Take an Honest Inventory With Saint Augustine

By David Whitmarsh

Work is a necessity, and it can often be burdensome, but work is not a necessary burden. Work is a vocation.

There are three vocations in the Christian life. We all share the universal vocation of coming to know God as our Father and to evangelize the Good News. It is our baptismal vocation.

We start to diverge at our primary vocations. These are what people usually refer to in Catholic circles as “the vocations.” Are we called to pour out our lives in the priesthood, consecrated religious, marriage or the oft-ignored single life?

Our secondary vocations are far more diverse. As diverse as we are, in fact, because they are our individualized callings to participate in the creative work of God. We’re talking about apostolates, civic or community involvement, family duties, redemptive suffering and, you guessed it - work.

Since work is a vocation, it too should be discerned. Discernment begins like all adventures, by taking an honest inventory of one’s rations, skills, and tools. No one intentionally lies to themselves about these things before an adventure, lest they risk death because the food runs out or, God forbid, the wine.

Saint Augustine of Hippo is a natural mentor for this journey. Not only is he one of only 37 Doctors of the Church, (show-off), but he also left us a masterpiece in taking an honest self-inventory.

His Confessions are still shaking the world. His story gives us permission to have been the worst version of ourselves, before we become the best. To quote the man himself “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.”

He left us a gorgeous prayer, “Late Have I Loved You,” which includes three sentences that sum up the need for introspective self-assessment better than any article can.

Behold, you were within and I was out abroad, searching there for you. Deformed, I plunged into the fair forms that you had made. You were with me, but I was not with you.

I think we can all relate to that searching and deformed feeling. I feel it in my gut when I’m not where I am supposed to be. Upon the discovery I am lost, the fear sets in, because I feel like I don’t know where to go.

Which is exactly when I need to take an inventory and begin the journey back to God’s will. Before I know where I’m going, it’s helpful to know where I am.

We sometimes look up to discover that too many fair forms are holding us back. When this happens, perhaps we could take an actual page from St. Augustine’s book: sitting down in the presence of God for an honest inventory of our lives, using the Beatitudes as a starting place, then bracing for adventure.

The next step is mercy.

St Augustine, pray for us.

David Whitmarsh is one of Tepeyac Leadership's new Career Progression Advisors. Contact him at david@holyworkmovement.com