How many times do we have to deal with this gratitude that becomes really, it's not real gratitude, right? It's pride.

So what we're doing is we're essentially saying, Lord, I'm so glad that I'm not like other people because I'm so much better than them. mean, that's obviously what's been talked about, but it's coming from him. That's the thing that's extra horrible about it in my mind is it's not that he's saying, Lord, you know, thank you for what you gave me and that I'm not like other men. He's simply saying, thank you that I'm at by in being, I am not like them. I have special things that I'm giving to you Lord, that that guy in the back who's saying have mercy on me Lord a sinner. I'm not like him. He doesn't have a lot to give you. And here I am upfront. giving you what I have and that first person keeps showing up. I, I, I and it really struck me. It really did.

I thought then purity of heart is ruined by this ambition and but that also means our vocation is ruined by this ambition. In other words, this pride will sour our understanding of what we should be doing because inserting ourselves into it rather than allowing God and listening in prayer to let God point us where he wants to go.

You know, I think one of the great struggles we have today is vocation. I, you know, talk, you talk to people and people are looking for meaning. They, were really in a place now where the call isn't being heard. Vocare to call vocation and we're all called to holiness. Every one of us in that holiness, but the, it's on abstraction. It's that holiness is. in our lives. It's right where we are. It's giving to others who are nearby to us and loving them. I think that there is where we really can be better. We really can grow. Is trying to find this pride within us and get rid of it. Because it's going to curdle our vocation. it's going to ruin our vocation.

Practical Steps for Discerning Vocation

We spent some time this episode talking about the true nature of vocation. So I talked about how it's not your own selfish ambition, So it's response to the gifts from God. We talked about the parable, the Pharisee, and we could see how easily that our gratitude can come from a place of pride We talked about how our hearts are divided. that a heart not focused solely on God is what leaves us wandering and restless. However, knowing what vocation is and knowing how to discern your own are two very different things.

So this is the other thing I want to announce. I'm now offering not only the what with this podcast, but the real journey is in the how. So now we're going to get to the personal story here. I wanted to discern how I can better serve and what I realized is I Need to provide a map for how You look for your true vocation life or how you attain purity of heart So in the case of vocation the question is is how do you untangle your own selfish desires from God's actual call? So how do you quiet the noise of the world and your own ambition to cultivate that pure focused heart we're talking about What is the first practical step you can take this week to move from wandering aimlessly to walking with purpose?

So this is exactly what we're doing in the Midnight Compass. I created a paid email companion to this podcast because I wanted something to tell you and help you how to grow closer with God. So if you're ready to stop theorizing and start discerning, this is your next step. Go to MidnightCarmelite.com to subscribe to the Midnight Compass and get this week's guide. Let's figure this out together.